The U.S. Federal Trade Commission reached a proposed settlement with CVS Caremark, one of the largest pharmacy benefit managers in the U.S., over allegations the company artificially inflated the price of insulin and impeded access to the lifesaving diabetes treatment, STAT notes, citing a document filed on the agency website. A CVS spokesperson wrote that the “proposed agreement is subject to review and approval by the FTC chair. Final terms are still pending and will be confirmed once the settlement is officially finalized. We will be able to provide additional details following this review. We expect the settlement process to conclude in the coming weeks.” An agreement was widely expected after another large pharmacy benefit manager, Cigna’s Express Scripts, reached a final settlement last month with the agency over the same allegations.
Patrick Soon-Shiong, a controversial figure in the biotech industry, was harshly criticized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for making several false and misleading claims about a cancer treatment in television ads and a podcast, STAT notes. In a March 13 warning letter to ImmunityBio, which is primarily owned and controlled by Soon-Shiong, the agency found fault with numerous comments about the therapy, called Anktiva. The drug is marketed as a treatment for a type of bladder cancer, but the FDA noted both the ad and podcast suggested it was able to treat “all cancers.” The agency also noted that material facts were omitted — notably, that Anktiva must be used in combination with a vaccine. It also noted that risks were downplayed in the ad and never mentioned in the podcast, and that both the ad and podcast indicated that patients treated with Anktiva would be “cancer free,” which was not supported by clinical studies.
A Vermont breast cancer patient sued Novartis for allegedly sharing her health information with Google and other companies without consent through hidden website tracking tools, Bloomberg Law reports. The complaint alleges Novartis used tracking pixels on its websites offering drug-discount programs to secretly transmit patient medical conditions, prescriptions and other sensitive health data to advertising companies including Google and ContentSquare. The lead plaintiff filed the proposed class action lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey. The plaintiff visited a Novartis website in November 2024 to get information about Kisqali, her cancer medication, and apply for a savings card. But the suit claims that Novartis intentionally configured tracking tools installed on its product web sites to capture and transmit sensitive health information.
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