2024

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Opinion: The DEA’s 2025 quotas for opioids will leave seriously ill patients in pain

STAT

A woman sat in our emergency department in agonizing pain, feeling shaky, nauseous, and weak — drug withdrawal was setting in. But she wasn’t a “junkie” or even a recreational drug user. She was in her mid-60s with advanced cancer in her ovaries that had spread to her abdomen, causing unbearable pain. She was my patient — let’s call her Teresa.

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The 2024 PharmaVoice 100

PharmaVoice

This year’s PharmaVoice 100 encompasses the industry’s ongoing revolutions and leaders who are not only navigating these changes, but at times, forging new paths for others to follow.

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STAT+: Teva fined $503 million for disparaging a rival and using patents to thwart competition

STAT

Teva Pharmaceutical, the world’s largest generic drugmaker, was fined $503 million by European antitrust regulators for delaying competition to a blockbuster multiple sclerosis medicine. The European Commission found the company had artificially extended the patent protection of Copaxone and systematically spread misleading information about a rival product.

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The recovery community says it offers refuge from opioid addiction. But it’s still hostile to lifesaving addiction medications 

STAT

The last time Mark Palinski went to a Narcotics Anonymous meeting, he was asked to leave and never come back. He stills remembers the argument: All he had done was advocate for the use of the “gold standard” treatment opioid addiction, a common medication called buprenorphine.  To Palinski, buprenorphine is a godsend.

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From Diagnosis to Delivery: How AI is Revolutionizing the Patient Experience

Speaker: Simran Kaur, Founder & CEO at Tattva Health Inc.

The healthcare landscape is being revolutionized by AI and cutting-edge digital technologies, reshaping how patients receive care and interact with providers. In this webinar led by Simran Kaur, we will explore how AI-driven solutions are enhancing patient communication, improving care quality, and empowering preventive and predictive medicine. You'll also learn how AI is streamlining healthcare processes, helping providers offer more efficient, personalized care and enabling faster, data-driven

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‘I want help’: Behind bars, pleas for addiction medications often go nowhere

STAT

James Mannion knew what he needed. For nine months, while incarcerated in a county jail in Portland, Maine, he pleaded for a medication called buprenorphine. Mannion, a barber, recreational fisherman, and father of two, was once a regular heroin user, but had used the medication to eliminate the cravings and withdrawal he experienced whenever he tried to quit opioids cold turkey.

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STAT+: Next-gen obesity treatment from Novo Nordisk misses mark in pivotal trial

STAT

Novo Nordisk’s next-generation obesity candidate led patients to lose a substantial amount of weight in a pivotal study but fell short of expectations, results that cast into doubt the future competitiveness of the company in the booming weight loss market. The treatment, called CagriSema, led patients to lose 20% of their weight at 68 weeks in a late-stage study when looking at all participants, including those who dropped out, Novo said Friday.

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STAT+: BridgeBio wins FDA approval for heart disease drug

STAT

The Food and Drug Administration approved on Friday a new medicine from BridgeBio for patients with a progressive heart disease — the first new treatment for the condition in over five years and the company’s first significant commercial product. The drug, known scientifically as acoramidis, will be sold by BridgeBio under the brand name Attruby.

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STAT+: AI versus AI: The emerging arms race over health insurance denials

STAT

Like many Americans, Holden Karau said she was fed up with health insurance. The software engineer’s disillusionment began in 2019, when her insurer, UnitedHealthcare, balked at covering physical therapy after she was hit by a car and could not walk. She said the hassles piled on stress, forced her to pay more out of pocket, and delayed access to care she needed to recover from multiple broken bones.

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CDC finds no evidence of bird flu virus in California toddler

STAT

Testing of samples taken from a child in California thought to have contracted H5N1 bird flu after drinking raw milk turned up no evidence of influenza viruses, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.  A test run on a sample from the child — who went to a Marin County emergency department last week with a fever and vomiting — had been positive there for flu A.

