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Tyler Green is the producer and host of The Modern Art Notes Podcast, the editor of the Modern Art Notes website, and the columnist for Modern Painters magazine.
Follow @TylerGreenDC and @nytimesphoto on Twitter. Lens is also on Facebook.
Don't be caught off-guard. Drugmakers are facing a new mandate -- cut prices or be banned.
Here's what's afoot. Health plans are increasingly refusing to cover certain drugs unless companies -- including Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK)-- charge less for them.
CVS Caremark, the nation's second-largest pharmacy benefit manager, excluded 70 drugs this year. In 2015, CVS plans to exclude around 200. Express Scripts this year excluded 48 drugs or medical products from its formulary.
Formularies are lists of drugs a health plan covers. Once a drug is dropped from a formulary, individuals have to pay full price, or switch to a rival company's drug. Both Pfizer and Glaxo have been taking a hard line about pricing, and expecting customers to stick with their drugs. But they're finding out that's dead ...
When Express Scripts, the nation's biggest pharmacy benefit manager, refused to pay Advair's price last year, Advair volume dropped by 5% (although revenue still increased due to a bump from pricing).
This signifies the beginning of a potentially exciting trend for patients, as drugmakers willing to price more reasonably are the new winners. For example, picking up Advair's lost sales was AstraZeneca's (NYSE:AZN) rival inhaler Symbicort.
Symbicort has been coming in second best to Advair for years. But no doubt in part because the less-expensive inhaler remained on the formulary lists, sales of Symbicort grew 13% in Q1, according to SEC filings.
Big Pharma has been depending on drug pricing increases to offset the patent cliff for years. Last year, patent expiries reduced spending on medicines by $19 billion, according to a report issued by IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics. However, total dollars spent on medications actually increased 3.2% to $329.2 b...
Xeljanz, Pfizer's rheumatoid arthritis treatment, was also banned from the Express Scripts formulary.
That's particularly bad news for Pfizer, because Xeljanz was supposed to be a blockbuster. Early projections forecast peak annual sales of $3 billion a year. Instead, Xeljanz sold a wretched $114 million last year (although to be fair, sales are definitely still ramping). Analysts are now saying Xeljanz will be lucky t...
Pfizer has been depending on two potential blockbusters, Xeljanz and Eliquis, to help fill the gaping hole left by the patent loss of Lipitor. But unfortunately, blood thinner Eliquis is also in trouble. Peak sales for Eliquis were projected at $3 billion to $5 billion. Analysts now peg Eliquis sales (for Pfizer, Brist...
During last quarter's conference call, Pfizer executives were asked specifically whether the company would be willing to discount the price of Xeljanz to counter its loss of market share. Pfizer execs took a hard line in the conference call -- insisting they would build on the drug's positive results in clinical trials...
A June study of a generic cocktail could complicate things further for Xeljanz. Data showed that a combination of methotrexate and two other generics worked as well at a fraction of the price -- about $1,000 a year, compared with the $25,000 Pfizer charges for Xeljanz.
Notably, Eli Lilly executives, who were also grilled about soaring prices and excluded drugs in their company call, took a different tack. Enrique Conterno, who runs the diabetes business at Eli Lilly, said, "We need to be competitive whenever a payer basically makes the decision that they are going to narrow the formu...
Pfizer is weathering a difficult period, and I think that Pfizer may be showing overconfidence in their refusal to discount. Pfizer's overconfidence was also on display in the company's unsuccessful pursuit of AstraZeneca.
In terms of Glaxo, the company seems to be having a lot of trouble right now. What with the bribery scandal in China, and increasing inroads of generic competitors, the loss of sales in Advair comes at a particularly bad time.
Glaxo is pinning a lot of its hopes on Breo, its new entrant into chronic obstructive pulmonary disease field. According to Bloomberg however, Breo has only captured less than 1% of the market since its launch late last year.
Some analysts believe drug companies will keep their pricing power -- after all, drug prices in the U.S. are not regulated.
But hindsight is not foresight. Two years ago government austerity measures in Europe targeted soaring drug costs and revenue flattened for many pharmaceutical companies. If the United States follows suit, and measures like the Medicare bill to negotiate prices that recently stalled in Congress eventually get passed, t...
No one knows when -- or even if -- that will happen. But even having key drugs banned from formulary lists is enough of a jolt to create some significant risks.
How was your local area affected by the Irish famine? Find out in new interactive map tracking population changes parish by parish.
