Today's Healthcare Pulse
Abridge teams with Eli Lilly and Nvidia to expand AI scribe platform
Abridge announced a strategic investment from Eli Lilly and a partnership with Nvidia to build a foundation model for clinical conversations. The collaboration aims to broaden Abridge’s AI‑scribe services across more health systems and integrate with payers. The company already supports over 300 health systems.
Also developing:
RAS Cracked… yet the Hard Part Starts Now
A new RAS‑targeted therapy delivered a 58% overall response rate and a hazard ratio of 0.40 in previously treated pancreatic cancer, data unveiled at AACR in San Diego and slated for full presentation at ASCO. These outcomes, once thought impossible, signal a potential shift in a disease with historically limited options. The article cautions that translating such trial success into everyday community oncology settings, like a clinic in Ohio, will be the real test. It calls for scrutiny of real‑world efficacy, access, and implementation hurdles.
ESCMID Global 2026: Adibelivir Emerges as Potential Disease-Modifying Therapy for HSV
Innovative Molecules presented Phase I/Ib data on adibelivir (IM‑250), a novel helicase‑primase inhibitor, at ESCMID Global 2026. The drug demonstrated nanomolar potency against clinical and acyclovir‑resistant HSV‑1/2 isolates and showed a favorable safety profile up to 200 mg with no dose‑limiting toxicities....
OK, Kennedy and Hegseth Can Take a Victory Lap for This One—The Mandate to Take a Flu Shot in the...
The U.S. Department of Defense announced the cancellation of the flu‑shot mandate for active‑duty, reserve, and civilian personnel. Children’s Health Defense (CHD) claims credit for the policy shift, framing it as a win for individual liberty. The blog’s author predicts...
The Skinny on Skinny Labels: The Active Inducement Problem That Patent Practitioners Should Know
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear Hikma Pharmaceuticals v. Amarin Pharma, a case that tests whether a generic maker can be liable for induced patent infringement despite using the FDA’s skinny‑label pathway. The dispute centers on Hikma’s generic icosapent ethyl, which omitted...
Watch: Acknowledging Health Care’s Great Divide
In a recent KFF Health News interview, former Obama adviser and health‑policy scholar David Blumenthal explained why fixing America’s health‑care system is so difficult. He highlighted the president’s outsized, often overlooked, authority to shape health policy and the entrenched partisan...
How Dermatologists Are Helping People Who’ve Been Sex Trafficked
Dermatologists across the United States are increasingly offering free tattoo‑removal services to survivors of sex trafficking, turning a visible mark of abuse into a pathway toward healing. The New York Times highlighted survivors like Kathy Givens and Melody Montemayor, who underwent multiple laser...
CMS Tells Govs To ‘Swiftly’ Revalidate Providers As Medicaid Programs Craft Broader Strategy
CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz sent letters to all 50 state governors on April 23, 2026, urging a swift revalidation of Medicaid providers operating in high‑risk areas. The directive gives states 30 days to complete the revalidation and to outline a broader, long‑term strategy for...
New Waves of Hospice Executives Take the Lead
A series of senior‑level appointments are reshaping hospice leadership across the United States. Becky Tooker becomes president of Hosparus Health, bringing 25 years of hospice and home‑health expertise. Bristol Hospice adds three regional executives—Valerie Meyer, Marriza Negrete and Jason Hill—to manage...
Fertility Clinics Sell IVF; Seek Holistic Care Elsewhere
Every week I talk to couples who are struggling to conceive. They come to us because they feel completely lost and in the dark about their own fertility. And almost all of them have the same story. They went to...
Key Takeaways: How Regulatory Exclusivity, PTA, PTE, and Double Patenting Shape Pharmaceutical Lifecycle Value
The recent Sterne Kessler webinar dissected how FDA regulatory exclusivities, patent‑term adjustment (PTA), patent‑term extension (PTE) and obviousness‑type double patenting (ODP) intersect to shape a drug’s lifecycle value. Regulators can grant exclusivity periods that outlast patent terms, while PTA can add...
First Bedside Procedure of Its Kind Performed by Traveling Clinicians on Premature Infant
Cardiologists in Florida performed the first traveling bedside transcatheter patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) closure on a 22‑week‑old premature infant. Led by Dr. Shyam Sathanandam at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, the minimally invasive procedure was completed in the NICU isolette, eliminating the...
