Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA
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…
By Sriparna Roy and Sneha S K March 12 (Reuters) – Artificial intelligence is being deployed on both sides of the tug-of-war between U.S. healthcare systems that want to be paid more for medical procedures and insurers who want proof the services were necessary, and experts are having a hard time predicting a winner. Centene, an insurer focused on the Medicaid program for low-income people, recently raised the issue, saying hospitals were aggressively or even improperly using revenue software to trigger reimbursement. “There have been some of these pockets where folks coming into the emergency department with a fever, all…
Ashley Elizabeth Harden logged on recently from her home in small-town Louisiana and searched for a weight-loss drug. She found plenty of options and settled on a cheaper, imitation version of the name-brand drugs for $177 a month that she could buy without going through insurance. Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. “It’s absolutely odd,” she said of paying a cash price for medicine she sees as vital but whose cost rivals her monthly electric bill, “having to research, compare prices and make decisions online for something so important…
March 13 (Reuters) – British drugmaker GSK said on Friday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has expanded the approved age range for its respiratory syncytial virus vaccine, Arexvy, to include adults aged 18 to 49 who are at increased risk of lower respiratory tract disease caused by the virus. * The vaccine is already approved in the U.S. for preventingRSV-related disease in adults aged 60 and above, and in at-riskadults aged 50 to 59. * RSV is a common respiratory virus that causes seasonalinfections such as the flu and is a leading cause of pneumoniaand death in infants and…