President Trump's bombshell executive order aimed at lowering U.S. drug prices is a step toward a worst-case scenario for the pharmaceutical industry. Some critics say the industry could have done more to avoid it, even though Trump's policies are causing turmoil in almost every sector of the economy. Trump's announcement could be the start of enormous global disruption for the pharmaceutical industry — or it's the least-bad version of what was on the table, depending on who you ask.
CMS said on Monday that it would announce a list of 15 drugs eligible for a third round of Medicare price negotiations by early February next year. For the first time, the list would include drugs payable under Medicare Part B - which covers medicines administered in a doctor's office or hospital - in addition to prescription drugs covered under Medicare Part D, CMS said.
People taking Eli Lilly's obesity drug, Zepbound, lost nearly 50% more weight than those using rival Novo Nordisk's Wegovy in the first head-to-head study of the blockbuster medications. Clinical trial participants who took tirzepatide, the drug sold as Zepbound, lost an average of 50 pounds over 72 weeks, while those who took semaglutide, or Wegovy, lost about 33 pounds. That's according to the study funded by Lilly, which was published this week in NEJM.
HHS says a recent Ascension Healthcare breach affected 437,329 patients. Ascension did not disclose the number of patients affected when it first reported the April 28 breach a couple of weeks ago. While it's a much smaller number than the 5.6 million people affected by the May 2024 breach involving ransomware group Black Basta, security pros still considered it a significant incident.
The IPO market has been largely dormant across the tech sector for the past three years, and within digital health, it’s been almost completely dead. After President Donald Trump announced a sweeping tariff policy that plunged U.S. markets into turmoil last month, taking a company public is an even riskier endeavor. Online lender Klarna delayed its long-anticipated IPO, as did ticket marketplace StubHub.
UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty is stepping down for personal reasons and the nation's largest health insurer suspended its full-year financial outlook due to higher-than-expected medical costs. Chairman Stephen Hemsley will become CEO, effective immediately, the Minnesota company said.