The BioPharm Brief: CAR-T Advances, Pediatric Biologic Approval, and Oral GLP-1 Progress
A2 Biotherapeutics will unveil early data on its A2B694 CAR‑T therapy, which targets HLA‑A*02 loss of heterozygosity in solid tumors, at ASCO 2026. The FDA approved dupilumab for children ages 2‑11 with chronic spontaneous urticaria, marking the first biologic for this pediatric...
SurGenTec Adds Navigation Option to FDA-Cleared SI Joint Fusion System
SurGenTec received FDA 510(k) clearance for its TiLink navigation instruments, which integrate with Medtronic’s StealthStation platform to provide real‑time guidance during minimally invasive sacroiliac (SI) joint fusion. The new tools are designed to help surgeons locate, access, and prepare the...
Is Ozempic Conversion Therapy?
The author provocatively equates Ozempic, a GLP‑1 weight‑loss drug, with conversion therapy, arguing that both aim to change a person's physical or identity traits. The piece references the Human Rights Campaign’s condemnation of conversion therapy while questioning whether weight‑loss interventions...
Doctors Are Prescribing Social Connections to Boost Health
Take a walk with friends twice a week. That’s an example of a prescription your doctor might write for you in the future. @NatalieDaher7 reports in @axios on the rise of social prescribing: doctors sending patients to social experiences. It makes sense:...
Cannabis Rescheduling Is Not the Story People Think It Is
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed a directive reclassifying state‑licensed medical cannabis as a Schedule III substance, marking the first federal acknowledgment of its medical use since 1970. The move overturns the longstanding classification of cannabis as having no accepted medical...
What You Should Know About National Prescription Drug Take Back Day
The DEA’s 30th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day is set for Saturday, April 25, 2026, with roughly 4,200 drop‑off sites across the United States. The event offers a free, anonymous way for the public to discard expired or unused...
Substance Use Disorder Biotech Tempero to Close After Earlier 'Serious' Safety Event
Tempero Bio, a biotech focused on novel treatments for substance‑use disorders, announced it will wind down operations following a serious adverse event in its late‑stage clinical trial. The company had raised more than $200 million to advance a kappa‑opioid receptor antagonist...
Tricuspid Training Series: Echocardiographic Evaluation of Patients with Tricuspid Regurgitation
In the latest Heart Valve Matters podcast, cardiologists Rick Nishimura and Paul Grayburn dissect how echocardiography is used to evaluate tricuspid regurgitation (TR). They outline the imaging techniques—2‑D, Doppler, and emerging 3‑D modalities—required to grade severity and assess right‑ventricular function....
Pharmaceutical Executive Daily: FDA Expands Approvals for Tzield and Dupixent
The FDA broadened Tzield’s approval to treat children as young as one year with stage 2 type 1 diabetes, aiming to delay progression to stage 3 disease. It also expanded Dupixent’s label to cover young patients with uncontrolled chronic spontaneous urticaria, adding another...
CDC Data Show Weekly ER Visits for Tick Bites Higher than Usual
The CDC’s Tick Bite Tracker shows weekly emergency‑room visits for tick bites are at their highest levels since 2017 in every U.S. region except the South‑Central states. The surge comes as the nation heads into Lyme Disease Awareness Month, prompting...
Sleep Duration Has ‘Complex’ Association with Cancer
Researchers presented a pooled meta‑analysis of seven prospective cohorts involving 918,000 adults, finding that sleeping less than 7 hours per night is linked to a slight overall reduction in cancer incidence but raises risk for specific malignancies such as small‑intestine cancer,...
6 High-Resolution Additive Manufacturing Tips for Faster Medtech Development
The article presents six actionable tips for using high‑resolution additive manufacturing (AM) to speed up medical‑device development. It urges teams to adopt an iteration‑first mindset, exploit sub‑10 µm layer precision to answer targeted engineering questions, and revisit designs once deemed impractical....
