Centene CEO says Medicaid redetermination shifted member profile-conference
By Amina Niasse NEW YORK (Reuters) - Health insurer Centene's Chief Executive Sarah London said on Friday that turnover in people enrolled in Medicaid plans had led to a shift in its membership health profile, to patients who were sicker, but stood...
May 31, 2024
US FDA staff flags concerns on MDMA-assisted PTSD treatment
(Reuters) -The U.S. health regulator's staff reviewers on Friday raised concerns related to interpretation of results from trials for Lykos Therapeutics psychedelic drug MDMA to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. The FDA staff, in the briefing docum...
May 31, 2024
Pfizer sees lung cancer drug topping $1 billion in sales following impressive 5-year data
By Michael Erman (Reuters) - Pfizer said it expects its cancer drug Lorbrena to top $1 billion in annual sales by 2030 on the strength of data presented on Friday showing most patients treated for a rare form of advanced lung cancer in a clinical t...
May 31, 2024
Gilead's Trodelvy extends lung cancer survival by just 1.3 months in trial
By Deena Beasley (Reuters) - Gilead Sciences' Trodelvy improved survival by 1.3 months more than chemotherapy in previously treated patients with advanced lung cancer in a late-stage trial, a difference that was not statistically significant, the c...
May 31, 2024
Novartis leukemia drug more effective than older treatments in trial
By Christy Santhosh (Reuters) - Swiss drugmaker Novartis said patients with a type of leukemia who took its Scemblix had a significantly better response and a lower dropout rate than those who received current standard-of-care drugs in a late-stage...
May 31, 2024
EU regulator recommends use of Pfizer's gene therapy for rare bleeding disorder
(Reuters) - The European Medicines Agency has recommended the use of Pfizer's gene therapy for a rare bleeding disorder called hemophilia B, which typically requires regular infusions of a blood-clotting protein, the regulator said on Friday. (Rep...
May 31, 2024
EU regulator recommends use of Valneva's chikungunya vaccine
(Reuters) - The European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended the use of Valneva's single-shot vaccine for chikungunya virus, the regulator said on Friday. With an approval from the European Commission following this recommendation, the French vaccin...
May 31, 2024
World unprepared for another pandemic as WHO treaty talks push on
By Emma Farge and Jennifer Rigby LONDON (Reuters) - The world is unprepared for another health crisis like COVID-19, a leading global health expert has warned, as countries make a last push to agree a way forward for a pandemic treaty amid fears th...
May 31, 2024
FDA extends deadline, requests more data on Sanofi's Dupixent for treating 'smoker's lung'
(Reuters) - French drugmaker Sanofi and its partner Regeneron said on Friday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requested additional analyses on the efficacy of Dupixent as an add-on treatment in certain patients 'smoker's lung', or COPD. ...
May 31, 2024
European Commission grants marketing approval to Biogen's ALS drug
(Reuters) -Biogen said on Thursday that the European Commission has granted marketing authorization under exceptional circumstances for its amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) drug Qalsody. The drug is the first treatment approved in the European Union...
May 30, 2024
Gilead's Trodelvy fails to meet main goal in late-stage study
(Reuters) - Gilead Sciences said on Thursday its drug Trodelvy, tested in patients with bladder cancer who previously received chemotherapy, did not meet the main goal of a late-stage study. (Reporting by Sneha S K; Editing by Alan Barona)
May 30, 2024
Summit Therapeutics cancer therapy succeeds in late-stage China study
(Reuters) - Summit Therapeutics said on Thursday its experimental therapy to treat patients with a type of lung cancer met the main goal of a late-stage study conducted in China. The company said its therapy showed statistically significant improve...
May 30, 2024
Bird flu infects third US dairy worker; Michigan set to expand testing
By Leah Douglas, Julie Steenhuysen and Tom Polansek (Reuters) -A third U.S. dairy worker tested positive for bird flu after exposure to infected cows, and was the first to suffer respiratory problems, U.S. officials said on Thursday. The infection was ...