A new map developed by a researcher at Queen’s University Belfast allows you to track the devastating effect of the Irish famine on your local area parish by parish.
Part of a broader research project entitled "The Causes and Consequences of the Great Irish Famine" and led by Dr Alan Fernihough, Lecturer in Economics from Queen’s Management School, the research examines both the contributing factors and outcomes of the famine, in this case looking at the shifts in population in Ire...
“As expected, we found from the research that the population dramatically decreased after the famine due to the high number of deaths and high levels of people emigrating,” said Dr. Fernihough.
An example from the map. Image: The Irish Famine Project.
The Great Hunger was the largest and most deadly disaster in Irish history in which one million died and over a million more emigrated. The latest research looks at exactly how the hunger, starvation, and disease that overtook the country between 1845 and 1851 affected different areas, with some experiencing a massive ...
“The devastating effect of the Great Famine on the Irish population is well known. However, the uneven spatial distribution of the famine’s impact is given less attention,” continued Dr. Fernihough.
A million lives were lost and over a further million people emigration. This famine graveyard is in Dingle, Co. Kerry.
Looking at a wide number of contemporary data sources, including the 1841 and 1851 Census of Ireland and the Poor Law Commissioners reports, the map breaks up the country by civil parish and allows you to zone in on any given part of the country to compare population. Those looking at the website on their phone can use...
“The website will be of interest to anyone looking to find out more about the Irish Famine,” Dr. Fernihough continued.
“It’s not just about population loss, the website contains information on the impact of the famine on the proportion of families in poor housing, agriculture, alongside information on literacy. It is a piece of history that you can touch.
You can find more information or try out the map for yourself at https://irishfamineproject.com/.
Yousif Mohammed is only eighteen, but he has more than forty-two thousand kills to his name. It’s an outstanding record, even if his battleground is a virtual one: he is one of the world’s top players in the online video game Battlefield 3. A realistic military first-person “shooter” that sold more than eight million c...
In 2006, while Baghdad was still experiencing the war’s aftermath, ten-year-old Mohammed was playing in a park in the city with a friend when he saw a man in a parked car leaning out of the window, staring at them through a camcorder’s viewfinder. Believing that he would appear on television that night, Mohammed hurrie...
“At that time, there was a gang operating in the area that kidnapped kids and demanded money for their release—around fifty thousand dollars,” she told me. The gang operated in the Mansour district, a relatively wealthy neighborhood in western Baghdad, where the family lived. Typically, the gang released the children a...
Today, Mohammed is an aspiring doctor, as well as one of the country’s top video-game players. After his family resettled, he threw himself into gaming, both as a means of escape and to make new friends. He excels at the latest blockbuster American titles, particularly first-person shooters like Battlefield 3, a game t...
His parents’ generation views his hobby with some distrust: like Western parents, they worry about shooting games and the possibility that they could encourage violence. But, for the most part, Mohammed’s parents supported the hobby, because it kept him inside and safe. For the same reason, many Iraqi children are enco...
Nevertheless, finding stock for Alanseri’s store shelves can be a challenge. “It’s not easy for me to get new games,” he said. “Mostly we import from online sites like Amazon.” Relatively few video games have been created by Iraqis. “Many games created here are not good enough to be published,” said Abdulla. “There is ...
“I think, in the next few years, piracy will fade away,” said Alanseri. “The purchasing power for our country has increased, so that people are now more able to afford official games.” A more profound change that may reduce the piracy of contemporary titles is the arrival of online games, which are more difficult to co...
Many of these first-person shooters, often created with input from U.S. military advisers—a handful of Navy SEALs was punished for consulting on the 2012 video game Medal of Honor: Warfighter—are set against the backdrop of fictionalized real-world conflicts, often within Middle Eastern countries. Some have entire sect...
Video games will not solve Iraq’s ongoing challenges. But for some young Iraqis, they do provide more than a mere distraction from the terrors of life in the country. The social connections that they encourage, both within Iraq and beyond, have built empathy in ways that may have a profound effect on the way some young...
About 1 to 2 grams of a powdery substance was found yesterday after a routine shakedown of Post 7 inside the prison, Director Lamorena said.
About 1 to 2 grams of a yet unidentified substance that has only been described as “powdery” was found in a water cooler during a routine shakedown of Post 7 on Monday at the Department of Corrections, according to DOC Director Alberto “Tony” Lamorena V.
Last month, prison officials intercepted a shipment of suspected cocaine that was meant to be delivered to an inmate.
