Modern Healthcare: States Draw Sharp Limits On Association Health Plans
State insurance regulators have expressed confusion and worry over the Trump administration's new rule expanding association health plans, with some issuing emergency rules and guidances limiting the operation of such plans. They also are upset that the U.S. Labor Department abruptly discontinued its weekly conference calls with them to discuss how to harmonize the federal AHP rule with state laws after 12 Democratic attorneys general sued the federal government on July 26 to block the rule. (Meyer, 8/7)

The Hill: Top Dem Wants Information About ObamaCare Website Removals
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) may have violated federal law by removing a web page that provided information about how Medicare coverage is affected by ObamaCare, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said Tuesday. In a letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma, Cummings asked HHS to provide documentation about any decisions to remove information from websites it maintains. (Weixel, 8/7)

Concord (N.H.) Monitor: Proposed Health Insurance Rates Settle Down In N.H.
Following last year’s large leap, health insurance rates seem likely to decline a bit in New Hampshire next year, at least partly a reflection in changes being made to the Medicaid expansion program. Information on proposed rates through the health insurance exchange, HealthCare.gov, indicate that a middle-of-the-road plan under the Affordable Care Act would average 6.75 percent less next year than the current rate, declining to $470 a month from the current $504. Actual rates for all plans won’t be available until Nov. 1, the first day of open enrollment on the exchange. (Brooks, 8/7)

The CT Mirror: Blumenthal Urges Wade To Ban Or Restrict Short-Term Health Plans
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal has called on Connecticut’s insurance commissioner to ban or restrict short-term health insurance plans, as other states have. The Trump administration recently released new rules that would allow the sale of cheaper, skimpier health care plans that were originally intended for short-term use — not more than three months — but would now be available for nearly 12 months at a time. (Rigg, 8/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Carl Icahn Publicly Opposes $54 Billion Cigna-Express Scripts Deal
Carl Icahn is going public with his campaign to scuttle Cigna Corp.’s $54 billion plan to buy Express Scripts Holding Co. The billionaire activist investor sent an open letter Tuesday urging fellow Cigna shareholders to vote against the deal, which he calls a “$60 billion folly” carrying a “ridiculous” price tag. The Wall Street Journal reported on the forthcoming letter Monday. “Cigna is dramatically overpaying for a highly challenged Express Scripts that is facing existential risks on several fronts,” Mr. Icahn wrote. (Lombardo, 8/7)

The Hill: Icahn Warns Against Cigna-Express Scripts Merger 
Cigna in March said it would pay $52 billion for Express Scripts, a deal on which shareholders will vote Aug. 24. The deal includes $15 billion in debt, bringing the total cost to $67 billion. Express Scripts is the largest independent pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) in the country. PBMs act as intermediaries between drug manufacturers and health insurance plans and their beneficiaries. They negotiate drug rebates and pass the savings on to patients. (Weixel, 8/7)

Bloomberg: Cigna ‘Dramatically Overpaying’ For Express Scripts, Icahn Says
The activist investor filed proxy material with regulators Tuesday soliciting votes against the deal, and to oppose postponing a special shareholder meeting slated for Aug. 24 if the company doesn’t have sufficient support for the transaction. Launching the proxy fight with a little more than two weeks until the vote is an unusual move for the activist. Such campaigns typically kick off months in advance in order to allow sufficient time to solicit other shareholders’ backing. (Deveau and Tracer, 8/7)

In other industry news —

Bloomberg: CVS-Aetna Deal Dodges Antitrust Hurdle That AT&T Faced 
CVS Health Corp. has dodged one hurdle in its bid to buy insurer Aetna Inc., as antitrust enforcers don’t see competitive problems that can stem from uniting companies that operate at different levels of a supply chain, according to two people familiar with the matter. That question has hung over the deal since it was announced last year because the Justice Department under President Donald Trump has raised the bar for approving such transactions, which are known as vertical deals because they don’t combine direct competitors. (McLaughlin and Langreth, 8/7)

The Associated Press: Study: 1 In 7 Children Of Zika-Infected Moms Have Problems
One out of every seven babies born to U.S. mothers who were infected with Zika during pregnancy developed some kind of health problem, according to the first long-term look at those children. Tuesday's study focused on the children of women in Puerto Rico and other territories, where most of the U.S. cases were seen when the disease swept across the Americas more than two years ago. (Stobbe, 8/7)

