Alzheimer’s drug access | Medicare price negotiations | Covid emergency extended

VIEW IN BROWSER | SUBSCRIBE Fri, Jan 13, 2023 EDITOR'S NOTE Think a friend or colleague should be getting this newsletter? Share this link with them to sign up.   The Biden administration has renewed the Covid public health emergency again, this time through April as the highly transmissible omicron XBB.1.5 variant spreads across the U.S.    Though Covid remains a concern, the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference returned in person for the first time since 2020. in a sign of how the pandemic is hopefully receding.    CNBC's Meg Tirrell rounded up interviews with CEOs of eight of the largest companies in the industry for us, plus FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf.   Here are Meg's key takeaways from the conference: Biogen's new CEO, Chris Viehbacher, thinks Medicare reimbursement for its newly approved Alzheimer's drug Leqembi (partnered with Eisai) could happen by the end of this year.    Moderna's CEO Stephane Bancel told us the U.S. government has asked the industry to prepare for Covid vaccines to be made available through traditional commercial channels by this fall.   And Regeneron's CEO Dr. Len Schleifer disagreed with his peers about the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act on new drug development, saying it has to be science – not pricing pressure – that drives which medicines get focused on. Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to me at spencer.kimball@nbcuni.com. Spencer Kimball | Health Reporter @spencekimball Spencer Kimball | Health Reporter @spencekimball   Few people will have access to new Alzheimer's drug, but that could change this year Very few people will have access to Biogen and Eisai's Alzheimer's drug Leqembi because Medicare is not covering the treatment and the price tag is $26,500.    Tricia Neuman with the Kaiser Family Foundation said this basically makes the drug unaffordable to most seniors.   But FDA Commissioner Robert Califf told CNBC that the Medicare policy is not "fixed," and the public should stay tuned for possible policy updates. Biogen CEO Chris Viehbacher said Medicare coverage could happen by the end of 2023. - Spencer Kimball, Meg Tirrell Moderna preparing for private vaccine market by fall, Sanders slams price hike Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel told CNBC that the U.S. government has asked the company to prepare for the Covid vaccine market to go private by fall of 2023.    This could result in a significant price hike. Bancel told The Wall Street Journal that Moderna is considering a price of $110 to $130 per shot, four times higher than what the government pays.    Bernie Sanders, incoming chair of the Senate health committee, slammed the possible price hike as "outrageous" given that the vaccine was developed with taxpayer money. - Meg Tirrell, Spencer Kimball HHS to select 10 Medicare drugs for negotiation by September The Health and Human Services Department will publish in September a list of 10 drugs covered by Medicare Part D that it is targeting for price negotiations.    But seniors won't see relief for years. The actual negotiations won't begin until early 2024, and the negotiated prices don't take effect until 2026.   The pharmaceutical industry broadly opposes the new law, arguing it will stifle innovation. But Regeneron CEO Len Schleifer told CNBC that the science is what drives drug development, not price pressure.  - Spencer Kimball, Meg Tirrell Biden administration extends Covid public health emergency as omicron XBB.1.5 spreads   The Biden administration has extended the Covid-19 public health emergency until April as a highly transmissible omicron subvariant stokes concern that the U.S. may face another wave of hospitalizations from the disease this winter.   The U.S. has renewed the Covid public health emergency every 90 days since the Trump administration first issued the declaration in January 2020.   The emergency declaration has had a vast impact on the U.S. health-care system over the past three years. It has protected public health insurance coverage for millions, provided hospitals with greater flexibility to respond to patient surges and expanded telehealth. - Spencer Kimball Omicron XBB.1.5 does not have mutations known to make people sicker, WHO says The omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant does not have any mutations known to make people sicker when they catch the virus, according to a World Health Organization risk assessment published Wednesday.   But the WHO noted in the report that it doesn't have any real-world data on how XBB.1.5 is affecting patients' health, so it cannot draw any conclusions at this time about the severity of the subvariant. - Spencer Kimball Nearly 250,000 kindergartners in U.S. are vulnerable to measles due to slide in vaccination rates Nearly a quarter of a million kindergartners are vulnerable to measles due to a dip in vaccination coverage during the pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.   The CDC, in a report published Thursday, found that 93% of kindergartners were up to date with state-required vaccines during the 2021-22 school year, a decline of 2% from 2019-20.   "While this might not sound significant, it means nearly 250,000 kindergartners are potentially not protected against measles," Dr. Georgina Peacock, head of the CDC's immunization services division, said during a call with reporters Thursday. - Spencer Kimball UnitedHealth Group Q4 beats and lifts health-care peers UnitedHealth Group shares helped boost the Dow in Friday trade, after the health-care giant's fourth quarter results handily topped analyst expectations.   The company's medical costs did not see any material impact from the surge in Covid, RSV and flu during the quarter. That bodes well for its insurance peers.   The company's Optum services unit continues to be an earnings juggernaut. With full year revenues near $183 billion for 2022, as a standalone firm it would be the 5th largest health-care company in the S&P by sales. - Bertha Coombs JOIN US REGISTER CONTRIBUTORS Bertha Coombs @berthacoombs Meg Tirrell @megtirrell Bertha Coombs @berthacoombs Meg Tirrell @megtirrell Unsubscribe Manage Newsletters Terms of Service Join the CNBC Panel   Digital Products Feedback Privacy Policy CNBC Events   © 2022 CNBC LLC. All rights reserved. A property of NBCUniversal. 900 Sylvan Avenue, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632 Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes and Market Data and Analysis. Data also provided by THOMSON REUTERS