A corrections officer noticed a suspicious envelope addressed to an inmate, which contained a small, sealed plastic package containing a white, powdery substance that tested presumptive positive for cocaine, officials said.
The question might now be asked of Los Angeles Clippers players faced with a potential moral quandary about how to react if racist sentiments captured on an audio recording were, in fact, made by the Clippers’ owner, Donald Sterling.
Do the players boycott the rest of their playoff series against Golden State? Do they write their boss a letter of protest and dismay? Do they simply soldier on without comment?
During the 10-minute conversation, reportedly between Sterling and a female friend, the owner asks her why she insists on parading her friendships with blacks, and at one point asks her not to bring “them” to Clippers games. The man — identified as Sterling by TMZ.com, the gossip website that released the recording — c...
If it were anyone other than Sterling, you might be willing to give the benefit of the doubt as to the authenticity of the recording.
But Sterling has such an outrageous and public track record of antiblack behavior that it does not seem to be a reach.
In 2009, Sterling agreed to pay $2.725 million to settle a housing discrimination lawsuit brought by the government that claimed that he refused to rent apartments to Hispanics, blacks and families with children in buildings he owned in the Koreatown area of Los Angeles.
The same year, Elgin Baylor, the former general manager of the Clippers, filed a lawsuit against Sterling, contending that the owner embraced a “vision of a Southern plantation-type structure” for his organization. The claim was eventually rejected.
The question before the new N.B.A. commissioner, Adam Silver — who presides over a league with a majority of black players — is what action should be taken if it is confirmed that Sterling is the source of these comments.
The more compelling question for the league’s players is whether they will speak out — or act out — against Sterling. And what about the league’s other owners? How will they respond? Will they remain silent? Will they issue a collective statement? Or will individual owners like the usually vocal Mark Cuban, who decline...
In the statement, Paul said the players association had sought the counsel of Kevin Johnson, the mayor of Sacramento and a former N.B.A. star, to determine an appropriate response.
The Clippers responded to the news of the tape with their own statement, saying that they had started an investigation into the authenticity of the recording.
The Clippers have gone past the first round of the playoffs just twice under Sterling, who has owned the team since 1981. Here they are, leading Golden State, two games to one, and playing well. They waited so long to emerge from the Lakers’ shadow, only to be overtaken by the longer shadow of their owner.
“I feel sorry for my friends Coach Doc Rivers and Chris Paul, that they have to work for a man that feels that way about African-Americans,” Johnson said on Twitter.
The Clippers’ players find themselves in a no-win predicament: play it safe and keep quiet, or speak out and take a stand on principle.
I suspect the players are hoping against hope that the voice caught on tape does not belong to Sterling — so they will not have to make a choice.
A Sports of The Times column in some editions last Sunday, about the moral quandary presented by the audio recording of racist remarks by Donald Sterling, the owner of Los Angeles Clippers, referred incorrectly to the number of black majority owners in the N.B.A. There is one — Michael Jordan of the Charlotte Bobcats; ...
The band played on: Several bands marched down Third Avenue.
March to the beat: Fort Hamilton High School’s marching band provided the tunes for the 151st Kings County Memorial Day Parade in Bay Ridge on May 28.
Patriotic wheels: Fran Di Bacco posed with his American flag-adorned classic car commemorating his brother, who died in the Battle of Midway in World War II.
Dads’ day out: Donny Tang and Alan Lam had fun at the festivities with 5-year-old daughter Elise, 6-year-ol son Gavin, 4-year-old son Mason, and 2-year-old son Darren.
Wild wheels: Tanks wheeled down the streets of the Ridge.
Electeds take a walk: Justin Brannan and Bronx Borough President Rubén Díaz Jr. strolled down Third Avenue.
Handshake: Congressman Dan Donovan and State Sen. Marty Golden spoke to Korea War veteran Joseph DiSalvo.
Bay Ridge: Taps for Ridge memorial parade?
Call it a Memorial Day walk down memory lane.
Ridgites lined Third Avenue on May 28 for the borough’s 151st annual Memorial Day Parade — which is also one of the nation’s oldest — to honor those who sacrificed their lives while serving the country. Throngs of locals took in the floats and familiar faces along the 1.5-mile route, from 78th Street to John Paul Jones...
Superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Lieutenant General Robert L. Caslen, Jr., served as the parade’s grand marshal, leading it along with the deputy marshals: Army Vietnam veteran Barry Berger, and retired Marine George Broadhead and Army veteran Thomas Trombone — both of whom served in ...