The Washington Post: 1 In 7 Babies Exposed To Zika In U.S. Territories Have Birth Defects, Nervous System Problems
The data analyzed come from a registry of 1,450 children in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands whose mothers were confirmed through lab tests to have been exposed to Zika while pregnant. Six percent of the children suffered from birth defects such as small head size and brain and eye damage. Nine percent had at least one neurodevelopmental issue such as seizures or difficulty swallowing. And 1 percent had both. Margaret Honein, director of the CDC’s Division of Congenital and Developmental Disorders, said in an interview that there appeared to be a wide range of outcomes, with some children more affected than others. She said that some of the children born with severe microcephaly — or a smaller-than-normal head size — do in fact have major impairments, as doctors had feared. (Cha, 8/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Zika’s Long-Term Toll Is Heavy For Children
The results “could be an underestimate” of Zika’s impact because many children born to mothers infected with Zika haven’t had follow-up medical care reported, said Peggy Honein, director of the CDC’s Division of Congenital and Developmental Disorders and senior author of the report. Public-health officials are tracking children born to infected mothers to better understand the medical needs they will have and care they will require, Dr. Honein said. (McKay, 8/7)

Reuters: Zika Exposure Before Birth Could Cause Health Issues In Babies-CDC
Some babies exposed to the Zika virus before birth may face health problems related to the mosquito-borne illness, U.S. officials said on Tuesday, providing guidance for couples planning pregnancies. About 14 percent, or one in seven babies among 1,450 infants, had one or more health problems possibly caused by Zika, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a report. (Joseph, 8/7)

Stat: 1 In 7 Babies Exposed To Zika In Womb Have Health Problems, CDC Reports
As children exposed to the virus during pregnancy start to get older, researchers have started to tease out how common these secondary neurodevelopmental problems may be — and how they can occur even if babies appeared fine at birth. (Joseph, 8/7)

NPR: Babies Who Seem Fine At Birth May Have Zika-Related Problems Later, Study Finds
"We're beginning to see the full spectrum of the impact of Zika," says Margaret Honein, director of the Division of Congenital and Developmental Disorders at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC released the study Tuesday. "This is really our first look at how these children are doing as they grow and develop, and really emphasizes that the Zika story is not over, particularly for these children," Honein says. (Stein, 8/7)

Los Angeles Times: For Zika-Exposed Babies, Trouble May Emerge In Their First Year
Microcephaly — a smaller-than-usual head size -- has emerged as a hallmark of Zika exposure in babies. But in many babies whose mothers were infected by the Zika virus during pregnancy, follow-up care revealed health issues that were less immediately evident, including brain and eye damage, vision and hearing abnormalities and nervous system problems such as seizures. Many of those babies had appeared healthy at birth, and only as the babies grew older did those abnormalities become evident. (Healy, 8/7)

The Hill: 1 In 7 Babies Exposed To Zika Have Birth Defects, Other Health Problems: CDC 
The new study also shows many of the children exposed to Zika have not had the checkups recommended by the CDC. While 95 percent of the 1,450 babies had checkups within two weeks of age, only 36 percent received an exam by an eye specialist. "Because the full spectrum of adverse outcomes related to congenital Zika virus infection is not yet known, careful monitoring and evaluation of children born to mothers with laboratory evidence of confirmed or possible Zika virus infection during pregnancy is essential for ensuring early detection of possible disabilities and early referral to intervention services that might improve outcomes," the report said. (Hellmann, 8/7)

PBS NewsHour: CDC Says 1 In 7 Babies Exposed To Zika Have Health Problems
Prior studies showed that about 6 percent of Zika-exposed babies are born with congenital birth defects, which is 30 times the normal rate. But until now, no study has reported on other developmental problems caused by Zika at this scale. (Grennell, 8/7)

Miami Herald: Zika Virus Caused Health Problems In Babies, CDC Says
Gonzalez said parents and pediatricians who ignore follow-up care for children possibly exposed to Zika before birth risk missing early detection and interventions that could minimize the long-term effects of developmental problems, such as problems with vision, hearing and movement of their arms and legs. Often, Gonzalez said, those problems may not become apparent until infants begin to miss developmental milestones, such as sitting up at 6 months, pulling up to stand at 9 months and walking at 1 year old. (Chang, 8/7)

The Washington Post: Beyoncé, Serena Williams Open Up About Potentially Fatal Childbirths, A Problem Especially For Black Mothers
Beyoncé. Serena Williams. While one is a singer and the other is a professional tennis player, there are many similarities between the women’s lives. Both are at the top of their respective fields — Beyoncé has 22 Grammy Awards. Williams has 23 Grand Slam singles titles. Both are African American. Both are mothers. But the women have shared one life experience that has recently attracted widespread attention: Both survived potentially fatal pregnancy complications. (Chiu, 8/7)

