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Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline to create consumer health powerhouse. Pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline are combining their over-the-counter drugs and healthcare products to create a new joint venture. The drugs include well-known brands, such as the painkillers Advil and Excedrin, Sensodyne toothpaste, Tums and the vitamin brands Centrum and Caltrate. The companies plan to finalize the deal in the second half of 2019, and will split off the consumer part of the business after three years, at which point it will become the largest seller of over-the-counter products in the world. The new venture will have about $12.7 billion in joint sales annually, and will need to be approved by shareholders and regulators. The new company will be listed in London, which is where Glaxo is headquartered. Since last year, Pfizer has been looking to sell the over-the-counter part of the company, which makes up about 7 percent of its revenue. Most of its business is in prescription drugs, including blockbusters such as Viagra and Lipitor. Glaxo will have a 68 percent stake in the company and Pfizer will hold the rest.

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House E&C: DEA and drug distributors failed West Virginia on opioids. The Drug Enforcement Administration and drug distributors failed to address the opioid epidemic in West Virginia, revealed a report out this morning from the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The committee spent 18 months on the investigation in West Virginia, which has the highest rate of opioid overdoses in the U.S. “Our bipartisan investigation revealed systemic failures by both distributors and the DEA that contributed to – and failed to abate – the opioid crisis in West Virginia,” Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and ranking member Frank Pallone, Jr., D-N.J. “The majority staff report released today identified several flaws limiting the effectiveness of the distributors’ compliance programs and DEA’s enforcement.” The report places blame on drug companies, pharmacists, physicians, and drug traffickers. “This investigation has revealed that neither the DEA nor the distributors rose to the occasion to help mitigate the opioid epidemic,” the report reads.

Healthcare provisions tucked into Senate’s bipartisan prison sentencing reform bill. The Senate Tuesday approved a historic and bipartisan reform of the criminal justice system that aims to reduce the sentences of non-violent offenders and cut recidivism rates by helping prisoners productively rejoin society. The legislation, the First Step Act, contains healthcare-related provisions prohibiting pregnant women from being shackled and would ensure all people who are incarcerated are placed closer to family, a help to women who give birth and are separated from their newborns. It also would abolish the use of solitary confinement for youth in federal facilities. “Youth placed in solitary confinement face devastating consequences including depression, sleeplessness, psychosis, and hallucinations,” Sue Mangold, CEO of Juvenile Law Center, said in a statement. “Youth solitary confinement can lead to self-harm and even suicide.” With the House of Representatives almost certain to pass the bill, the Senate vote sets up a major legislative victory for President Trump – who has promised to sign it – as he approaches the halfway point of his four-year term. The legislation, with the help of the White House, won an easy Senate majority despite conservative GOP opponents and the early reluctance of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who had just weeks ago downplayed the likelihood of taking up the measure this year.

Senate hopes to avoid Christmas shutdown with two-month spending bill. Senate appropriators are considering a two-month spending bill to avoid a partial government shutdown over the Christmas break. The measure would keep the Department of Homeland Security and eight other government departments operating until Feb. 8 and would avert a government shutdown at the end of this week, when current funding expires, leadership aides told the Washington Examiner. The short-term solution would have the approval of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., a Democratic leadership source said. But it’s not clear whether Trump would sign a temporary funding measure. Senate Republican leaders said Tuesday they are still searching for a deal to fund the departments through the end of the year that would provide enough border security and wall funding to satisfy President Trump. The short-term plan could be used if a longer deal can’t be reached by Friday, said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.

Report: Breast cancer screening and survival high among U.S. women. Nearly 80 percent of U.S. women over age 50 are screened for breast cancer, according to a study released Wednesday by the Commonwealth Fund. The study compared 11 different countries, and rates of screening were only higher in Sweden, at 90 percent of women. U.S. women also have among the highest rates of breast cancer survival, trailing only Norway, Sweden, and Australia.  

But that was the end of good news on health outcomes for U.S. women in the report. It found in other areas U.S. women have the highest death rate from complications during pregnancy and childbirth and are more likely to have chronic illnesses. Thirty percent or more of women in the U.S., Sweden, and Canada reported they experienced emotional distress during the past two years, including anxiety and depression.

Most voters support Trump proposed drug changes to Medicare Part B. That’s according to a survey out this morning from Patients for Affordable Drugs, which found 45 percent of respondents believed patients would receive better care and that 36 percent said it would have no impact on the care patients receive. The plan would the Part B portion of Medicare, which pays for drugs given in hospitals and at the doctor’s office, to negotiate prices to bring them more in line with what people pay for treatments when they are covered by private health insurance. Democrats who were surveyed said, “Even though I don’t normally agree with President Trump, his efforts to lower prescription drug costs for Medicare Part B should be supported by the Democratic majority in Congress.” Eighty-three percent of Republican voters said the same about GOP members of Congress. Only 9 percent of voters reported that they believed that drug prices were high because of the cost of developing new drugs. Half said that companies hike their prices to increase profits.

CMS asks for input on Accrediting Organizations and conflicts of interest. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has asked for input on financial relationships between CMS-approved Accrediting Organizations and the healthcare facilities they review and monitor.  Some of these organizations charge fees to the facilities they monitor when they provide consulting services, and CMS wants to know whether that should be viewed as a conflict of interest. “We are concerned that the practice of offering both accrediting and consulting services – and the financial relationships involved in this work – may undermine the integrity of accrediting organizations and erode the public’s trust,” CMS Administrator Seema Verma said in a statement. “Our data shows that state-level audits of healthcare facilities are uncovering serious issues that AOs have missed, leading to high ‘disparity rates’ between the two reviews.”

CDC: Nearly two-thirds of women use birth control. Nearly 65 percent of women, or 72.2 million women, use some form of contraception, according to data released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The most common from was sterilization in women, at 18.6 percent, and the pill was second at 12.6 percent. Sterilization tended to increase with age, and the pill to decrease with age. Use of long-acting reversible contraceptives was higher among women aged 20–29, at 13.1 percent. The study surveyed women between the ages of 15 and 49.

RUNDOWN

Washington Post An opioid epidemic nobody talks about

The Associated Press Mississippi appeal seeks to revive 15-week abortion ban

New York Times The world needs a urine test for TB. But it’s already here.

CNN New year brings altered landscape for abortion battle

Propublica and Politifact The VA’s private care program gave companies billions and vets longer waits

Politico Obamacare ruling could cut deeper than many Americans realize