Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
New Blood Pressure Drug Seems To Tackle Uncontrolled Cases
NBC News: New Drug May Help People With Uncontrolled High Blood Pressure
Patients who took a daily dose of the drug, baxdrostat, were able to reduce their blood pressure substantially, compared to a people who got a placebo, according to the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the American Heart Association annual meeting on Monday. The new type of oral medication works by targeting a hormone that regulates the amount of salt in the body. (Carroll, 11/7)
The Wall Street Journal: Medtronic Blood-Pressure Device Curbs Hypertension, But Misses Top Goal In Study
A Medtronic PLC medical device reduced the blood pressure of people with tough-to-treat hypertension in a closely watched study, but not significantly beyond what medications achieved. The device cut a crucial measure of blood pressure by only about two points more than the average reduction in study volunteers who didn’t get the procedure, researchers said Monday. (Loftus, 11/7)
In other pharmaceutical news —
Reuters: U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Bristol Myers Cancer-Drug Patent Fight With Gilead
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rebuffed a bid by Bristol Myers Squibb Co's Juno Therapeutics Inc to reinstate a $1.2 billion award it won in its patent fight with Gilead Sciences Inc subsidiary Kite Pharma Inc over a lymphoma drug. (Brittain, 11/7)
Stat: FDA Places Clinical Hold On Verve Gene-Editing Treatment
Verve Therapeutics said Monday that its experimental gene-editing treatment for a common form of heart disease was placed on clinical hold by the Food and Drug Administration, potentially delaying an ongoing, early-stage clinical trial. (Feuerstein, 11/7)
Modern Healthcare: Walgreens' VillageMD To Buy Summit Health-CityMD In $8.9B Deal
VillageMD, a unit of Walgreens Boots Alliance, will acquire Summit Health-CityMD for $8.9 billion, the companies announced Monday. (Hudson, 11/7)
Reuters: Express Scripts To Pay $3.2 Mln To Settle Massachusetts Overcharge Claims
Pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts Inc has agreed to pay $3.2 million to settle claims that it overcharged Massachusetts' workers' compensation insurance system for prescription drugs, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced Monday. (Pierson, 11/7)
KHN: Pfizer’s Covid Cash Powers A ‘Marketing Machine’ On The Hunt For New Supernovas
For drugmaker Pfizer, a fortune amassed in the covid pandemic is now paving the path to pharma nirvana: a weight loss pill worth billions. The company has reaped nearly $100 billion from selling covid-19 vaccines and treatments to U.S. taxpayers and foreign governments. With that windfall, it plans to get richer, sinking the cash into developing and marketing potential blockbusters for conditions like migraines, ulcerative colitis, prostate cancer, sickle cell disease, and obesity. (Allen, 11/8)
Also —
The Wall Street Journal: Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes Is Denied A Bid For New Trial
A federal judge denied Elizabeth Holmes’s bid for a new trial, the latest setback for the Theranos Inc. founder who was convicted of fraud in January. U.S. District Judge Edward Davila, who oversaw Ms. Holmes’s trial which began last year, said in a ruling late Monday that the arguments in her three motions for a new trial didn’t introduce material new evidence or establish government misconduct, adding that a new trial was unlikely to result in an acquittal. (Somerville, 11/8)