May 30, 2024
US FDA allows use of Bristol's cell therapy for rare blood cancer
(Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has allowed expanded use of Bristol Myers Squibb's cell therapy, Breyanzi, for an aggressive and rare type of blood cancer that affects the body's disease fighting cells, the company said on Thursda...
May 30, 2024
Wegovy maker Novo Nordisk sues nine spas, clinics and pharmacies over copycat drugs
By Patrick Wingrove (Reuters) - Novo Nordisk said on Thursday it had sued nine more medical spas, wellness clinics and pharmacies in the U.S. for selling products claiming to contain semaglutide, the key ingredient in its popular weight-loss drug ...
May 30, 2024
Sherlock Bio evaluates over-the-counter rapid test for STIs, aims launch in 2025
By Bhanvi Satija (Reuters) - Sherlock Bio said on Thursday it had begun a trial of its over-the-counter rapid test for detecting sexually transmitted infections (STI) such as chlamydia and gonorrhea, and aims to launch it by mid-2025. The Massachus...
May 30, 2024
Exclusive-US proposes bulk milk testing for bird flu before cattle transport
By Tom Polansek CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. Agriculture Department has proposed allowing farmers to bulk test the milk of their dairy cows for bird flu rather than test milk from individual cows before gaining approval to ship them across state li...
May 30, 2024
WHO emergencies team faces funding crunch as health crises multiply
By Jennifer Rigby LONDON (Reuters) - The World Health Organization's emergencies department is facing "existential threats" as multiplying health crises have left it so short of cash that it needed emergency funds to pay staff salaries at the end o...
May 30, 2024
India's pharma export sales to grow faster this year, trade body says
By Rishika Sadam HYDERABAD (Reuters) - India's pharmaceutical export sales growth is expected to pick up to nearly 11% this fiscal year, from a roughly 10% increase last year, led by the key U.S. and UK markets, a government-backed trade body said...
May 30, 2024
US nears deal to fund Moderna's bird flu vaccine trial, FT reports
(Reuters) - The U.S. government is nearing an agreement to fund a late-stage trial of Moderna's mRNA pandemic bird flu vaccine, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, as an H5N1 outbreak spreads through egg farms and among cattle herds. The fede...
May 30, 2024
US health insurer shares fall after UnitedHealth flags Medicaid enrollment issues
By Amina Niasse NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of U.S. health insurers fell on Wednesday after UnitedHealth Group cited a near-term disturbance around reimbursement rates for Medicaid due to ongoing program-wide enrollment hurdles that began about a y...
May 29, 2024
Centene sees higher-than-expected medical costs in Medicaid
(Reuters) - Centene said on Wednesday the health insurer had higher-than-expected claims receipts in April for the first quarter as well as April 2024, indicating continued medical costs in Medicaid. Medicaid is the federal health program for low-i...
May 29, 2024
Indiana needs clearer medical exception to abortion ban, doctor tells judge
By Brendan Pierson (Reuters) - An Indiana doctor who is suing the state over its abortion ban on Wednesday told a state judge that the exception for medical emergencies was unclear, and could prevent medically necessary abortions. The testimony fro...
May 29, 2024
JBS says China blocks beef from US plant over detection of ractopamine
By P.J. Huffstutter and Tom Polansek CHICAGO (Reuters) -Meat processor JBS said on Wednesday that Beijing blocked U.S. beef shipments from the company's plant in Greeley, Colorado, because traces of the feed additive ractopamine were identified in beef...
May 29, 2024
France against Servier selling generics unit Biogaran, prime minster says
PARIS (Reuters) - The French state has told drugmaker Servier it was against any sale of its generics subsidiary Biogaran, which has a market share of almost a third in France, French Prime Ministers Gabriel Attal told lawmakers on Wednesday. Frenc...
May 29, 2024