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STAT+: RFK Jr. is exploring a plan to upend Medicare’s physician payments system

STAT

WASHINGTON  — People close to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are exploring a proposal that could upend how physician payment is determined in America, four sources familiar with the process told STAT.

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Why Every Small Business Needs an HCM Solution: A Comprehensive Guide

Managing HR tasks like payroll, compliance, and employee data can overwhelm small businesses. That’s where a Human Capital Management (HCM) solution comes in. Our eBook, Why Every Small Business Needs an HCM Solution: A Comprehensive Guide , shows how an HCM system automates tedious processes, ensuring your business stays compliant and efficient. You’ll learn how to simplify payroll, eliminate costly errors, and empower your employees with self-service tools.

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STAT+: Eli Lilly strikes Zepbound deal with Ro, amid questions about future of compounded GLP-1s

STAT

Eli Lilly, which has been directing patients to various telehealth sites as it sells its blockbuster obesity medication Zepbound, is broadening its reach, announcing a partnership Wednesday with major telehealth platform Ro Health. Under the new agreement, patients will be able to order vials of Zepbound through Ro’s app. Previously, Lilly had only made these vials, which are priced lower than its injectable pens, available to patients with prescriptions ordering directly through an onlin

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STAT+: Ohio court sides with CVS, Walmart, and Walgreens in opioid case

STAT

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that three of the largest pharmacy chain operators in the U.S. could not be held liable under a state nuisance law for contributing to the long-running opioid crisis. In a 5-to-2 vote, the court determined that the law barred two Ohio counties from obtaining a $650.9 million judgement that was won in a federal court against CVS Health, Walgreens, and Walmart.

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STAT+: For the behemoth UnitedHealth, a new threat to Medicare profits

STAT

For the nation’s largest health insurer, the evidence of abuse was stunning and unmistakable: UnitedHealth Group reaped billions from the federal Medicare program by diagnosing patients with serious chronic illnesses, and then delivering no follow-up care. The findings in the federal report reveal that UnitedHealth repeatedly sent clinicians into patients’ homes and pored over their medical charts to add diagnoses for illnesses such as vascular disease, heart failure, and diabetes.

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Opinion: ‘Do no harm’ is hurting 400 million long Covid patients worldwide

STAT

Imagine, for a moment, that you wake up one morning with a debilitating illness that won’t let go. Weeks and months pass, but the crushing fatigue, constant headaches, and aching muscles remain. You can’t think straight. Simply showering or doing the dishes leaves you floored for days at a time, and the unpredictable symptoms — shortness of breath, dizziness, a racing heart — ebb and flow without warning.

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Best Practices to Streamline Compensation Management: A Foundation for Growth

Speaker: Joe Sharpe and James Carlson

Payroll optimization can be one of the most time-consuming and complex factors of small business management. Yet, organizations that crack the code on streamlining employee compensation often discover innovative avenues for growth. With the right strategies in place, outsourcing and streamlining payroll processes can result in substantial time and resource savings.

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STAT+: UnitedHealth was top insurer collecting billions in questionable Medicare payments, federal watchdog finds

STAT

A federal watchdog found that Medicare Advantage insurers collected billions of dollars in dubious payments from Medicare in a single year by using home visits and medical chart reviews to diagnose patients with conditions for which they received no follow-up care.    A report released Thursday by the Office of Inspector General for the Health and Human Services Department concluded that insurers collectively received an estimated $7.5 billion in payments last year from so-called

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STAT+: Chickenpox, shingles, Alzheimer’s? Evidence mounts for a viral cause of dementia

STAT

Pascal Geldsetzer believes in open access, in disseminating science as quickly as it happens. Even so, last summer, as he uploaded the surprising results of his latest study to the MedRxiv preprint server, the Stanford University epidemiologist was feeling something other than the usual excitement. “I was scared to put this up because it’s such a different approach from what’s generally done in epidemiology and medicine,” he said.