The Wall Street Journal: The Genetic Test Some Men Don’t Know They Need
Mark Meerschaert learned from a posting in a family Facebook group a few years ago that a close male relative tested positive for an inherited mutation in the BRCA2 gene. The gene mutation is widely associated with female breast and ovarian cancer, but increases risk for other cancers, too. The relative suggested that family members consider getting tested. Dr. Meerschaert, a 62-year-old statistics and probability professor at Michigan State University, ignored the advice at first. He had already been diagnosed with prostate cancer, and as the father of two sons, getting tested didn’t feel urgent or relevant in the same way it might have, he says, if he had daughters. “I was still thinking about it mainly as a problem for the women in the family,” he says. (Marcus, 8/7)

The Associated Press: Advocates Condemn Psych Techniques Used To Keep Kids Online
Children's advocates want the American Psychological Association to condemn the tech industry's practice of using persuasive psychological techniques to keep kids glued to their screens. The advocates, citing research that links excessive use of social media and video games with depression and academic troubles, say it's unethical for psychologists to be involved in tactics that risk harming kids' well-being. Skeptics say the research is inconclusive, and they note that psychologists have been involved in other industries' marketing and advertising for decades. (Tanner and O'Brien, 8/8)

The New York Times: Why We All Need To Drink More During Hot Weather Exercise
Don’t skip drinking during exercise in hot weather, a new study reminds us. This advice might seem obvious. But apparently some athletes, especially in team sports, have begun to eschew fluids during hot weather workouts, in hopes that the privation might somehow make them stronger. But the new study finds that it is likely only to make them more physically stressed. And very, very thirsty. (Reynolds, 8/8)

The Associated Press: Experts Question Benefits Of Fluoride-Free Toothpaste
Dental health experts worry that more people are using toothpaste that skips the most important ingredient — fluoride — and leaves them at a greater risk of cavities. Most toothpastes already contain fluoride. While health authorities recognize fluoride as a cavity blocker, the internet is dotted with claims, often from “natural” toothpaste marketers and alternative medicine advocates, that fluoride-free toothpaste also prevents cavities. Dental authorities disagree. (Donn, 8/7)

The New York Times: Experimental Ebola Vaccine Can Be Used In Latest Outbreak, W.H.O. Says
The effort to contain the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo received a boost on Tuesday with news that an experimental vaccine can be used to combat the deadly virus. Dr. Peter Salama, the World Health Organization’s deputy director general for emergencies, said the latest outbreak, in North Kivu Province, involves the Zaire strain of the virus. (Satoshi Sugiyama, 8/7)

The Associated Press: School Massacre Commission To Discuss Campus Safety
The state commission investigating the Florida school massacre will discuss improving campus safety and hear about education and health privacy laws. The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission begins its monthly two-day meeting Wednesday. The 14 members will hear from experts on "school hardening" and state and federal privacy laws. (8/8)

Politico: In 2 Rural States That Let Teachers Carry Guns, Few Schools Take Part
Officials in rural states like South Dakota and Wyoming told President Donald Trump’s school safety commission on Tuesday that few school districts have taken advantage of state laws there to train and arm teachers. The lack of participation comes despite a ringing endorsement from the president, who touted the idea of arming trained school staff after the shooting in Parkland, Fla., earlier this year that left 17 people dead. (Emma, 8/7)

PBS NewsHour: Where Do Young Americans Stand On Guns?
Teens are divided on how they feel about guns, but largely support a wide range of safety protections, according to a recent text messaging survey conducted by University of Michigan researchers. In the survey, published in JAMA Pediatrics, a third of 772 young people (the average respondent age was 18-years-old) said they were against having guns in the home. (Santhanam, 8/7)

KCUR: Keeping Families Together As Mothers Undergo Recovery: A New Approach To Drug Dependency 
Since 2011, the number of Missouri infants born dependent on opioids has more than quadrupled. At the same time, the number of children entering the foster care system has increased, and experts think that’s connected to parents’ drug use. Kansas City health and social service groups are now trying to reverse these trends with a strategy that turns upside down old ideas about children and parents who’ve used drugs. (Smith, 8/8)

Kaiser Health News: As Opioid Crisis Rages, Some Trade ‘Tough Love’ For Empathy
It was Bea Duncan who answered the phone at 2 a.m. on a January morning. Her son Jeff had been caught using drugs in a New Hampshire sober home and was being kicked out. Bea and her husband, Doug, drove north that night nine years ago to pick him up. On the ride back home, to Natick, Mass., the parents delivered an ultimatum: Jeff had to go back to rehab, or leave home. Jeff chose the latter, Bea said. She remembers a lot of yelling, cursing and tears as they stopped the car, in the dead of night, a few miles from the house. (Bebinger, 8/8)

