Ruxolitinib Phosphate

Six of the 25 drugs had one-time U.S. list price cuts between 2024 and 2026, all after being selected for Medicare negotiation, AARP found. In the U.S., many top brand-name drugs continue to get more expensive with age, while the same medicines often get cheaper in peer countries, according to an AARP Public Policy Institute report released Thursday.U.S. list prices for 25 top brand-name drugs have climbed an average of 81% since launch, while prices for those same medicines fell an average of 13% in 19 other high-income countries, the report found.AARP also found an early sign that Medicare price negotiation may be putting pressure on some list prices. Six of the 25 drugs saw one-time U.S. list price cuts between 2024 and 2026, averaging 40%. All six have had their prices negotiated by Medicare.But those cuts do not change the broader pricing trajectory. The analysis frames postlaunch pricing as a key factor in the international pricing gap, with U.S. brand-name drug prices often starting higher and continuing to rise over time. That creates a compounding effect, making already expensive medicines even more costly, while other countries are more likely to use pricing systems that push down costs after launch.The AARP analysis, which tracked prices from each drug's launch through April 1, 2026, covers 25 brand-name drugs without generic or biosimilar competition that had the highest total Medicare Part D spending in 2024. Together, the drugs accounted for more than $100 billion in Medicare prescription drug spending and were used by nearly 15 million beneficiaries. Across the 25 drugs, U.S. lifetime list price changes ranged from a 46% decrease to an 873% increase. Outside the U.S., the trend moved in the opposite direction. List prices for 24 of the 25 medicines fell after launch, driving an average decrease of 13% across the comparison countries. Enbrel, Amgen’s blockbuster autoimmune disease drug, posted the largest U.S. increase, with its list price up 873% since launch. By comparison, its price fell 27% outside the U.S. Jakafi, Incyte’s blood cancer treatment, rose 160% in the U.S. while falling 9% abroad. Merck’s diabetes drug Januvia climbed 126% domestically while dropping 40% in the comparison countries.  The only drug in the analysis with a lower U.S. list price than at launch was Amgen’s cholesterol drug Repatha. Its price was down 46%, a decline AARP attributed to a 60% price cut Amgen made in 2018 amid market competition and payer resistance. The drug’s list price has since increased 30% from that reduced level, according to the report. The findings are specific to brand-name drugs, Leigh Purvis, prescription drug policy principal at AARP’s Public Policy Institute and author of the report, said Thursday during a media briefing at the Association of Health Care Journalists’ Health Journalism 2026 conference in Minneapolis. Generic prices are often lower in the U.S. than in other countries, she said, pointing to a more competitive market for those medicines.  “Our generic prices are actually less here than in other countries,” Purvis said. “We have a robust system.” The report also offers a more nuanced look at Medicare negotiation under the Inflation Reduction Act. Six drugs in the analysis saw significant one-time U.S. list price cuts between 2024 and 2026: Linzess, Jardiance, Eliquis, Januvia, Imbruvica and Ibrance. Linzess had the steepest drop, at 50%, followed by Jardiance at 44%, Eliquis at 43%, Januvia at 42%, Imbruvica at 41% and Ibrance at 18%. The negotiated Medicare prices for Ibrance and Linzess take effect in 2027, while the other four drugs’ negotiated prices took effect at the start of this year.   Still, the list price cuts were not consistent across all negotiated drugs. The analysis found that an additional six drugs with Medicare-negotiated prices did not have corresponding U.S. list price decreases. “Those savings aren’t necessarily going to reach other payers,” Purvis said during the briefing. “There’s more work that needs to be done.” The findings land as the Trump administration continues to push “most favored nation” pricing as a central part of its drug affordability agenda. The White House has said voluntary agreements with 17 major drugmakers could generate $529 billion in savings over the next decade, largely by tying future U.S. launch prices to prices in other high-income countries. AARP said international price comparisons could be folded into Medicare negotiations to amplify savings. The group also pointed to other potential reforms, including negotiating drug prices sooner after approval and expanding the number of drugs eligible for negotiation. 

