Short Takes: June 13, 2025

This week in Compounding Interests. Scott explains why it’s time for Congress to tell the FDA to stop trying to create a memorandum of understanding with states on interstate distributions of compounded medications. That MOU is based, he explains, on a now-obsolete, 1997 provision in the FD&C Act. Check out “Let’s finally retire that MOU—and the 5% cap that comes with it”.

Lilly locks out compounders. Eli Lilly now says it will only work with telehealth firms that don’t offer compounded versions of semaglutide or tirzepatide. But some of those platforms are working with Novo Nordisk and continuing to offer compounded GLP-1s “to a limited group of patients who require non-standard [...] dosages of the medication.”

…well, sort of. Despite that agreement with Lilly, Yahoo! Finance in Australia is reporting that “Eli Lilly telehealth partners continue to sell compounded GLP-1 weight-loss drugs despite agreement not to”.

PBMs behind increasing BoP inspections and enforcement. State boards of pharmacy are cracking down more on independent pharmacies — or at least inspecting them more often — according to legal news site Mondaq. Why? A lot of it is pressure from PBMs, which can use a board’s disciplinary actions as a reason to kick a pharmacy from its network. (Or an entire pharmacy network; PBMs often have “cross-termination” contract clauses that mean one pharmacy’s discipline affects all its affiliated pharmacies. Unless, of course, it’s the PBMs’ own pharmacies.)