Austin American-Statesman: Texas House Focuses On Justice System’s Handling Of Opioid Crisis
Criminal justice and child protective services professionals told legislators Tuesday that the state is severely lacking in treatment services to combat the opioid crisis and other substance use problems. Experts who work in jails, probation and the foster care system say people often have overdoses, end up being arrested or suffer other devastating consequences while waiting to get into rehabilitation centers. (Huber, 8/7)

The Associated Press: Tobacco-Funded Group Sues Over Montana Citizen Tax Measure
A tobacco industry-funded group wants to change the wording of a citizen's ballot initiative that would significantly raise Montana's tobacco taxes, a legal challenge that is part of the group's expensive effort to defeat the measure when it goes to voters in November. The lawsuit filed with the Montana Supreme Court Monday by Montanans Against Tax Hikes takes issue with specific phrasing contained in the 135-word ballot statement, saying the language is incorrect, will cause confusion and prevent voters from casting an informed ballot. (8/7)

Houston Chronicle: ADHD, Syphilis And AIDS: Study Reveals Each State's Most Googled Health Problem
A new study found that the most Googled health problem in Texas for 2018 was ADHD. Texas was joined by nine other states who also had residents searching for more information on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Medicare Health Plans, a health insurance company, put together the research using Google trends. (Ramirez, 8/7)

The Washington Post: ‘Sex-Positive’ D.C. Briefly Promoted Trump’s Abstinence-Only Sex Education Policy
Talk about strange bedfellows. The District government — which proudly boasts a “sex-positive” public health strategy — this week became an unexpected and fleeting ally to the Trump administration’s abstinence-only approach to sex education. D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser’s office on Monday headlined its weekly roundup of local, federal and privately funded grant opportunities with $14 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for “sexual risk avoidance education.” (Nirappil, 8/7)

The Star Tribune: UnitedHealth Deal In Louisiana Includes Clinics
UnitedHealth Group's acquisition this summer of a Medicare health plan in Louisiana also includes a small addition to the Minnetonka-based company's growing network of medical clinics. Last week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) cleared a deal announced in June for UnitedHealth Group to purchase Peoples Health Inc., a Louisiana-based HMO operating in one of the few states where the health insurer isn't already one of the three largest sellers of Medicare Advantage health plans. (Snowbeck, 8/7)

The Star Tribune: Measles Sickens 5-Year-Old Child In Hennepin County 
A 5-year-old in Hennepin County’s Somali-American community has been sickened by the measles after returning from Africa, the Minnesota Department of Health said Tuesday. The development comes nearly a year after a 2017 measles outbreak infected 75 children and adults — the state’s largest measles outbreak in roughly three decades. Most, but not all, were Somali-Americans in Hennepin County who had not been vaccinated for the infection. (Howatt, 8/7)

Los Angeles Times: USC Names Retired Aerospace Executive Wanda Austin As Acting President, Announces Nikias' Departure
USC appointed a retired aerospace executive as interim president and laid out a detailed plan for selecting a permanent leader Tuesday, ending speculation about whether outgoing President C.L. Max Nikias might remain in the post. Nikias, embattled over his administration’s handling of a campus gynecologist accused of sexually abusing patients, relinquished his duties after a meeting of USC’s board. The trustees tapped one of their own, Wanda Austin, an alumna and former president of the Aerospace Corp., to temporarily run the university. (Ryan, 8/7)

Boston Globe: Brown’s Medical School Will Keep Affiliation With Care New England Even If Partners Moves In
Brown University will keep its affiliation with Rhode Island’s second-largest hospital system even if that system is acquired by Boston-based Partners HealthCare. The organizations said Tuesday that they have signed an agreement ensuring that Brown’s Warren Alpert Medical School will be the primary research and teaching partner of Care New England Health System of Providence. (Dayal McCluskey, 8/7)

Modern Healthcare: Tenet CEO: Conifer Buyer Should Pay For Value We've Added
Tenet Healthcare's CEO on Tuesday hinted at behind-the-scenes price wrangling as the company tries to sell its revenue cycle subsidiary, Conifer. Ron Rittenmeyer told analysts and investors on its second-quarter earnings call Tuesday morning that the Dallas-based for-profit hospital chain has improved Conifer's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization by more than $70 million over the past three quarters, and it expects cost savings to reach $90 million by year-end. (Bannow, 8/7)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County To Test New Efforts To Assist People Living In Vehicles
The L.A. County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to create a pilot program to assist people living in vehicles and to reduce the hazards associated with vehicle dwelling. The program will consist of outreach to people living in their cars, vans and RVs to connect them with social services, money to discourage the use and reuse of dilapidated RVs as dwellings, and a solid- and hazardous-waste collection program, including free sharps containers. (Agrawal, 8/7)