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Drinking is cheaper than it’s been in decades. Lobbyists are fighting to keep it that way

STAT

For years, it has been a reliable way to cut back on the consumption of cigarettes and sugary drinks: raise taxes on them. So it might seem an obvious tactic to apply to alcohol, which contributes to untold injuries, diseases and deaths in the United States each year. That’s the thinking of advocates and state legislators across the country, who also see it as a way to pull in more revenue.

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STAT+: Medicare Advantage insurers ramped up use of technology to deny claims, Senate investigation shows

STAT

The nation’s three largest Medicare Advantage insurers increasingly refused to pay for rehabilitative care for seniors in the years after adopting sophisticated technologies to aid in their coverage decisions, a Senate investigation found. UnitedHealth Group, Humana, and CVS Health targeted denials among older adults who were requesting care in nursing homes, inpatient rehab hospitals, and long-term hospitals.

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Position Your Pharmacy for Expansion

Speaker: Chris Antypas and Josh Halladay

Access to limited distribution drugs and payer contracts are key to pharmacy expansion. But how do you prepare your operations to take the next step? Meaningful data: Collect and share clinical data regarding outcomes, utilization, and more Reporting: Limited distribution models require efficient tracking and reporting systems Workflows: Align workflows with specific pharma and payer contractual requirements For in-depth, expert insights on pharmacy expansion, watch this webinar from Inovalon.

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STAT+: FDA confirms shortage of weight loss drug tirzepatide is over, gives compounders a grace period

STAT

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday confirmed that a shortage of Eli Lilly’s obesity drug tirzepatide has been resolved, a move that will soon put a stop to companies making cheaper copies of the injection. The agency said it would give these compounders a grace period of 60 to 90 days before enforcing rules that would put a halt to their work, in an effort to avoid disruption for patients.

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Is it time to freak out about bird flu?

STAT

If you’re aware of the H5N1 bird flu outbreak in U.S. dairy cattle — you may have seen some headlines or read something on social media — perhaps you are wondering what the fuss is about. Yes, there have been nearly a couple dozen human cases, but all have had mild symptoms. The virus does not decimate herds in the way it does poultry flocks; most — though not all — of the infected cows come through the illness OK.

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STAT+: Inside UnitedHealth’s strategy to pressure physicians: $10,000 bonuses and a doctor leaderboard

STAT

The emails from UnitedHealth Group managers were filled with exclamation marks and pleasantries about the weather. But the underlying message to doctors in late 2020 was persistent and urgent: Hit your targets to see more patients. We need to bring in more money. At the time, deaths from Covid-19 were surging, and no vaccine was available.

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Dietary experts advise skipping guidelines on ultra-processed foods — for now

STAT

If you were hoping to see where ultra-processed foods might fit in the next Dietary Guidelines for Americans, hold that thought. Scientific experts tasked with advising federal officials drafting the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans said the data were far too limited to draw conclusions. Meeting Monday, the first of two days of presentations, they discussed research findings to inform a report to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture.

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Enhance Healthcare Efficiency With Top Payroll & HCM Services

Running a healthcare facility requires precision and care, not just for patients but also for your staff. Our guide, "A Buyer’s Guide to Payroll & HCM Services," helps healthcare providers choose the best provider. Efficient payroll management ensures timely, accurate payments, critical for maintaining staff morale and trust. Compliance support helps navigate complex healthcare regulations and avoid costly fines.

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STAT+: Novo asks FDA to bar compounders from making Ozempic copies

STAT

Novo Nordisk has asked the Food and Drug Administration to bar compounding pharmacies from making copies of its blockbuster weight loss drug semaglutide, arguing that the medication is too complex for the pharmacies to safely make. Compounding pharmacies are typically allowed to make copies of drugs that are deemed to be in shortage by the FDA, which semaglutide has been for over two years.