Find Information About a Drug
The FDA and NIH provide a suite of online tools that let consumers, clinicians, and researchers locate comprehensive drug information. Resources such as Drugs@FDA, DailyMed, and MedlinePlus deliver FDA‑approved labeling, safety data, and side‑effect details for both prescription and over‑the‑counter...
Self-Inflicted Wounds
CMS has proposed CJR‑X, a mandatory, nationwide bundled‑payment model for all Medicare joint replacements effective October 2027. The original CJR program saved roughly $112 million over two years, mainly by reducing post‑acute care, but CJR‑X projects only $725 million in savings over five...
Novartis' Radioligand Therapy Lutathera Could Soon Face Generic Competition
Novartis’s Lutathera, the first FDA‑approved radioligand therapy for neuroendocrine tumors, recorded $1.5 billion in 2023 sales and dominates a market projected to exceed $3 billion by 2028. A generic version filed by Sandoz aims for a 2025 launch, marking the first non‑brand...
Mass General Brigham Secures Nearly $866M Financing Package For Ongoing Expansion
Mass General Brigham secured a $865.5 million tax‑exempt bond package, led by J.P. Morgan Securities, to fund its ongoing West End campus expansion. The financing will support the 482‑bed Ragon Building, which will boost oncology and cardiovascular services, and add five stories...
Really Need Long Pedicle Screws in Good Bone? Ever?
A cadaveric biomechanical study compared 35 mm “short” pedicle screws with the longest possible screws in lumbar vertebrae under cyclic fatigue loading. In vertebrae with normal bone density, both screw lengths endured similar fatigue loads (~315 N), indicating the pedicle alone provides...
House Panel Advances FDA Spending Hike In Party-Line Vote
The House Appropriations Committee’s FDA subcommittee voted along party lines to advance a bill that adds roughly $200 million to the agency’s budget. The measure cleared the subcommittee with little debate and will move to a full committee markup next week....
FDA Approves Dupilumab for Young Children With Uncontrolled CSU
The FDA has approved dupilumab (Dupixent) for children ages 2‑11 with uncontrolled chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), marking the first biologic therapy for this pediatric group. The decision is based on the LIBERTY‑CUPID phase 3 program, which demonstrated significant reductions in itch...
Drug Safety Information
The FDA’s Drug Safety Information hub aggregates a suite of resources—Drug Safety Communications, MedWatch reporting, alerts, post‑market monitoring, and searchable databases such as FDALabel—to help clinicians, patients, and industry stay informed about medication risks and benefits. The portal also offers...
Stroke Impact Determines Future Dementia Risk
A national cohort of over 42,000 adults tracked for up to 30 years shows a clear dose‑response link between stroke severity and later dementia. Survivors of severe ischemic strokes face roughly five times the odds of developing dementia, while even...
Publisher’s Platform: Hepatitis A and the Food Service Industry: A Case for Universal Vaccination
Bill Marler’s op‑ed urges universal Hepatitis A vaccination for food‑service workers, noting that the CDC removed the vaccine from the routine childhood schedule. He stresses that the virus spreads during the two weeks before symptoms appear, turning a single unvaccinated employee...
Vitamin D May Prevent Diabetes in People with Certain Genes
A new analysis of the D2d trial shows that a daily 4,000 IU vitamin D supplement reduces the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 19 % in prediabetic adults who carry the AC or CC variants of the vitamin D receptor gene, while those...
Google Search Trends Reflect a Shift Toward Minimally Invasive Heart Care
New research presented at the SCAI 2026 Scientific Sessions shows public interest in transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) surged 340% from 2015 to 2025, while searches for surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) fell 42%. The spike aligns with clinicians doubling...
FDA Approval of Regeneron’s Hearing Loss Gene Therapy Breaks Barriers
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals received FDA approval for Otarmeni, the first gene therapy targeting congenital deafness caused by otoferlin deficiency. The treatment, approved under the Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher program, demonstrated clinically meaningful hearing gains in 11 of 12 patients in the...
Drug-Coated Balloons Reduce the Need for Permanent Heart Stents
A sub‑study of the SELUTION DeNovo trial presented at the SCAI 2026 meeting shows that a sirolimus‑eluting balloon (SEB) can treat NSTEMI and unstable angina with outcomes comparable to drug‑eluting stents (DES). The analysis of 1,089 patients found one‑year target‑vessel...
