Despite a reprieve last summer from the Trump administration’s proposed drug price rebate rule, speakers at the 25th annual Pharmacy Benefit Manager Institute kept the focus on price transparency and talked up new ways to manage drug costs for patients in need of treatment. 

In an exclusive interview, Barbara Lueckel, global head of research technologies at Roche Pharma Partnering, talks about the rationale behind the 2020 deals with Bicycle Therapeutics and Nimble Therapeutics. She gives insight into how deal makers are shifting gears to make deals happen in the challenging environment of the global coronavirus pandemic.

DTC spending had shown an uptick in 2020 compared with 2019. Many advertisers are not, however, providing clear drug pricing information in their TV spots, despite some voluntary commitments to do so.