Content about Health in the People's Republic of China

SAN FRANCISCO — While pressure to grow will drive more large drug makers to pursue mergers and acquisitions, diminished resources and competition from biotech and specialty pharmaceutical companies will challenge their ability to do so, according to a new report.

WASHINGTON — The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on Wednesday released a staff report on the investigation into the gray market for pharmaceuticals — what the committee defined as "shady operators who make enormous profits by buying hard-to-find drugs and reselling them at huge markups" — specifically naming pharmacies as a primary culprit.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Even as Justice Antonin Scalia suggested that mandating all Americans buy healthcare insurance was akin to Big Government saying to Joe Consumer, "Hey, eat your broccoli," one underlying theme became apparent: Health care isn't cheap and won't be getting any cheaper — unless everybody does in fact eat their broccoli. And that makes the value inherent in self-care, the cost-savings readily associated with the use of over-the-counter medicines and nutritional supplements, an evergreen proposition.

WATERTOWN, Mass. — Novartis plans to pay up to $440 million for rights to a drug for treating hepatitis C made by Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Enanta said.

Enanta said it had made a licensing agreement with the Swiss drug maker for the worldwide development, manufacturing and commercialization of the drug EDP-239, which works by inhibiting NS5A, a protein that is key to the virus' replication.

ST. LOUIS — Pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts will provide services for patients using a drug to manage a debilitating side effect of many anti-cancer treatments, ESI said.

ARLINGTON, Va. — Distributors of specialty drugs save the healthcare industry an estimated $3.5 billion per year by using extensive measures to ensure safe delivery, according to a new report by the Center for Healthcare Supply Chain Research, the research foundation of the Healthcare Distribution Management Association.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — Despite a difficult economy and rising health costs, the benefits of an integrated pharmacy service were evident as CVS Caremark helped its pharmacy benefit manager clients — employers, health plans and third-party administrators — manage pharmacy costs, according to the company's annual "Insights Report."

DUBLIN, Ohio Cardinal Health is looking to expand the pharmaceutical segment of its business by acquiring a pharmaceutical distributor serving the New York metropolitan area.

The company said its acquisition of Kinray for $1.3 billion in an all-cash transaction would significantly expand its ability to serve retail independent pharmacies in the northeastern United States. Kinray currently serves more than 2,000 retail independent pharmacy customers as a distributor of both branded and generic pharmaceuticals.

WILMINGTON, Del. AstraZeneca will provide medications free of charge to qualifying patients in Sacramento, Calif., through its prescription savings program, the Anglo-Swedish drug maker said Wednesday.