Boston Globe: Neighborhood Health Plan To Be Rebranded As AllWays Health Partners
For decades, Neighborhood Health Plan was known for serving the poor. ...Now, reflecting a remarkable shift in the company’s focus, poor and low-income people make up a fraction of its business. The company is doubling down on a strategy to sell insurance to employers and their workers in hopes of competing with the state’s largest health plans. (Dayal McCluskey, 8/7)

KQED: Malfunctions At Shell's Martinez Refinery More Serious Than First Reported
Several malfunctions at Shell's East Bay refinery last month, which led to a health advisory in Martinez and Pacheco, were more dangerous than first acknowledged. In the hours following a flaring incident on July 6, the company initially reported that a fire in a compressor unit at its Martinez facility led to the release of more than 100 pounds of hydrogen sulfide. (Goldberg, 8/8)

Denver Post: Centura Health, Arapahoe Community College Launch Apprenticeship Program For Medical Assistants
Facing a growing demand for workers, Centennial-based Centura Health has teamed up with Arapahoe Community College to create a new apprenticeship program for medical assistants in hopes of creating a pipeline of employees. The six-month program, which launched last month, aims to train future medical assistants by pairing online and laboratory education components with 32 hours per week of paid apprenticeship work at Centura Health facilities. Those who complete the program successfully and become certified will be hired on as medical assistants by Centura Health. (Seaman, 8/7)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Southeast N.H., Higher Elevations Will See Poor Air Quality This Week
State officials say current unhealthy ozone concentrations will spread in New Hampshire through mid-week. (Ropeik, 8/7)

Health News Florida: Ruling Rejects Limits On Medical Marijuana Businesses
In a ruling that could have a revolutionary impact if it stands, a Tallahassee judge has found a law limiting the number of medical marijuana operators in Florida runs afoul of a constitutional amendment approved by voters two years ago. The cap on the number of “medical marijuana treatment centers,” as they are known in Florida law, “directly contradicts the amendment,” Leon County Circuit Judge Charles Dodson ruled in an eight-page order last week. (Kim, 8/7)

Stat: Drug Prices Could Be A Winning Issue For Democrats — If Only They Had A Plan
Nancy Pelosi sent Democratic House members home for summer recess with a three-point plan to “own August”: talk about the economy, talk about President Trump, and talk about health care costs — specifically, exorbitant prescription drug prices facing Americans. It’s easy to see why drug pricing gets such prominent billing. Polls have consistently shown that voters hold a decidedly negative view of pharmaceutical companies, that they trust Democrats more on health care, and that they believe high drug costs should be a top priority on Capitol Hill. (Facher, 8/8)

CQ: Some Hopeful Democrats Walk Fine Line On Drug Prices
Democrats working to regain control in Congress this fall are making the cost of prescription drugs a centerpiece of the party’s message. The path to a majority, however, runs through some places where the pharmaceutical industry employs a lot of potential voters. Southern California, New Jersey, and the Philadelphia suburbs are among the areas where Democrats have the strongest chances to turn red House seats blue. Yet since these states are some of the biggest pharmaceutical hubs in the United States — the industry estimates it directly employs 44,000 people in Pennsylvania, 65,000 people in New Jersey, and 131,000 in California — candidates there tread a little more cautiously on the issue of drug prices. (Siddons, 8/7)

Stat: When More Is Less: Americans Spent Lots More On Fewer Pills
As debate rages over prescription drug pricing, a new analysis finds that Americans spent much more on the same medicines as people living in 10 comparable countries, and their spending covered far fewer days of needed treatment per month. Specifically, the U.S. spent 203 percent more per capita on drugs in 2015 than people living in countries such as Canada, France, Germany, Australia, and the U.K. But despite the higher spending, the amount of money Americans shelled out for the same types of medicines covered 12 percent fewer days. (Silverman, 8/6)

Stat: Express Scripts To Drop Dozens More Drugs Next Year
As the cost of prescription drugs generates increased controversy, Express Scripts (ESRX), the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit manager, will be removing still more medicines from its list of drugs covered by insurance, known as formularies. In 2019, the PBM will exclude 242 medicines, compared with 196 this year, and the changes are forecast to save about $3.2 billion for its clients, such as health plans. The formulary covers approximately 25 million people, and about 0.2 percent of them are forecast to be affected by the changes. (Silverman, 8/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Skies Darken For Drug Middlemen
Drug manufacturers seem perfectly comfortable with the Trump administration’s plan to lower drug prices. That should inspire an opposite reaction for supply-chain investors. The Department of Health and Human Services is scrutinizing the system of rebates and discounts paid to middlemen as medicine flows from manufacturers to patients. Those middlemen, such as drug wholesalers, pharmacies, and pharmacy-benefit managers, are often compensated as a percentage of a drug’s list price. That creates a perverse incentive for higher list prices throughout the system. (Grant, 8/7)

