ANALYSISA section 564 declaration, prompted by a July determination from the Secretary of War, opens the door to authorising unapproved drugs for acute pain in combat and CBRN casualties.
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The Vaccine Integrity Project, formed in 2025 amid disruptions to the CDC's immunisation advisory committee, sets out its process for reviewing 2026–2027 respiratory-season vaccines.
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The patented method uses mifepristone for hypercortisolism-related insulin resistance, with dosing capped to avoid over-activating the stress-hormone axis. The public can object before the deal closes.
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JAMA published paired systematic reviews for the coming respiratory season. Both found vaccines reduced hospitalisation across age groups, with no new safety signals, though protection wanes over time.
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A draft replacing a 2003 document would extend hepatic-impairment dosing studies to biologic drugs and to drug effects, not just blood levels. It is open for comment before the agency finalises it.
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A Federal Register notice opens a five-day comment window in September. The stated goal is to realign clinical operations across the institute and align with Presidential priorities.
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EXPLAINERThe list price is the sticker; the net price is what the maker keeps after rebates. For one insulin, list rose 27% over five years as the net price fell 10%. Who you are decides which you pay.
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The 2012 safe harbour for 3Rs data was barely used. The replacement is a voluntary pilot that takes submissions independently of a marketing application, running until the third quarter of 2027.
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ANALYSISA review by the country's Public Health Authority credits enforcement and awareness campaigns for falls in crashes, deaths and injuries from 2013 to 2023 — while naming what still holds the Vision 2030 target back.
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ANALYSISThe ESC released updated heart failure guidance plus first-ever guidelines on cardiac rehabilitation and on cardiovascular disease with chronic kidney disease. All three sit behind a paywall.
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ANALYSISA study of Current Population Survey data finds 19.8% of likely expansion enrollees sit near the 20-hour threshold or report variable hours. Women are at higher risk than men.
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ANALYSISAmericans owed about $140 billion in medical bills in collections. But two randomized experiments that relieved debt found no average effect on credit, financial distress or mental health.
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Across 26 states, expansion raised the Medicaid-paid share of deliveries by 5.2% and changed the severe maternal morbidity rate by 0.02% — an interval that includes zero in both directions.
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THE DRUG DOCKETA supplement approved on 26 August adds SURPASS-CVOT to the prescribing information and rewrites the eye warning so it is addressed to patients with a history of retinopathy rather than to patients with diabetes.
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EXPLAINERPharmacy benefit managers sit between you, your insurer and the pharmacy. The three largest process nearly 80% of US prescriptions, and a federal regulator says the structure can raise costs.
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Seventy-seven thousand fewer children got PEPFAR-supported HIV treatment in 2025 than the year before. UNAIDS warns permanent cuts could mean millions of additional infections and deaths by 2029.
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The administration wanted to consolidate NIH's 27 institutes into eight and cut roughly $18 billion from its budget. The signed law does neither.
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England's A&E departments handled 2.5 million attendances in July alone. Nursing staff say wards without air conditioning are becoming an occupational-safety problem, not just a patient-comfort one.
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The pandemic-era rules letting Medicare patients see a doctor from home, anywhere in the country, are now locked in through the end of 2027 — the longest extension since they were created.
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The public comment window just closed on a proposal that would govern how up to 20 high-cost drugs a year get their Medicare prices negotiated, starting with prices that take effect in 2029.
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Twenty-five states wanted the rule paused while they sued. The judge said the 90% federal reimbursement for setup costs undercut their case for emergency relief — not that their underlying legal argument was wrong.
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The court didn't strike down Idaho's ban. It said the state can't prosecute doctors for abortions performed to protect a patient's health, not just her life. Idaho is appealing.
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The administration wants pharmaceutical manufacturing back on US soil. The runway it's offering is shorter than the time it typically takes to build and validate a new drug plant.
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HHS Secretary Kennedy held the money over Gavi's use of a mercury-based preservative most safety reviews call harmless in trace amounts. Gavi says it was already phasing the ingredient out.
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THE DRUG DOCKETZenbexus didn't have to outlive patients in a control arm to win approval — it had to clear their bone marrow of detectable disease faster. That shortcut is becoming the norm, not the exception.
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THE DRUG DOCKETOrzeyful replaces signaling from the brain chemical narcolepsy patients lack, rather than stimulating wakefulness around the gap. Two-thirds of patients on the higher dose had trouble sleeping.
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For decades a manufacturer could add a new ingredient and privately decide it was generally recognized as safe without telling the FDA. A proposed rule would end that loophole.
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THE DRUG DOCKETGENGLYCOS treats the cause of glycogen storage disease type Ia, not just the symptoms cornstarch regimens manage — but it carries a long list of serious risks and an accelerated-approval asterisk.
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The Aletta still needs a trained supervisor in the room, but it locates the vein, inserts the needle and fills the tubes on its own — and one person can now watch three of them at once.
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EXPLAINERSince 2021, hospitals must post the rates they negotiate with each insurer. The data confirms the same procedure at the same hospital varies widely by which insurer is paying.
