Maja Smedberg faces a dilemma—she’s lost 30 pounds in five months with the help of a powerful new appetite suppressant, but could gain it all back when her employer She stopped paying for the medicine. The social worker was among employees stunned Monday when Hennepin Healthcare announced it would cut Wegovy and other injectable weight-loss … Read more
Drugmaker Pfizer said Wednesday that the price of its life-saving COVID-19 antiviral drug Paxlovid will more than double as the United States emerges from the emergency phase of the pandemic. The list price, before insurance, will be $1,390 for a five-day course, Pfizer said in a statement. This is 2.6 times higher than the $530/course … Read more
Patrick Sison, Associated Press This Tuesday, April 3, 2018 photo shows a close-up of the beam scale in New York. According to research published on Sunday, June 25, 2023, the high-dose oral version of the drug in Wegovy weight loss pills may have similar effects to the injection for weight loss and improved … Read more
The erroneously titled ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ (IRA) contained a winding provision that would tax seniors on prescription drugs. The IRA does all this in the name of ‘senior discounts’ – double talk about healthcare. The Biden administration has introduced a policy that sounds good but actually hurts seniors. Remember President Obama’s false promise ‘if you … Read more
A new study shows that the medicine in the diabetes drug Mounjaro helped obese or overweight people lose at least a quarter of their body weight, or about 60 pounds on average, when combined with diet and exercise. Intensive exercise. By comparison, a group of people who also dieted and exercised, but were then given … Read more
The eye-popping projections for weight-loss drug sales depend on insurers agreeing to provide coverage for the expensive treatments, and momentum appears to be building on that front. But Bank of America analyst Allen Lutz is wondering whether employers know how much risk they’re taking. The hope is that spending today on GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, … Read more
A new bipartisan bill in the Ohio House would prevent insurance providers from dropping drug coverage in the middle of a patient’s annual plan. Now, that’s completely legal and causing problems for many people across the state. Weeks after being locked into her health insurance plan, Natalie Hastings was surprised to learn her insurance would … Read more
Top line Pharma heavyweight GSK said on Wednesday it had settled four lawsuits in the US that claimed its popular heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer, blocking a trial that was due to begin in California next month as it and other pharmaceutical companies work to manage the looming regulatory threats posed by the discontinued drug. … Read more
CNN — Prices for the Covid-19 drug Paxlovid will likely rise next year for most patients as the United States continues to move out of the emergency phase of the pandemic, raising concerns among doctors that the drug will become more difficult to reach. Just like this season’s Covid-19 vaccine, the combination antiviral drug nirmatrelvir … Read more
Medicine Via Marc Lallanilla Published October 16, 2023, 4:24 pm ET A new drug to treat a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. On Friday, the FDA approved Pfizers etrasimod, brand name Velsipity, to treat adults with a chronic digestive disorder called ulcerative colitis (UC). The … Read more