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In children, Covid is tied to higher risk of type 2 diabetes 

STAT

It may be time to add Covid-19 infection to the list of possible risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes at a young age.  An observational study published Monday in JAMA Network Open found that children and adolescents were one-and-a-half times more likely to be diagnosed with the metabolic disorder in the months after having Covid-19 compared to similar kids who weathered other respiratory infections.

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130,000 U.S. cancer cases went undiagnosed in Covid pandemic, study finds

STAT

When the U.S. health care system pivoted to meet Covid-19 in 2020, routine health visits and screenings where many cancer cases would have been caught didn’t happen. It wasn’t ideal, but many health experts thought that as the country opened back up, screenings would help “catch up” to these missed cases. A new paper published Monday in JAMA Network Open suggests that didn’t happen as quickly as experts had hoped.

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UnitedHealthcare rolls out new therapy restrictions for Medicare Advantage plans

STAT

You’re reading the web version of Health Care Inc., STAT’s weekly newsletter following the flow of money in medicine. Sign up  to get it in your inbox every Monday. Hello, you spry bunch. We’re coming to you on a Tuesday after yesterday’s holiday. What are you looking to read more about as the year winds down? Let us know: bob.herman@statnews.com.

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5 Reasons to Upgrade Your Pharmacy Management Software

Are you still using workarounds to manage your daily operations? To achieve peak performance, it's time to explore other options for specialty and infusion pharmacy software. Streamline pharmacy operations and improve clinical performance with automated processing, real-time data exchange, and electronic decision support. Download this helpful infographic to: Drive efficiency and patient adherence from referral receipt to delivery and ongoing care – all with our Pharmacy Cloud.

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Men won all the science Nobels this year. There’s an even bigger problem.

STAT

Since the Nobel Prizes were created in 1901, just 24 women have received awards in the sciences. This year, that number stayed the same: All seven laureates in physics , chemistry , and physiology or medicine were men.  Some scientists have expressed frustration about the lack of women in this year’s awardees, particularly the omission of two women who contributed to the work honored for the prize in physiology or medicine.

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STAT+: Prices for 5 drugs were hiked without proof of new benefits, costing the U.S. $815M in 2023, report finds

STAT

During 2023, drugmakers substantially raised prices on five widely used medicines without any new clinical evidence to justify the increases, leading patients and health insurers in the U.S. to spend an additional $815 million last year, according to a new report. The drug for which spending increased the most due to a price increase was Biktarvy, which is prescribed to treat HIV and is a franchise product for Gilead Sciences.

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STAT+: 7 children developed blood cancer after Bluebird Bio gene therapy for rare neurological disease

STAT

Newly published data show that seven out of 67 children who received Bluebird Bio’s gene therapy for a devastating neurological disorder in clinical trials have since gone on to develop blood cancers.  That means four additional patients have developed blood cancers since June 2022, when concerns about three cancer cases prompted the Food and Drug Administration to hold a hearing of outside advisers before approving the treatment, marketed as Skysona.

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STAT+: Ozempic linked to lower risk of Alzheimer’s diagnosis in observational study

STAT

Novo Nordisk’s drug Ozempic was linked to a lower risk of getting diagnosed with Alzheimer’s among people with type 2 diabetes, an analysis of medical records found, supporting the case for further research of the blockbuster GLP-1 drug in neurodegenerative diseases. Among the over 1 million people with diabetes whose records were included in the study, the overall risk of developing Alzheimer’s was already very low.

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STAT+: A pariah in science, the ‘CRISPR babies’ researcher gains support from a U.S. cryptocurrency entrepreneur

STAT

On June 17, He Jiankui received an email that wasted no time getting to the point: An American cryptocurrency entrepreneur had learned about the Chinese scientist’s recent proposal to use CRISPR gene-editing technology on human embryos to lower their future risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, and he was offering funding and other help to turn those plans into a new commercial venture. He rose to international infamy in 2018, when it came to light that he

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