Small Doses: April 1 to April 5

Simulation Highlights Substantial Medicare Savings Due to IRA Drug Price Negotiation

With drug price negotiations for 10 drugs through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) set to take effect in 2026, researchers simulated the extent of Medicare savings.

Inflation Reduction Act / Andrii - stock.adobe.com

If drug price negotiations through the IRA had been in effect from 2018 to 2020, Medicare spending could have been reduced by 5%, or a total of $26.5 billion in savings.

FDA Clears First Digital Therapeutic to Treat Major Depressive Disorder

The FDA has cleared the first prescription digital therapeutic to treat major depressive disorder.

Rejoyn from Otsuka Pharmaceutical and Click Therapeutics is a 6-week program that helps enhance cognitive control of emotions through brief therapy lessons and training exercises.

Pharmacists Should Adapt Harm Reduction Efforts to Address Unregulated Substances

It’s important that pharmacists continuously revise their counseling as new information about substances such as xylazine, levamisole, and phenacetin emerges, said Anita Jacobson, PharmD, in a conversation with Drug Topics at this year’s American Pharmacists Association Annual Meeting & Exposition.

Education, Jacobson says, should act as the first line of defense against these novel substances.

Vistagen Enrolls First Phase 3 Trial Participant for Social Anxiety Disorder Drug Fasedienol

Vistagen has enrolled the first participant in the PALISADE-3 phase 3 trial of fasedienol, an investigational pherine candidate for the acute treatment of social anxiety disorder.

Fasedienol—a first-in-class, rapid-onset investigational pherine nasal spray—is different than any currently approved anxiety medication.

Brepocitinib Shows Positive Results For Treatment of Non-Infectious Uveitis in Phase 2 Study

Results from the Neptune (NCT05523765) trial showed that once daily oral brepocitinib met its primary efficacy endpoint of treatment failure at week 24, which reflects greater treatment benefit.

Priovant Therapeutics said that it intends to initiate a phase 3 program of brepocitinib in the second half of this year.