Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the middle of the week. Congratulations on making it this far, and remember there are only a few more days until the weekend arrives. So keep plugging away. After all, what are the alternatives? While you ponder the possibilities, we invite you to join us for a delightful cup of stimulation. Our choice today is, once again, hot buttery rum. Remember that no prescription is required — so no co-pay or rebate is involved. Meanwhile, here is the latest menu of tidbits to help you on your way. Have a wonderful day, and please do stay in touch. …
The Trump administration is nearing deals with Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to lower the prices of their weight loss drugs and expand access to them, STAT notes. Although details could change, some of the obesity drugs would be sold to consumers at $149 for a month’s supply via TrumpRx, according to The Wall Street Journal. The agreement is also expected to include Medicare coverage of the drugs for weight loss. Currently, Medicare has covered the injections to treat diabetes and some other conditions, but not to help people lose weight. Deals with Lilly and Novo would be among the most politically significant announcements yet in the White House push for lower drug prices for Americans. If access to the drugs grows substantially, it could have major implications for public health, but the true impact of any agreement remains unknown. The administration and drug companies that have made similar deals have declined to share details, and drug pricing experts said the deals appeared unlikely to significantly lower drug costs for Americans.
This year, as President Trump has threatened tariffs, nearly all of the wealthiest pharmaceutical companies have pledged to spend billions of dollars to build factories in the U.S. Construction is underway in industry hubs like North Carolina on state-of-the-art plants that will produce blockbuster drugs. But the president’s drug-manufacturing renaissance in America is largely leaving out the production of generic medicines, The New York Times tells us. Generic drugs account for 90% of prescriptions written in the U.S. In some cases, closed plants have been bought and revived by another drug manufacturer, but most of the shuttered factories are not making medicines anymore. The number of U.S. facilities formulating generic drugs has fallen by 27% since 2013, according to an analysis of data collected by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
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STAT Pharma: The science and business of new drug development
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