The Biden administration plans to require Medicare and Medicaid to offer coverage of weight loss medications for patients seeking to treat obesity. The new rule, which was proposed by the administration on Tuesday, would dramatically expand access to anti-obesity medications like Wegovy, Ozempic and Mounjaro. Until now, Medicare and Medicaid have only provided insurance coverage for these drugs when they are used to treat conditions such as diabetes.
A highly anticipated obesity-drug candidate from biotech Amgen helped patients shed a significant amount of weight in a midstage study. Subjects taking Amgen's MariTide lost 20% of their body weight compared with those who received placebos, Amgen said Tuesday. Analysts had generally expected the drug to achieve weight reduction of 20% or more. The drug's most common side effects included nausea and vomiting. The news sent Amgen shares gyrating in premarket trading, falling as much as 10%, as investors parsed the company's announcement and awaited more details from a company conference call. Some analysts say the obesity-drug market, now dominated by Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk's GLP-1 drugs, could eventually reach more than $100 billion in annual sales worldwide, with Amgen taking as much as 10% to 15% of the pie.
President-elect Trump's plan to impose tariffs on imported goods will affect the prices of the approximately 75% of available U.S.-marketed medical devices that are manufactured out of the country, and more specifically the 69% of available U.S.-marketed devices that are manufactured solely outside of the U.S., according to GlobalData's Medsource Database, which collates data on the medical device supply chain. These tariffs may have negative consequences for a continually growing market due to an ageing population and increasing prevalence of long-term illnesses. As a result of these policy changes, companies will be forced to increase prices to make up for losses incurred by the proposed tariffs. Additionally, this may cause supply chain disruptions, reducing accessibility to medical devices and inflating the cost of these products due to the higher demand in comparison to the supply.
Pontiac General Hospital has filed for bankruptcy days after announcing the loss of Medicare funding and announcing over 240 layoffs. According to a court document, the hospital, located on 461 W. Huron St., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Saturday. The document shows the hospital has between $1 million and $10 million in assets, owes somewhere between $1 million and $10 million and has between 50 and 99 creditors. The hospital last week announced the layoffs of over 240 people after losing Medicare program funding.
Massachusetts has taken a big step when it comes to addressing the nursing shortage in the state, but some people say it still won’t solve current staffing problems.
On Wednesday, Gov. Maura Healey signed the state’s economic development bill, which included a measure to join the Nurse Licensure Compact. The agreement allows nurses to practice in other NLC-participating states — in person or via telehealth — without having to obtain a new license for that location.