Early Heart Pump Use Improves Survival in Patients Experiencing Cardiogenic Shock
The CERAMICS registry, a single‑arm study of 124 cardiogenic shock patients across 20 U.S. hospitals with on‑site mechanical circulatory support (MCS), showed that rapid Impella placement and PCI within roughly 75 minutes led to a 71% overall survival to discharge....
Treatment Goals Guide Cardiogenic Shock Care More Often in Women
The Northwell‑Shock Registry analysis of 1,374 AMI‑related cardiogenic shock patients revealed that women are less likely to undergo invasive coronary angiography (78% vs 86% in men). When angiography is performed, subsequent PCI rates are virtually identical between sexes. Deferral of...
MedCity Pivot Podcast: Modernizing Prior Auth
The MedCity Pivot podcast featured Abarca Health’s Javier Gonzalez and Amazon Pharmacy’s Tanvi Patel discussing how to modernize prior authorization. They highlighted three pillars—policy complexity, data quality, and operational risk—and explained that electronic prior authorizations (ePA) could cut 60‑70% of...
Specific Intestinal Fungi Play Role in the Pathogenesis of MASLD and Cardiovascular Disease
The study examined 103 patients with metabolic dysfunction‑associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and found that higher fecal Candida albicans levels were linked to increased coronary artery calcification, especially among those with cirrhosis. Liver stiffness measured by magnetic resonance elastography correlated...
Microplastics in the Liver May Drive Global Liver Disease Rates
Researchers at the University of Plymouth’s Centre of Environmental Hepatology have published a review in Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology linking micro‑ and nanoplastic accumulation in the liver to oxidative stress, inflammation and fibrosis. The paper introduces the concept of...
Investigation of SARS-CoV-2 Variants at Primer Binding Sites in Diagnostic Platforms and the Effect on Laboratory Diagnostic Samples
Researchers examined ~26,000 SARS‑CoV‑2 genomes to assess how mutations in primer and probe binding sites affect RT‑PCR diagnostic accuracy. They evaluated twelve primer sets across time, geography, and variant categories, finding mismatch rates from 0.15% up to 77.15% and linking...
426. The Case for Universal Vaginal Estrogen Use After Menopause
The episode explains why universal vaginal estrogen use after menopause is essential, detailing how systemic HRT fails to restore the vaginal and lower urinary tract tissues that suffer from genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM). Low‑dose vaginal estradiol—whether in compounded cream,...
Charge Masters Are Fake Prices Exploiting Patients for Profit
Gotta make charge masters real prices or get rid of them. The CM is like WAC in pharma. It's a made up number that abuses the uninsured , those in their deductible phase, and those who need...
FDA Approves First Free Gene Therapy Restoring Deaf Children's Hearing
JUST IN: FDA approves first ever gene therapy that restores hearing in children born deaf, with treatment available at no cost
Adrian Owen & Faraz Shafaghi, Creyos
Creyos, a neurological testing firm co‑founded by neuroscientist Adrian Owen and product leader Faraz Shafaghi, offers a cognitive assessment platform that delivers objective baseline data at the point of care. The tool is now incorporated into annual wellness visits and...
Healthcare Software Shifts From Workflows to Intent
Healthcare software is moving from workflows… to intent. Srinivas Velamoor talks about systems that understand what you want, not just what you click ↓ https://t.co/iGlc6onYkI @NextGen #AmbulatoryEHR #HITSM https://t.co/0h8tr7GxkZ
Profit Gap: Preventing Strokes Beats Treating Them
Is there a window in American healthcare where preventing strokes is more profitable than treating them? @Farzad_MD left his dream job at the HHS to find out. New Lifers this week: Spotify: https://t.co/sl8a6nuUlC Apple: https://t.co/yDarYoJcDz Youtube: https://t.co/UDbEjHA3cD
Obese HFpEF Patients Show Sarcom
In people with HFpEF (heart failure with preserved ejection fraction) and severe obesity, there is a heart muscle cell defect with sarcomere hyper-phosphorylation. Besides weight loss, sarcomere enhancers (not yet studied) may help. @ScienceMagazine https://t.co/or9VaPjD8J https://t.co/FG98KIzIfN