Marching bands from the nearby McKinley Intermediate School and far-away Gardner, Kansas, kept the crowd entertained, and students from the neighborhood’s St. Anselm Catholic Academy, Fort Hamilton’s Junior Reserve Officer’s Training Corps program, and Bensonhurst’s Bishop Kearney High School marched behind the bands.
Seven floats — honoring veterans from the Korean and Vietnam wars, Catholic veterans, and other veterans organizations — led the procession to the park, where a bagpiper played “Amazing Grace” and attendees watched a 21-gun salute, and finally taps played by Fort Hamilton High School students. The effect was quite movi...
“It was really emotional,” he said.
Some parade-goers found ways to remember soldiers’ great sacrifices while having some fun. One loyal attendee from the distant land of New Jersey paid his respects to his late brother — who died in a naval battle in World War II — in the same way he has for the past five years: by driving his American flag-adorned 1976...
“I love coming up to New York, and the people react incredibly to the car,” said Fran Di Bacco.
Di Bacco said he never forgot what it was like to learn his brother died in 1942 — and that his annual participation in the parade is a way to honor his memory.
Aalbue said the parade committee is also thinking about new ways to memorialize veterans, and soon they’ll start planning next year’s procession.
“We’re going to meet next week and start planning the 152nd parade,” he said.
As the opioid epidemic continues to grow, local EMTs and athletic trainers learn the skills they need to save lives.
As the opioid epidemic continues to grow, local EMTs and athletic trainers learn the skills they need to save lives. The folks at Bridgewater State University realized how massive this epidemic has become and it prompted them to team up with local police officers to get this done.
Bridgewater police and fire officials say they're using Narcan frequently to stop a drug overdose while its happening. They put on Thursday's training in hopes of getting as many people in the community trained on what to do in an emergency so that more lives can be saved.
First responders just did everything they can to save a man's life, giving him Narcan in the midst of an overdose. Except this situation on the BSU campus isn't real, it's just something first responders are becoming all too familiar with.
"There's been an increase in Massachusetts and the region in general and the students are from all over Massachusetts and Southeastern Massachusetts which is being hit pretty hard by the opioid epidemic," says Detective Sergeant Robert McEvoy with the Bridgewater State University Police.
The mock overdose put on by the university and local police and fire officials is to train the community on what to do during a crisis.
"You want as many people as possible to be trained for the awareness and to be trained with Narcan to be able to save lives," says McEvoy.
Right now, Bridgewater and campus police carry Narcan and say they're having to use it more and more. Not necessarily on campus, but the concern is in the surrounding areas.
On Thursday, dozens of people attended the exercise mainly directed at athletic trainers. Many who deal with injured athletes that get hooked on pain pills.
"You never know when there might be that one time where they combine things before practice or even during practice where they need something to get through and you need to be prepared for the best way to treat them," says Alan Segee, an athletic trainer in Providence.
Law enforcement also says that recently it's been taking more than just 1 dose of Narcan to stop an overdose because of everything that's being cut in with heroin.
With the arrival of winter and the possibility that motorists may have to drive in inclement weather, the Highway Patrol is offering simple and safe driving tips. The weather in North Carolina is unpredictable and this time of year you never know when to expect black ice, snow, icy roads or a mixture of road conditions...
"Winter brings new obstacles and responsibilities that the motoring public will experience when inclement weather moves into our state. Despite a rather mild winter so far, North Carolina�s weather can often change from one day to the next,� says Patrol spokesman, First Sergeant Jeff Gordon.
Here are a few simple steps to help keep you on the road and less anxious.
To check the status of road conditions, motorists are asked to go to the Department of Transportation�s website at http://www.ncdot.gov/travel/. The public is not advised to dial 911 or the Highway Patrol Communication Centers for road conditions.
However, citizens can contribute to highway safety by reporting erratic drivers to the Highway Patrol by dialing Hp or 47 on their cellular phones. Callers will remain anonymous and should give a description of the vehicle, location, direction of travel and license number if possible.
Cajun artist George Rodrigue once again shared his talents with Friends for Life and helped the no kill shelter bring in a whopping $450,000 during its "Night of Art for the Animals" at River Oaks Country Club. That high figure was thanks to a major fan who underwrote the entire cost of the evening.
An original of the artist's famed Blue Dog character, painted especially for the non-profit, brought in $45,000. In a further gesture on behalf of homeless animals, Rodrigue gifted each table holder and major sponsor with an autographed print of one of his iconic works.

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