{"id":437057,"date":"2026-01-27T19:26:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T19:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/437057\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T19:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T19:26:10","slug":"cuban-vs-optum-mckessons-biosimilar-play-states-vs-accumulators-340b-windfalls-and-ozempic-ads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/437057\/","title":{"rendered":"Cuban vs. Optum, McKesson\u2019s Biosimilar Play, States vs. Accumulators, 340B Windfalls, and Ozempic Ads"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Super Bowl LX is almost here! Time for some blowout beer and snack commercials, occasionally interrupted by an actual football game. DCI\u2019s hometown Philadelphia Eagles will not be going to the big game, so the city\u2019s light poles will remain Crisco-free and upright. <\/p>\n

While you wait for kickoff, please enjoy this month\u2019s playbook of articles, intercepted for you from the Drug Channels gridiron:\n<\/p>\n

Plus: Will Ozempic’s new ad campaign make us nostalgic for 2006?<\/a><\/p>\n

P.S. Join my more than 67,000 LinkedIn followers<\/a> for daily links to neat stuff, along with sharp, thoughtful commentary from the DCI community.

\n<\/p>\n

Payment and Delivery Innovation in Healthcare<\/a>, Johns Hopkins University
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Grab some popcorn and watch this outstanding debate between Mark Cuban and Patrick Conway, expertly moderated by the fabulous Ge Bai. (Start watching at 1:29:20.)<\/p>\n

Cuban directly challenged Dr. Conway in a way that we rarely see on stage. They covered OptumRx\u2019s PBM practices, biosimilars, reimbursement, networks, cost-plus pricing, and much more.\n<\/p>\n

We could use more open and unscripted conversations like this one.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

P.S. Thanks for the shout-out around 2:05:36, Mark! <\/p>\n

Private Label Biosimilars: A New Twist on Wholesalers\u2019 Vertical Integration<\/a>, LinkedIn
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Here we go.<\/p>\n

McKesson’s NorthStaRx business recently received a national drug code (NDC) for Stimufend, Fresenius Kabi’s pegfilgrastim-fpgk biosimilar of Neulasta.\n<\/p>\n

[Click to Enlarge]<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
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This development qualifies as an \u201cinevitable surprise.\u201d As I pointed out in The Future of Buy-and-Bill Market Access: Five Drivers of Wholesalers\u2019 Vertical Integration with Physician Practices<\/a>, wholesalers’ vertical integration strategies give them newfound leverage over market access for provider-administered drugs. <\/p>\n

The key question remains: Can wholesalers successfully transform from transactional intermediaries into true market makers that can leverage ownership, contracting, data, and access to influence therapy and extract incremental profits?\n<\/p>\n

Private label biosimilars show one major way wholesalers will operationalize their growing channel power. <\/p>\n

State Copay Accumulator Bans Now Affect At Least 17% of Commercial Lives<\/a>, Avalere
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Variations in outpatient hospital reimbursement for autoimmune drugs <\/a>, Milliman
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This new analysis from Milliman finds that 340B hospitals continue to earn substantially higher margins on specialty drugs than non-340B hospitals. For 16 drugs, estimated 340B profit margins ranged from 167% to an outrageous 180,721%\u2014far above margins at non-340B hospitals.<\/p>\n

[Click to Enlarge]<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
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Despite these windfall gains, no one can say where the 340B profits go, which patients benefit, or whether the funds are being used properly. <\/p>\n

Alas, most people and their elected representatives fail to understand how providers and channel participants mark up drugs. In many cases, the manufacturer gets a small fraction of what plans pay for a drug, while hospitals earn thousands of dollars more per drug than the drug\u2019s manufacturer does.\n<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, insurers blame \u201cdrug prices\u201d while conveniently overlooking their own role in allowing powerful providers to inflate drug spending.\n<\/p>\n

What a mess. <\/p>\n

Game Show<\/a>, Ozempic\u00ae (semaglutide) on YouTube
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Remember those amusing \u201cI\u2019m a Mac, and I\u2019m a PC\u201d commercials from about 20 years ago?<\/p>\n

Well, Novo Nordisk certainly hopes you do. It just launched a new \u201cThere\u2019s Only One Ozempic\u201d campaign featuring Justin Long and John Hodgman, the stars of those nostalgic computer ads.\n<\/p>\n

Click here to watch the first one.<\/a> It\u2019s about 45 seconds of cringe followed by Justin Long reading the entire package insert for almost 3 minutes.\n<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a glutton for punishment, you can view all of the ads on the Ozempic\u00ae (semaglutide) YouTube channel<\/a>. Caveat viewer.\n<\/p>\n

P.S. Novo Nordisk has blocked embedding, so you\u2019ll have to click the links to watch the videos. <\/p>\n

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