Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Sanders Plans How He'll Press Makers On Insulin, Drug Pricing
Stat: Bernie Sanders On Insulin Costs And Generic Drug Negotiations
Wednesday’s Senate hearing on high costs for insulin “is not the end” of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ plans for drug pricing interrogations, he told STAT in an interview. But it will be a show. The Vermont independent is bringing executives from drugmakers Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi, along with pharmacy benefit managers Express Scripts, OptumRx and CVS Health, to appear before the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee this week. (Owermohle, 5/9)
Drug companies laying off staff —
Stat: EQRx Abandons Business Plan Around Drug Pricing
EQRx, a company that aimed to lower drug prices by introducing inexpensive me-too medicines, said Tuesday that it has abandoned that plan and is laying off nearly 60% of its workforce. (Herper, 5/8)
The Boston Globe: Drug Maker Takeda To Eliminate Up To 180 Jobs In Massachusetts
Japanese drug maker Takeda has notified Massachusetts officials that it plans to eliminate as many as 180 jobs in the state. In a required notice filed under the state Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act, the biopharma giant said it will reduce its payroll by 138 jobs at four Takeda Development Centers America sites in Cambridge, starting in early July and continuing through March 2024. (Weisman, 5/8)
In other pharmaceutical news —
Stat: 'Hard To Catch Up': FDA Commissioner On Regulating Digital Health
Digital health tools are developing faster than the Food and Drug Administration is able to regulate them, FDA Commissioner Robert Califf acknowledged this week. “I think we’re behind, and it’s going to be really hard to catch up,” Califf said in a speech Monday at the National Health Council’s patient engagement symposium. (Lawrence, 5/9)
Stat: What To Know About The FDA Hearing On Sarepta's Gene Therapy
On Friday, a committee of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration will meet to discuss Sarepta Therapeutics’ closely watched experimental gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. It will be the first FDA advisory panel hearing for a Duchenne drug from Sarepta since 2016, when hundreds of patients and family members traveled to the FDA campus in Maryland to plead with experts to authorize an earlier therapy from the company despite limited evidence. (Mast, 5/9)
Stat: Doctors Support Expanded Newborn Genomic Screening
Plummeting costs of DNA sequencing technologies are injecting urgency into the longstanding debate over whether to dive deeper into the genomes of more infants — even apparently healthy ones. (Molteni, 5/8)
Stat: Obesity Experts On Risks Of Wegovy, Ozempic Weight Loss Drugs
Amid rising demand for drugs like Wegovy, Ozempic, and Mounjaro that can lead to significant weight loss, some obesity experts are concerned about the drugs’ costs — both to patients’ finances and to their health. (Castillo, 5/8)
Also —
Wyoming Public Radio: Water Bears’ Extreme Survival Skills Are Being Used To Make More Resilient Vaccines
Tardigrades are microscopic eight-legged animals often referred to as “water bears.” The tiny animals are known for their extreme survival skills. University of Wyoming researcher Thomas Boothby said tardigrades can survive several environmental conditions that are usually incompatible with life. (Montana, 5/8)
