Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Taking Older Diabetes Drugs Linked To Lower Dementia Risks
An older class of diabetes drugs appeared to lower the risk of developing dementia in a study, suggesting the inexpensive medicines could be researched to help combat the growing societal burden of cognitive decline. (Loh, 10/11)
On the high cost of prescriptions —
Patrick Keenan, director of policy and partnerships at the Pennsylvania Health Access Network, a nonprofit focused on pricing and accessibility of the health care system in the state, weighed in on Eckard's situation. "We've seen an explosion of prices, really over the past decade, with a lot of these blockbuster drugs that the price just seems to go up and up and up," Keenan said. (Panyard, 10/11)
In other pharmaceutical and biotech updates —
Walmart said Tuesday it will begin helping pharmaceutical companies, clinical research organizations and academic medical centers recruit people for clinical research trials. (Devereaux, 10/11)
The Deerfield, Illinois-based company is paying a total of $722 million to quickly boost its presence in the industry. Walgreens completed its initial $330 million deal with CareCentrix in late August, taking a 55% share in the company that helps transition patients from hospitals to their homes. The remaining stake will cost the company $392 million and the transaction is expected to close by March 2023, according to a news release. (Berryman, 10/11)
A biotech company co-founded by venture capital firm Atlas Venture has shut down after running into problems with its lead drug and raising new funding. The goal was to develop drugs for what are known as repeat expansion disorders — genetic diseases that are caused when short chunks of the DNA sequence repeat over and over again in the DNA strand. (DeAngelis, 10/12)
NFL Hall of Famer Brett Favre hosted Mississippi officials at his home in January 2019, where an executive for a pharmaceutical company Favre invested in solicited nearly $2 million in state welfare funds, according to pitch materials obtained by CBS News. (Kaplan, Hymes, Villafranca and Kates, 10/11)
Lewisville-based Orthofix will merge with a California firm to form a medical device maker with combined revenue of nearly $700 million and products distributed in 68 countries. The all-stock deal with SeaSpine, a Carlsbad-based company that makes spinal and orthopedics devices, is expected to close early next year. The combined firm, which will be named at closing, will be headquartered in Lewisville with offices in Carlsbad and Verona, Italy. (O'Donnell, 10/11)