Stat: Wall Street Is Writing Off Spark's Hemophilia Gene Therapy. Clinicians Are Not
On Tuesday, Spark Therapeutics offered what it called “highly encouraging” data in hemophilia A, and Wall Street rewarded it by driving down the stock price by nearly 28 percent. But doctors in the field say it’s far too early to count Spark out in its effort to craft a gene therapy that could leave patients free of spontaneous bleeding. (Garde, 8/7)

The CT Mirror: Blumenthal Calls On Colleagues, Trump To Act On Soaring Drug Costs
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal called on his federal colleagues and President Donald Trump to do more now to control the costs of skyrocketing prescription drug costs. ...Democrats like Blumenthal say Trump’s plan does not go far enough, however, especially since it does not include allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. (Rigg, 8/6)

The Wall Street Journal: Tough Choices Ahead For New GlaxoSmithKline CFO
GlaxoSmithKline PLC named a new finance chief, Iain Mackay, on Tuesday, appointing a former HSBC Holdings PLC executive to lead the pharmaceuticals company through Brexit and a time of substantial change in drug development.  Mr. Mackay, who will join the U.K.-based firm in January 2019 as CFO designate, is part of the shift in GSK’s management under the helm of Chief Executive Emma Walmsley. Since she took the job in April 2017, Ms. Walmsley has replaced roughly half of the company’s top 125 executives, cut research and development budgets and reinforced the role of the company’s pharmaceuticals business. She also launched a restructuring program at the end of July that aims to cut annual costs by £400 million ($517.8 million) by 2021. (Trentmann, 8/7)

The Associated Press: Insider Q&A: What's Behind Rising Insulin Prices?
Rising prices for insulin are getting scrutiny from diabetes patients, physicians and politicians. More than 7 million Americans with diabetes need insulin to control their blood sugar and stave off dangerous complications. The average price of insulin tripled between 2002 and 2013, according to the American Medical Association. The group recently called on regulators to monitor competition among the three drugmakers who control the market. (Perrone, 8/5)

Nashville Tennessean: CoreCivic: Diabetics Say They Are Denied Insulin By For-Profit Prison
The class-action lawsuit is one of at least three ongoing suits that have accused CoreCivic of endangering diabetic inmates. Former Trousdale inmate Thomas Leach filed a separate suit levying similar allegations against the prison in 2016, and a third suit was filed this year after the death of inmate Jonathan Salada, who allegedly spent his final days in excruciating pain because of diabetes compilations and negligent care. CoreCivic has denied wrongdoing in all three suits and insisted that the plaintiffs in the class-action case are responsible for their own diabetes complications. In a court filing, the company has claimed that Dodson and the other inmates have a documented history of skipping meals, refusing insulin shots, using illegal drugs and buying sugary snacks at the prison store in "willful non-compliance" with a diabetic diet. (Kelman, 8/7)

California Healthline: Medicaid Expansion Making Diabetes Meds More Accessible To Poor, Study Shows 
Low-income people with diabetes are better able to afford their medications and manage their disease in states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, a new study suggests. The Health Affairs study, released Monday afternoon, found a roughly 40 percent increase in the number of prescriptions filled for diabetes drugs in Medicaid programs of the 30 states (including Washington, D.C.) that expanded eligibility in 2014 and 2015, compared with prior years. (Bartolone, 8/6)

The Wall Street Journal: How China Is Evolving From A Maker Of Copycat Medicines Into A Producer Of Complex Drugs
At a cancer conference in Chicago in June last year, a little-known Chinese startup stunned researchers with early results showing its experimental gene therapy was abating an aggressive form of blood cancer in patients back home. Six months later, the startup, Nanjing Legend Biotechnology Co., received $350 million from Johnson & Johnson for the global rights to co-develop and market the experimental treatment. In May, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its testing on Americans, making it the first Chinese-developed gene therapy to receive such a signoff. The companies plan to kick off a U.S. trial later this month. (Rana, 8/5)

WBUR: Ohio Medicaid Pushes For More Transparency In Prescription Drug Plans
CVS Caremark is suing Ohio Medicaid officials to block release of a report the agency commissioned to show how the pharmacy benefit manager does business, and ultimately how drug prices are set. (Kodjak, 8/8)

