Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA
March 5 (Reuters) – CVS Health will launch an AI-enabled platform in partnership with Alphabet’s Google Cloud unit that will bring together data from diverse sources to help customers manage their health in real time, they said on Thursday. Health100 will be an integrated health care engagement platform for customers, regardless of the pharmacy or insurer they use. The initial launch of Health100 will be in 2026, with details expected to be revealed at The Check Up, Google’s annual health event later in March. * The Health100 will use built-in agentic AI – which needsminimal human intervention – to provide…
SHANGHAI, March 6 (Reuters) – China has approved Pfizer’s GLP-1 treatment Xianweiying for long-term weight management in overweight or obese adults, the US drugmaker said on WeChat on Friday, boosting competition in a market analysts expect to be worth billions in coming years.The injection belongs to the class of GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs sold locally by drugmakers such as Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, and Innovent Biologics. “This marks a breakthrough in field of weight management,” Sciwind Biosciences, from which Pfizer licensed mainland China commercialisation rights in February, said on its website. Sales of Novo’s Wegovy on Alibaba’s Tmall e-commerce platform…
By Christy Santhosh March 6 (Reuters) – French drugmaker Servier said on Friday it would buy U.S.-based Day One Biopharmaceuticals for about $2.5 billion, expanding its brain tumor treatment portfolio. Servier has offered $21.50 per share in cash, a premium of 68% to the stock’s last close. Shares of Day One jumped 65% in morning trade. The deal will give the company access to Day One’s Ojemda, the only U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved monotherapy for pediatric low-grade glioma, the most common form of brain tumor in children. Servier already sells adult glioma drug Voranigo and the deal strengthens its…
March 9 (Reuters) – U.S. drugmaker Pfizer said on Monday its experimental drug for a chronic skin disease met the main goal in a mid-stage study. Here are some details: * The patients treated with the drug tilrekimig saw asignificant reduction in symptoms after 16 weeks and the drugwas well tolerated with a favorable safety profile in the study,Pfizer said. * The drug is currently being tested in patients withmoderate to severe atopic dermatitis or eczema, a skin diseasewhich causes itching, widespread rashes and inflammation thatcan disrupt daily activities. * Across three doses, the share of patients with strongimprovement was…
Novo Nordisk is dismissing its patent infringement lawsuit against telehealth company Hims & Hers, as the two companies have reached an agreement that will see Novo Nordisk’s branded weight loss medicines sold through the Hims platform. Early last month Hims & Hers said that it was going to launch a cheaper, off-brand version of the weight-loss pill Wegovy, just weeks after drugmaker Novo Nordisk launched its highly anticipated reformulation of the blockbuster medication. At the time, Novo Nordisk vowed to sue Hims, calling the new product “an unapproved, inauthentic, and untested knockoff” of semaglutide, the chemical name for Wegovy. But…
By Ludwig Burger FRANKFURT, March 10 (Reuters) – The two co-founders and leading executives of Germany’s BioNTech will leave the COVID-19 vaccine maker by the end of 2026 to start again with a new company, the biotech firm said on Tuesday. CEO Ugur Sahin and chief medical officer Oezlem Tuereci, the married couple behind the Western world’s most commonly used immunisation shot during the pandemic, said in a statement that they were “ready to become pioneers again”. BioNTech said it had initiated a search for successors to ensure a smooth transition. The new company will have distinct resources, operations and…
March 10 (Reuters) – Medical device maker Medtronic said on Tuesday it has agreed to buy U.S.-based Scientia Vascular in a deal valued at $550 million, aiming to expand its line-up of products used in stroke care. Here are some details: * Scientia, based in Salt Lake City with about 310employees, makes guidewires and catheters used to navigate bloodvessels in the brain. * These guidewires and catheters can be seamlesslyintegrated into Medtronic’s existing suite of neurovascularproducts, the medical device maker said. * The deal positions Medtronic with a full suite of productsand supports procedures across both hemorrhagic and acuteischemic stroke,…
By John Revill and Danny Callaghan KILCHBERG, Switzerland March 10 (Reuters) – Chocolate sales are rising faster among U.S. users of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs than in the rest of the population, Swiss chocolatier Lindt & Spruengli said on Tuesday, citing data that defied forecasts the drugs would reduce confectionery demand. The company said an internal study, based on February data from market researcher Circana, found 15% of U.S. households use GLP-1s, representing 17.5% of chocolate sales. GLP-1s include weight-loss drugs such as Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro. Consumers cutting back on high-calorie intake categories, such as pasta, pizza…
By Alexander Marrow LONDON, March 11 (Reuters) – Haleon is stepping up its Chinese expansion, pushing into second- and third-tier cities and tailoring its gum-health products to local tastes, aiming to succeed where many Western consumer brands have struggled. Sluggish demand and fierce competition have hit Western heavyweights from BMW to Pernod Ricard and Nike, which all reported weaker China sales last year. But Haleon, helped by strong growth in Sensodyne toothpaste, is doubling down with a 65 million pound ($87 million) investment in a new oral-health plant in Shanghai. CEO Brian McNamara says the goal is to take its…
By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK, March 11 (Reuters) – Aetna, a unit of CVS Health, agreed to pay $117.7 million to resolve U.S. government charges it defrauded Medicare by knowingly submitting inaccurate diagnosis codes for morbid obesity and other health conditions in Medicare Advantage Plan enrollees. The civil settlement announced by the U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday resolves charges that Aetna violated the federal False Claims Act. Under Medicare Advantage, also known as Medicare Part C, patients who opt out of traditional Medicare may enroll in private health plans known as Medicare Advantage Organizations, or MAOs. The U.S. Centers…