China Medical System Holdings (HKEX: 0867), headquartered in Hong Kong, has received clinical trial approval from China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) to study its selective TYK2 inhibitor CMS-D001 in ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD), adding two inflammatory bowel disease indications to a development programme that already spans psoriasis and atopic dermatitis. CMS-D001 is an oral small molecule that selectively inhibits TYK2 (tyrosine kinase 2), a member of the JAK kinase family that sits upstream of inflammatory cytokine signalling pathways driven by IL-23, IL-12, and type I interferons. By targeting TYK2 specifically, the molecule is designed to suppress cytokine-mediated immune activation while minimising off-target activity on JAK1, JAK2, and JAK3 — the kinases implicated in the safety liabilities, including thrombosis and cardiovascular events, that carry black box warnings for pan-JAK inhibitors such as Pfizer’s tofacitinib (Xeljanz). The mechanistic rationale for a selective TYK2 inhibitor in IBD is grounded in the central role that IL-23 and IL-12 play in intestinal inflammation. Both cytokines signal through receptor complexes that require TYK2 activation, making TYK2 a logical intervention point in the pathological cascade underlying UC and CD. China Medical System said CMS-D001 exhibits enhanced precision in targeting these pathogenic mechanisms, and that its selectivity profile offers a differentiated safety proposition relative to broader JAK inhibitors currently used in clinical practice. The proof-of-concept for selective TYK2 inhibition in an immune-mediated disease already exists in a related indication: Bristol Myers Squibb’s deucravacitinib (Sotyktu) became the first FDA-approved TYK2 inhibitor when it received clearance for moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis in 2022. Deucravacitinib operates through an allosteric mechanism targeting the regulatory domain of TYK2, and its approval validated the hypothesis that TYK2 selectivity can deliver clinical efficacy with a cleaner safety profile than pan-JAK inhibition. CMS-D001 will need to demonstrate comparable or superior outcomes in its own indications, including in the more competitive IBD landscape. UC and CD are the two primary subtypes of inflammatory bowel disease, both characterised by chronic, relapsing inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. UC predominantly affects the colonic mucosa, presenting with abdominal pain, diarrhoea, and mucopurulent bloody stools. CD can involve the entire digestive tract and is associated with intestinal fistula, obstruction, weight loss, and a high rate of disability. Both conditions impose a prolonged disease course that substantially diminishes quality of life. In China, the patient population for these diseases is growing. According to a Frost & Sullivan report cited by the company, the number of UC patients in China rose from approximately 279,000 in 2015 to around 400,000 in 2019, and is projected to reach 918,000 by 2030. CD prevalence in China is estimated at 1.4 to 3.0 per 100,000 population, with an annual incidence of approximately 0.5 to 1.0 per 100,000, though underdiagnosis and misdiagnosis mean the true burden is likely higher. Current treatment options for mild-to-moderate IBD rely primarily on aminosalicylates and glucocorticoids. For moderate-to-severe disease, biologics and small-molecule targeted therapies are used, with JAK inhibitors demonstrating the highest clinical remission rates among small molecules. However, the company noted that the highest clinical remission rates with existing JAK inhibitors remain in the range of 30% to 40%, leaving a substantial proportion of patients without adequate disease control. This gap underpins the rationale for investigating a selective TYK2 inhibitor IBD programme. The NMPA clinical trial approval for UC and CD is the third such authorization for CMS-D001. The molecule first received NMPA approval for clinical trials in psoriasis in January 2024, followed by atopic dermatitis in July 2025. A Phase I study in healthy subjects has been completed, and Phase II trials in psoriasis and atopic dermatitis are currently ongoing, with the first subject enrolled in each. CMS-D001 is developed by Dermavon Holdings Limited, a subsidiary of China Medical System, which has exclusively licensed the IBD rights to the parent group. Dermavon retains rights to the dermatology indications. China Medical System framed the IBD approval explicitly within a portfolio strategy centred on digestive disease management. The group already markets Salofalk (mesalazine) for UC and CD, and Bioflor (saccharomyces boulardii sachets) for diarrhea. The company also noted pipeline synergies within Dermavon’s dermatology portfolio, which includes ruxolitinib phosphate cream and the investigational long-acting anti-IL-4Rα monoclonal antibody MG-K10. Future development of CMS-D001 in systemic lupus erythematosus is planned, though no regulatory filings for that indication have been announced. The TYK2 inhibitor class has not yet produced an approved therapy in IBD. Several programmes are in development globally, but none has reached registration-stage trials at the time of this approval. The NMPA CMS-D001 clinical trial approval therefore places China Medical System among the earlier movers in investigating this mechanism specifically for IBD, with the completed Phase I data providing a safety foundation for the next stage of development. This article was generated with AI assistance and reviewed and edited by the AllSci editorial team Explore more at AllSci News: https://allsci.com/news/ Your email address will not be published. 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