2024

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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 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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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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Opinion: The FDA’s risky action on compounding weight loss drugs

STAT

When Makena, a drug designed to prevent preterm births, hit the market in 2011 at $1,500 per dose, it drew rife backlash. The drug was based on an active ingredient that had been available for many years at a much lower cost. Confronted with the public outcry, the FDA took an unusual step: It allowed pharmacies to continue making their own copies of the drug through the practice of pharmacy compounding, selling it at a fraction of Makena’s price.

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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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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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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+: 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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What really happens to drug prices when patents expire

STAT

This is Part 5 of “Behind the Counter,” an in-depth video series demystifying the complex world of patents and drug pricing. When patents for name brand medicines expire, the price of that medicine drops significantly as generic versions enter the market. Lower prices are good news for patients seeking more affordable medications, but the change can sometimes take a while.

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STAT+: How Pfizer used wearables to tap into the promise of an experimental drug

STAT

Pfizer’s promising research on a treatment for a dangerous cancer-related condition is also helping prove out the value of wearables in clinical trials. In September, the pharma giant reported results showing that an experimental antibody could positively impact people with cachexia, a complication sometimes called “wasting syndrome” that can cause people with cancer to lose weight and make it harder for them to tolerate treatments.

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STAT+: It might be now or never for the BIOSECURE Act

STAT

WASHINGTON — Legislation targeting Chinese biotechnology companies caused a ruckus early this year. None of that may matter if Congress doesn’t pass it in December. The BIOSECURE Act would restrict U.S. pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies from doing business with certain Chinese companies, including WuXi AppTec and WuXi Biologics.

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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+: 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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U.S. drug overdose deaths on pace to fall below 100,000 this year 

STAT

U.S. drug overdose deaths are plummeting, putting the country on pace for its first year with fewer than 100,000 overdose deaths since 2020 — a powerful, if bleak, symbolic milestone. Reported drug deaths fell nearly 17% during the 12-month period ending in June, to 93,087,  according to new statistics released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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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+: 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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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+: 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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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+: These 10 scientists are leading a new generation of gene editors developing CRISPR medicines

STAT

Barely 12 years after the publication of the first papers unveiling CRISPR-Cas9, a powerful enzyme for editing DNA, sickle cell patients are now receiving the first approved CRISPR-based medicine, Casgevy. Hundreds of patients with other inherited diseases, cancers, and chronic bacterial and viral infections are enrolled in clinical trials testing other CRISPR treatments.

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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+: AI in drug discovery is ‘nonsense,’ but call Schrödinger ‘AI’ if you want, says CEO

STAT

Schrödinger CEO Ramy Farid wants you to know that his company isn’t an AI company…but he’ll call it that if you want to. The company, founded in 1990, started out by making software that used the basic laws of physics to laboriously and exactly predict how molecules will interact with each other in space. Those calculations, rooted in the field of computational physics, needed lots of expensive and time-consuming computing power to run, and many people abandoned those t

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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+: 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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In the era of GLP-1 drugs, demand for bariatric surgery plunges

STAT

For people with obesity, surgeries that shrink, reshape, or otherwise alter the anatomy of the stomach have long reigned supreme as the surest way to weight loss. But in the last few years, with the approval of GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound , more and more people are opting for obesity medicines over gold-standard surgical treatments.  “On a population level, among a subset of commercially insured individuals, that is the tradeoff that is happening” said Thomas Tsai, th

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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+: 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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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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STAT+: Wall Street wags say a bill to force insurers or PBMs to sell pharmacies has low odds

STAT

A proposed Senate bill that would prohibit companies that control health insurers or pharmacy benefit managers from owning pharmacies rattled investors on Wednesday, but some Wall Street analysts believe the legislation is unlikely to gain much traction, at least for now. The bipartisan bill , which would require divestiture within three years, is aimed at what the lawmakers call an “inherent conflict of interest” that has forced Americans to pay more for medicines and hastened the

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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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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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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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STAT+: Drug may make chemotherapies less effective in cancer patients with obesity — but many doctors are in the dark

STAT

A drug used to combat fungal infections in cancer patients comes with a big caveat — research shows the medicine can last twice as long as in people with obesity. This means chemotherapies may be less effective when interacting with the medicine, but some clinicians, and their patients, are unaware of that possibility. The information, however, is not in the label because the drug — originally manufactured by Merck — was never fully tested in this population.

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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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