From Washington, DC —

• While on August recess, Congress is holding four out-of-town hearings.

• The recently proposed mental health parity rule was published in the Federal Register last Thursday. The deadline for public comments is October 2, 2023.

• WTOP reports,
  • “President Joe Biden has asked Cabinet officials to “aggressively execute” plans to bring federal employees back to their offices, ending a precedent of remote work that started during the COVID-19 pandemic three years ago, according to multiple sources.
  • “Axios first reported that White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients sent an email on Friday to every member of the Cabinet saying federal agencies must return to in-person work “because it is critical to the well-being of our teams and will enable us to deliver better results for the American people.”
  • “Zients said remote work won’t be completely eliminated, but that in-person time will be prioritized to “build a strong culture, trust, and interpersonal connections” within agencies, according to The Washington Post.”

From the public health front —

• Fortune Well provides more background on the new Sage Therapeutics drug that the Food and Drug Administration approved to treat post-partum depression last Friday.
  • “In trials, zuranolone [trade name Zurzuvae] showed a “rapid reduction of depressive symptoms starting as early as day three—after two doses of medicine—and showed continued improvement through day 15,” Deligiannidis said, adding that the drug continues to work even after patients stop taking it, for 45 days in all.
  • “The fast-acting, temporary nature of the drug stands in contrast to standard-of-care antidepressants that might otherwise be prescribed. Such medications—typically SSRIs, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which increase serotonin levels in the brain—usually take four to six weeks to begin to work, and two to three months to fully kick in, according to Deligiannidis. * * *
  • “Because zuranolone is a controlled substance, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration now has 90 days to assign a schedule to it. Earlier this week, Chepke predicted it would be designated a Schedule IV drug or one with a low potential for abuse and dependence like Xanax, Valium, Ativan, and Ambien.
  • “From there, he anticipated it would soon be in the hands of prescribers and patients, where it’s sorely needed. * * *
  • “Sage Therapeutics and co-developer Biogen had also applied for approval to use the drug in cases of major depressive disorder. The federal agency on Friday did not issue a ruling on such use.”

• NPR Shot tells us “Testing your genes for cancer risk is way cheaper now — and it could save your life.”

From the Rx coverage front —

• The FEHBlog wants to point out the Center for Biosimilars website, which is chock-a-block full of useful articles on this important topic.

• BioPharma Dive reports
  • “The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved a second medicine for a common type of vision loss, clearing a drug developed by biotechnology company Iveric Bio for geographic atrophy.
  • “The monthly eye injection, which will be sold as Izervay, is meant to slow the progression of the condition, which Iveric and its new owner, Japanese drugmaker Astellas Pharma, estimate affects 1.5 million people in the U.S.
  • “The FDA’s decision on Izervay follows about six months after the agency greenlighted the first geographic atrophy treatment, Apellis Pharmaceuticals’ Syfovre. Both drugs work by blocking a part of the immune system, slowing the growth of eye lesions and, in theory, preserving vision. Such a benefit on visual function hasn’t been proven yet, however.
  • “The medicines are expected to become blockbuster sellers.”

From the U.S. healthcare business front —

• KFF News offers “An Early Look at What is Driving Health Costs in 2024 ACA Markets.”
  • “This updated analysis of marketplace insurers’ early rate filings are requesting a median premium increase of 6% for 2024, which they say is largely due to price increases for medical care and prescription drugs. Insurers’ rate requests are preliminary and may change during the review process before being finalized in late summer.
  • “In addition to inflation’s impact on medical costs, insurers say the higher premiums are a result of growth in the utilization of health care, which fell in 2020 but has since returned to more normal levels.
  • “The analysis is available on the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker, an online information hub dedicated to monitoring and assessing the performance of the U.S. health system.”
• Although the FEHB is affected by the same cost drivers, OPM’s wise decision to approve the use of Part D EGWPs in the FEHB for 2024 will offset these cost drivers to a substantial extent.