Pharma Pulse: PBM Crackdowns and Lilly’s $3.8B Vaccine Spree

Welcome to Pharma Pulse, a Pharmaceutical Commerce podcast bringing you the latest insights shaping patient access, regulatory policy, and healthcare innovation. I'm your host, and let's get into today's headlines.

First up, two separate bills were marked up and advanced by House committees, signaling a bipartisan push for pharmacy benefit manager reform. The PBM Kickback Prohibition Act (H.R. 7895) cleared the House Education and Workforce Committee with a unanimous 34-0 vote last week, aiming to tackle opaque financial kickback frameworks. Meanwhile, the Ways and Means Committee advanced the Main Street Pharmacy Access Act (H.R. 3164) to expand Medicare reimbursement for certain pharmacist test-and-treat services, a move advocates say will help protect independent pharmacies and fill critical gaps in rural healthcare deserts.

In cold chain news, UK-based Macfarlane Packaging has announced a strategic partnership with German cold chain solutions provider eutecma to bring its PROTECT and ICECATCH solutions to the UK healthcare and pharmaceutical supply chains. The alliance introduces eutecma’s PROTECT modular insulated box system alongside its ICECATCH cooling elements, which together provide up to 120 hours of guaranteed temperature stability for sensitive cargo.¹

The reusable modular configurations are engineered to eliminate "shipping air" by adjusting sizes to match specific shipments, lowering freight costs. Additionally, the partnership introduces retecma, a circular reverse logistics framework designed to recover, recondition, and recycle components to meet corporate sustainability goals.

In M&A news, Eli Lilly is broadening its reach into infectious disease prevention, striking definitive agreements to acquire three private vaccine developers in cash deals totaling up to $3.83 billion. Moving beyond its signature metabolic and oncology franchises, Lilly’s strategy targets infection prevention at its source to counter the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance.

Lilly will spend up to $1.5 billion to acquire the Washington-based Curevo and its Phase II shingles vaccine asset, amezosvatein. Lilly will also pay up to $780 million for LimmaTech Biologics, and an additional $1.55 billion to acquire Vaccine Company and its Epstein-Barr virus vaccine platform.

And finally, inventory tracking technology and clinical hardware are converging as Intelliguard and Accucold announced a strategic product integration to incorporate the RFID-enabled Mira Care Inventory Cabinet into Accucold’s Pharma-Vac medical refrigeration line. The integration embeds Intelliguard's open, interoperable RFID technology directly into Accucold’s widely deployed healthcare refrigeration units, providing hospitals with real-time, item-level visibility over high-value, cold-chain medications.

Operating within the unified Mira Ecosystem, the smart cabinets automatically track medication location, expiration status, recall exposure, user access logging, and temperature data. The launch addresses real-world operational risks in hospital cold storage.

That's it for this episode of Pharma Pulse. For more insights on trends transforming pharmaceutical access, visit pharmaceuticalcommerce.com. Thanks for listening—until next time, stay well and stay informed.

You can catch Pharma Pulse directly on Audioboom, Spotify, or iHeart.

Reference

1. Macfarlane Packaging. “Macfarlane Packaging Introduces Eutecma’s Innovative Cold Chain System in the UK.” Macfarlane Packaging, https://macfarlanepackaging.com/news/macfarlane-packaging-introduces-eutecmas-innovative-cold-chain-system-in-the-uk/. Accessed 27 May 2026.