File this under “unintended consequences.” Over the past few months, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has pursued new policies that its officials insist will preserve patents from unnecessary legal challenges and strengthen the system for protecting innovation. But critics — including some drug companies — argue the moves would undercut a valuable process for confirming…
WASHINGTON — Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said he does not want to take vaccines away from Americans. But at a closed-door meeting of Food and Drug Administration vaccine scientists in September, a top official suggested doing just that. Scientists listened as Tracy Beth Høeg, a lieutenant to FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, laid…
WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration named Richard Pazdur, its longtime overseer of cancer therapies, as top drug regulator on Tuesday. Pazdur replaces former Center for Drug Evaluation and Research Director George Tidmarsh, who exited the agency earlier this month amid accusations of using his regulatory authority to advance a personal vendetta against a…
WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration is struggling to select a new head of its drug center after the sudden and chaotic exit of the previous director, George Tidmarsh. Richard Pazdur, the director of the FDA’s Oncology Center for Excellence, was approached about the job and turned it down, two sources told STAT. The Pink…
For the past few months, CVS Caremark has declined to add a groundbreaking HIV prevention drug from Gilead Sciences to its formularies. Clinical trials showed the twice-a-year injectable, called Yeztugo, was highly effective in preventing the infectious disease, prompting enthusiasm about combating HIV globally. But the pharmacy benefits manager has argued that the $28,000 price tag…
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images Daniel Payne reports on how the health industry and Washington influence and impact each other. He joined STAT in 2025 after covering health care at POLITICO. You can reach Daniel on Signal at danielp.100. Damian Garde is a reporter at large, live and feature journalism, covering the global drug industry…
In its latest bid to shake up the prescription drug market, the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company has reached a deal to sell a cheap, biosimilar version of Stelara, a widely prescribed treatment for chronic inflammatory and autoimmune conditions. The company plans to sell the lower-cost medication for $345 every three months, or $1,380 a…
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced a deal Thursday to expand access to popular obesity drugs made by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly — offering more coverage for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries and lowering the prices across the board. The administration argued that giving millions more people access to these drugs represents a major victory…
WASHINGTON — 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, people familiar with the talks told STAT. The companies have been close to a deal for weeks, one lobbyist with knowledge of the negotiations said, echoing others who…
Over a recent two-year period, Novo Nordisk spent an estimated $7.5 million on more than 15,000 paid keywords related to weight loss searches and generated more than 2.4 million visits to Ozempic.com, even though the medicine is not approved to combat obesity, a new analysis found. Notably, more than 3,500 keywords contained no mention of…