Georgia Health News: Medicine Donation Program Helps Many Georgians Who Can’t Afford What They Need
The Good Pill drug donation and reuse program is now serving about 1,000 patients in the state, and the number has been growing by 40 percent a month since its formal launch in January. Good Pill is affiliated with a national nonprofit known as Sirum (Supporting Initiatives to Redistribute Unused Medicine), which was founded by students at Stanford University in California to help the uninsured and underinsured and others struggling to pay their prescription costs. (Miller, 8/7)

Reuters: AstraZeneca Settles Texas Drug Lawsuits For $110 Million
Drugmaker AstraZeneca has agreed to pay $110 million to settle two lawsuits brought by the state of Texas claiming that it fraudulently marketed the antipsychotic drug Seroquel and Crestor for high cholesterol. The largest settlement, totaling $90 million, resolves allegations the drugmaker encouraged doctors to use Seroquel for unapproved uses. A second settlement for $20 million covers allegations it misrepresented the benefits of Crestor. (Hirschler, 8/8)

MPR: Drug Prices Are Rising. What Can Be Done?
Gubernatorial candidates for Minnesota want to take on the skyrocketing costs of health care. What can they do about drug prices? (Miller and Lillie, 8/1)

Forbes: Changes To Drug Prices: Gestures And Real Policy Shifts
List prices of prescription drugs continue to rise, albeit at a much slower pace than several years ago. Most of the increase in drug prices and patient cost-sharing (often in the form of co-insurance or a percentage off of list prices) is attributed to specialty pharmaceuticals.Rebates, as inferred approximately from gross to net difference in sales figures, are also increasing. Drug companies say that the rebate growth rate has outstripped list prices. Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) assert that through rebates they’re stemming increases in premiums. But, what do end-users see? The insured are faced with ever-rising premiums and cost-sharing. And, without negotiating clout the growing ranks of uninsured pay the full retail price of prescription drugs. (Joshua Cohen, 8/7)

The Hill: Compulsory Pharmaceutical Licensing Is Little More Than Government Theft
On July 25, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) introduced H.R. 6505, The Medicare Negotiation and Competitive Licensing Act. The bill currently has 82 cosponsors, all Democrats. A press release announcing the legislation used Orwellian “1984” word-smithing, calling it “A bold approach to Medicare negotiation that harnesses the government’s purchasing power and relies on market-driven competition to restrain monopoly pricing.” (Elizabeth Wright, 8/4)

Stat: A Drug Priced Out Of Reach In Africa Could Save Lives From A Neglected Killer
When it comes to controlling the AIDS pandemic, Botswana is in many ways a model for the world. Last year, the country became one of the first to achieve ambitious United Nations goals for universal access to timely, high-quality treatment of HIV, doing so years before the United States is projected to reach the same targets. (Patrick Adams and Cameron Nutt, 8/8)

Forbes: Two Mistakes Investors Make When Investing In Biotechnology Companies
Biotechnology stocks were some of the strongest performing stocks from 2009-2015. Then, the biotech bubble burst and just about every major biotech stock plunged into a private bear market. Since then, biotech stocks have bottomed and are now rallying once again. Valuations and sentiment have been reset which opens the door for higher prices. That said, here are two common mistakes investors make when investing in biotech stocks. (Adam Sarhan, 8/6)

Bloomberg: Carl Icahn Knows It's Never Too Late To Derail A Deal
Carl Icahn is late to the party on Cigna Inc.’s intended $54 billion purchase of pharmacy-benefit-management giant Express Scripts Holding Co. His Tuesday letter opposing the transaction comes just weeks before an Aug. 24 shareholder vote on whether to approve it. That will make derailing the deal a tough task for the legendary activist, who owns a modest 0.56 percent of Cigna’s shares. (Max Nisen, 8/7)

Bloomberg: Zero-Sales Biotechs May Damage Your Financial Health
China's biotech unicorns are chasing a big prize. Landing it may prove elusive. BeiGene Ltd. raised $903 million in a secondary listing in Hong Kong last week. The company’s market value has swelled to $9.4 billion since its 2016 initial public offering on the Nasdaq, despite the firm being at the “clinical stage”– a euphemism for having zero sales. Competitor Innovent Biologics Inc., which has filed to sell shares in Hong Kong, is another IPO worth watching. (Shuli Ren, 8/7)

Stat: China Isn't Yet Ready To Conduct Clinical Trials For The Pharma Industry
China, with its huge population and its position as the second-largest pharmaceutical market in the world, should be poised to become a world leader in clinical trials for new drugs and devices. But it isn’t quite ready for that. Problems with protecting clinical trial participants, inadequate clinical trial infrastructure, and poor transparency make China an unreliable country in which to conduct a clinical trial. As a clinical research professional with more than a decade of global industry experience, I’ve seen clinical trials conducted in many countries but have yet to work with a U.S. company that has opted to conduct a clinical trial in China. (Anne Poli, 8/3)