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EXPLAINERPhysician surveys report delays and abandoned treatment; those are self-reported. A harder number: a federal audit found 13% of Medicare Advantage denials met Medicare's own coverage rules.
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EXPLAINERUS guidance recommends mammography from 40. A Canadian review of the same randomised evidence put the benefit at 0.27 fewer breast cancer deaths per 1,000 women aged 40-49 over ten years.
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EXPLAINERMedicare's cap is statutory; the commercial version is a voluntary manufacturer promise with conditions. Before the caps, 1.3 million adults rationed insulin because of cost.
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ANALYSISThe advisory committee that shaped U.S. immunization policy for decades was replaced, then bypassed. In March a judge stayed the result.
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EXPLAINERThe prices apply only to 10 drugs, only in Medicare, and only from January 2026. Here is exactly which drugs, by how much, and who actually sees the difference.
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ANALYSISA study of 1,331 physicians put violence ahead of pay. Of 32 doctors who had already emigrated, two were considering coming back — and none of the women were.
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EXPLAINERAcross all drugs, US prices are 2.78 times those in 33 other wealthy countries. The gap is not that Americans use more medicine — it is that no one sets the launch price.
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THE DRUG DOCKETIn February, FDA said it intended to act against compounded GLP-1 supply without saying how. The answer arrived in May: exclude semaglutide, tirzepatide and liraglutide from the list.
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ANALYSISA comparison of 2020–2025 approvals finds 94 novel oncology drugs from the NMPA against 87 from the FDA, with China's volume overtaking from 2023. The speed and first-in-class figures run the other way.
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THE DRUG DOCKETSimtriyo works on a different neurotransmitter pathway than existing stimulants. But its own manufacturer classifies it as a CNS stimulant, so a scheduling review stands before pharmacy shelves.
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ANALYSISA first consolidated audit of PBS and PHARMAC cardiovascular listings from 2023 to 2025 finds a widening access gap between two neighbouring countries with similar disease burdens.
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THE DRUG DOCKETThe CHMP's June meeting recommended pulling avacopan from the EU market on data-integrity grounds, refused three cell and biological therapies, and reversed itself on a Rett syndrome drug it had earlier rejected.
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THE DRUG DOCKETLipfendra cut LDL cholesterol by more than half in two trials. Its significance is less the number than the format: a once-daily tablet where every prior PCSK9 inhibitor required a needle.
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ANALYSISThe appeal is moving on an expedited track, with a status report due this month. But CIDRAP's vaccine-policy trackers make a pointed argument: a working committee could exist right now, if HHS chose to seat one.
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ANALYSISA new administration analysis estimates 2.9 million people were removed from ACA exchange plans as improperly or fraudulently enrolled — and that 2.6 million more remain.
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ANALYSISThe committee's founding document now asks for a 'balanced range' of expertise rather than vaccine-specific knowledge, and adds review of non-vaccine alternatives to its mandate.
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ANALYSISTwenty-two years of national data show income-related inequities in care use narrowing, and copayment increases for higher earners not reversing that. Services carrying extra user charges are the outlier.
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ANALYSISA comparison of FDA, EMA and ANVISA decisions from 2020 to 2024 finds Brazilian approvals arriving about a year later. A second study clocks the wait for public-system financing in years, not months.
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THE DRUG DOCKETXocova is taken after a known exposure, not after symptoms appear. In a 2,041-person trial it cut symptomatic infection by 67% through day 10.
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ANALYSISThe ESC Atlas reports 68 million disability-adjusted life years and more than three million cardiovascular deaths a year, with middle-income countries carrying roughly double the mortality of high-income ones.
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THE DRUG DOCKETHepcludex clears a bar most rare-disease drugs never reach: full U.S. approval. But FDA granted it on a surrogate marker, denied a bonus review voucher, and wants outcomes data that won't arrive until 2034.
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ANALYSISPHARMAC's October 2024 decision left one brand's sensors unfunded, forcing a device switch. A single-centre audit of 79 children found HbA1c fell slightly — and cannot say the switch caused it.
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THE DRUG DOCKETAbout one in five adults with generalized myasthenia gravis test negative for the antibody Vyvgart was built around. A new trial, and a new approval, brings them into its label.
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ANALYSISAn econometric analysis of the 2019 European Health Interview Survey prices smoking-attributable inpatient and daycare hospitalisation across the EU — deliberately excluding every other kind of care.
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THE DRUG DOCKETThe CHMP backed tolebrutinib for non-relapsing secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, a population with no prior disability-targeting treatment. The trial showed a 31% delay in progression.
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THE DRUG DOCKETSparsentan cut proteinuria nearly in half in the DUPLEX trial's FSGS patients. Its effect on the eGFR measure that tracks actual kidney function decline was smaller, and comes with a liver-monitoring requirement.
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Louisiana wanted mail and telehealth access to the drug shut down immediately. The judge denied that request but didn't dismiss the case either — he gave the FDA until October to finish its own review.
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EXPLAINERAnvisa's five new resolutions build a controlled supply chain from seed to shelf, including a regulatory sandbox for patient associations. Analysts say the framework's biggest gap is the one it did not close.
