Eli Lilly is betting big on its experimental oral weight-loss drug even before reporting data from its late-stage trial by recording nearly $550 million in "pre-launch inventory" in its financial statements, a filing shows. The move is unusual as it comes more than a year before the drug, orforglipron, is expected to be launched. Most drugmakers include such inventories, or assets, in their financial statements to show how much drug product has been manufactured right before approval.
Current weight-loss methods such as lifestyle changes, surgery, and popular therapies like Novo Nordisk's Wegovy and Eli Lilly's Zepbound result in both fat and muscle loss that can increase the risk of falls and decrease overall strength, which could be especially harmful for older patients. Now, several drugmakers are developing weight-loss treatments that help preserve or grow muscles while patients shed pounds.
From drugmakers to doctors' organizations, groups thought to have the clout to steer policy and funding in Washington because they enjoyed bipartisan support and huge lobbying budgets have remained silent about Kennedy. They haven't spoken up even though he has accused them of fraud and conspiracy, and promised to hold them accountable.
That's not because they aren't worried, but because they didn't think they could stop him — or think the cost of speaking out would be too steep, five people representing health groups, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said. By staying mum, they hope to limit the fallout if Kennedy follows through on his plans to strip the industry to the studs.
Novartis agreed to acquire Blackstone Life Sciences' Anthos Therapeutics for up to $3.08 billion to boost its cardiovascular-drug pipeline. The deal means the Swiss pharmaceutical company retakes control over a treatment candidate for blood clots it licensed to Anthos when the Boston-based firm was launched in 2019.
President Trump's tariffs in China are in place and hitting all products imported from the country — including a number of pharmaceutical drugs that Americans rely upon. Chinese imports account for a significant proportion of U.S. prescriptions and over the counter drugs. Many of the Chinese-produced drugs are generics, which account for 91% of prescriptions dispensed in the U.S.
In 2023-24, CDC Estimates COVID-19 vaccination averted more than 5,000 US in-hospital deaths, 13,000 intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, and 68,000 hospitalizations in 7 months in 2023-2024, researchers from the CDC estimated, although with considerable uncertainty. The investigators estimated COVID-related deaths ... using a novel multiplier model that used causal inference, conditional probabilities of hospitalization, and correlations between data elements in simulations.