I'm going to put "Is ciccio _||_ age an assumption?" on a t-shirt

Postdoc alert! The deadline for the position at @hmshcp.bsky.social is in a little over two weeks. If you are on the econ/health policy market and are interested in pharma, please consider applying! www.aeaweb.org/joe/listing....

I have terrible news. I took a sneak peek at current submission numbers for ASHEcon and the Prescription Drugs area is not number one. We're not even on the podium. Are we gonna let Health Systems and Health Care Financing win?

I'm the chair of the prescription drug area this year. Please send in all your pharma papers! The more submissions an area receives, the more we accept. If you need help putting together a session, check the single abstract listing (link at ashecon.org/2025-nashvil...) or email me!

Third takeaway: most other acquisitions seem to have no obvious effect on prices or coverage (caveat: drug prices move a lot, so it’s hard to detect these effects with precision)

Second takeaway: acquisitions that are not disclosed to the FTC are followed by massive increases in price, and large declines in formulary coverage (caveat: there are not that many of them!)

First takeaway: there is a lot of M&A! One third of all branded drugs are acquired prior to patent expiration. Most of them are acquired by companies that have NO other drug with a similar indication.

Research update: we have a new version of our pharma M&A paper! AND, we posted the data we collected on m&a deals. Links below, main takeaways in thread.
Paper summary: lucamaini.com/working-pape...
Full draft: lucamaini.com/s/feng_hwang...
Data: www.lucamaini.com/data

I have a few overdue research updates I will post about in the next week or two. But first, our department is hiring a postdoc to work with me on pharma topics. Posting here: benny.aeaweb.org/joe/listing....
Please circulate, and feel free to reach out with any questions!

For a small fee, I will send a dramatic reading in a heavy Italian accent

Is it weird that the FTC complaint against PBMs is the most riveting evening read I have done in years? www.ftc.gov/system/files...