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ANALYSISSub-Saharan Africa received $11 billion in external assistance for community health worker programmes over two decades. More than three-quarters went to single-disease work, and the annual financing gap never closed.
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THE DRUG DOCKETThe European Medicines Agency's March meeting produced five positive opinions, three of them for orphan-designated cancer and rare-disease treatments already available in some other markets.
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THE DRUG DOCKETAwiqli's approval for adults with type 2 diabetes rests on four trials comparing it with daily basal insulin. A pediatric dosing study is still due by June.
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Judge Brian Murphy found the government likely broke two federal laws when it bypassed ACIP and replaced its members. The ruling reverts the childhood schedule and cancels this week's ACIP meeting.
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WHO updated all three components for the 2026-2027 northern hemisphere season after subclade K dominated globally, and recommended a new candidate vaccine virus for an H9N2 avian strain.
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EXPLAINERThe draft Plausible Mechanism Framework would let a well-supported mechanism of action carry weight where patient populations are too small for randomisation. It is open for comment for 60 days.
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The objection turns on a no-treatment arm. WHO says placebo or no-treatment vaccine trials are acceptable only where no proven intervention exists, and here one does.
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THE DRUG DOCKETThe agency announced an intent to restrict GLP-1 active ingredients destined for non-approved compounded drugs, and warned that seizure and injunction are on the table without further notice.
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ANALYSISThe American Academy of Pediatrics' 2026 schedule covers 18 diseases and carries 12 outside endorsements. The federal schedule signed three weeks earlier lists 11 vaccines for all children.
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ANALYSISLarge taxed beverage sales fell 24 to 31 percent under the tax. In the period after repeal they remained 13 to 24 percent below pre-tax levels — and prices stayed elevated too.
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ANALYSISEleven vaccines remain recommended for all children. The rest move to risk-based or shared-decision categories, on the strength of a comparison with 20 other countries.
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Neither the Democratic extension nor the Republican alternative cleared the 60-vote threshold. KFF puts the average out-of-pocket premium increase at 114%.
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EXPLAINERA federal recommendation is load-bearing for insurance coverage, the Vaccines for Children programme, and school requirements. States have started building alternatives to all three.
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ANALYSISThe 5 December directive tells HHS and the CDC to compare the American childhood schedule with those of other wealthy nations, using a count of diseases as its benchmark.
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ACIP replaced a recommendation in place since 1991 with individual decision-making for babies born to mothers who test negative. The CDC has not yet adopted it.
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THE DRUG DOCKETVoyxact cut urinary protein by about half at nine months in the VISIONARY trial. Whether that slows kidney decline is the question the accelerated approval leaves open until 2027.
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THE DRUG DOCKETThe CHMP's November meeting produced ten positive opinions. Two of them — teplizumab and a Telethon-sponsored gene therapy — address conditions the EU has had no authorised treatment for.
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THE DRUG DOCKETHyrnuo (sevabertinib) is cleared for previously treated HER2-mutant NSCLC on response rate alone. The confirmatory trial that must justify it does not report until 2029.
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THE DRUG DOCKETRedemplo (plozasiran) is dosed once every three months. The approval carries required studies on liver injury, dysglycaemia and carcinogenicity, and skipped an advisory committee.
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THE DRUG DOCKETKygevvi is a pair of oral nucleosides for an ultra-rare mitochondrial myopathy. There was no randomised trial — survival in treated patients was compared with untreated patients drawn from the literature.
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THE DRUG DOCKETTwo trials showed more deaths on voxelotor than placebo. The registry data that triggered the 2024 precautionary suspension did not confirm the original signal — the trials did something worse.
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THE DRUG DOCKETBrensocatib cleared CHMP on an accelerated timetable with a 19.4% cut in exacerbation rate. The same October meeting issued a negative opinion on belumosudil and kept a sickle cell drug suspended.
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THE DRUG DOCKETJascayd cleared on 7 October under priority review with orphan designation. The phase 3 trial it rests on measured lung function decline, not survival, and most patients were already on an antifibrotic.
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THE DRUG DOCKETPalsonify is cleared for adults whose acromegaly did not respond adequately to surgery. In the phase 3 switching trial, 83.3% on the pill kept biochemical control versus 3.6% on placebo.
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Seven of those nine were denosumab. The committee's September opinions also covered an RSV antibody for infants, a first EU treatment for IgG4-related disease, and four withdrawn applications.
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THE DRUG DOCKETThe recommendation covers people weighing at least 35 kg and rests on two trials in which lenacapavir cut HIV infections by 100% and 96% against background incidence.
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EXPLAINERThe committee meets 18-19 September on COVID-19, hepatitis B and MMRV vaccines. RSV was dropped two days before. Adopted recommendations carry insurance and Vaccines for Children consequences.
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ANALYSISIHME's annual accounting puts development assistance for health at less than half its 2021 peak, with no recovery forecast to 2030. A companion model estimates what that means for tuberculosis.
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ANALYSISA Federal Register notice on 9 June listed eleven vaccine topics and ten scheduled votes over three days. An amended notice on 24 June listed seven topics, three votes and two days.
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