Bloomberg: Future Of Health Insurance Is At Stake In The Midterms - Bloomberg
Despite promising to repeal it, the Republican-led Congress has left the Affordable Care Act on the books. And despite the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine it, the law’s still working pretty well. Its future success, though, can’t be taken for granted. As the midterm elections approach, and concerns over the health-care system grow, voters ought to take stock of the harm that has deliberately been done — piece by piece, with effects now and in future — to an initiative that the U.S. badly needed. (8/7)

The Washington Post: Your Workplace Wellness Program Probably Isn’t Making You Healthier
Have you ever participated in a “workplace wellness program” or known somebody who tried one? Did you notice any difference? If not — and you wouldn’t be alone — a team of enterprising policy analysts in Illinois may have found an explanation. They ran a neat little experiment on employees of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and wrote up the results in a recent working paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research. After the program had run its course, the researchers — Damon Jones, David Molitor and Julian Reif — compared the people who were offered the wellness program with the people who were left alone. Thirty-nine wellness-related outcomes were measured, from sick days to health-care spending. The researchers found no significant effect in 37 of the 39 outcomes. (Megan McArdle, 8/7)

Houston Chronicle: All Secrets Revealed In DNA Testing. Still Want To Do It?
The direct-to-consumer genetic testing industry is booming, and over 12 million people are estimated to have completed testing. Even established companies like weight-loss service Jenny Craig are now offering DNA tests. Last week, amid growing privacy concerns, a group of the largest DNA testing companies, including 23andMe, Ancestry.com, and MyHeritage, jointly released a set of industry best practices regarding user privacy. As DNA testing becomes more mainstream, the question remains: Is your genetic data safe? (Tiffany Li and Mason Marks, 8/7)

The New York Times: The Wrong Way To Fight A Drug War
If you’ve tried shabu, you’ll understand its allure. Taking it begins with ritual — folding foil into a chute, rolling paper towel into a wick and heating the gleaming crystal into running liquid trailing vapor. Inhaling it feels unbelievably clean, as if your body and mind are scrubbed of all weight. It was so good I tried it only once. Shabu, or crystal methamphetamine, manipulates the reward pathways of the brain, flooding it with dopamine. As with other addictive drugs, repetition hinders the brain’s transmitters and receptors, pushing users to seek replenishment artificially. A fraction of users get stuck in that cycle, leading to antisocial behaviors or even criminality. Even kicking that drug can lead to dependency on other substances, increasing the likelihood of relapse. This is why it is addiction — not just shabu — that is at the heart of a public health crisis in the Philippines. (Miguel Syjuco, 8/8)

The New York Times: Surviving Myself
On HBO’s “Sharp Objects,” Amy Adams plays a reporter named Camille, who returns to her hometown, Wind Gap, Mo., to investigate a series of child murders. Camille, a journalist in search of her big break, is also an alcoholic who drives around drinking vodka from Evian bottles, a former hometown It Girl and a cutter. At the end of the first episode, as she sinks into a hot bath, her skin is revealed to be a thicket of scar tissue. The show’s subplot of self-harm casts light upon an often misunderstood condition. But there won’t be another season; Ms. Adams, citing nervous burnout, has quit. (Colton Wooten, 8/7)

Stat: Face Transplantation Should Be Covered By Insurance
Face transplantation, once a headline-inspiring medical treatment, is slowly moving toward mainstream medicine. Since the first such transplant in 2005, more than 40 of these procedures have been performed in more than 15 centers in nine countries. To acknowledge and support this shift, it’s time for insurers to step up and cover the cost. (Miguel Dorante, 8/8)

Billings Gazette: How To Fix Montana’s Tattered Safety Net
Damage done to Montana’s health and human services safety net won’t be repaired by the partial restoration of state budget cuts announced by Gov. Steve Bullock.Since last summer, services have been taken away from some of Montana’s most vulnerable children and adults. Clinics have closed and care professionals have been laid off – all to save money at the expense of seriously ill and disabled people. Families have suffered without services they relied on for daily, dignified living. This was the message from Medicaid providers and clients who participated in a listening session Wednesday in Helena. *8/7)

San Jose Mercury News: Rural Areas Need Affordable Air Ambulances
Unless we spend billions of dollars to build trauma centers 30 minutes away from each other all across rural areas, the access void is filled instead by air ambulances that reduce critical transport time for emergency patients. Simply put, air medical providers save lives, particularly in underrepresented communities.However, air medical bases are at risk of closing. (Ken McEldowney, 8/7)