Today's Healthcare Pulse
FDA greenlights durvalumab combo for high‑risk bladder cancer
The FDA approved durvalumab (Imfinzi) combined with Bacillus Calmette‑Guerin for BCG‑naïve, high‑risk non‑muscle invasive bladder cancer. The POTOMAC trial enrolled 1,018 patients and showed a 32% reduction in disease recurrence risk (hazard ratio 0.68, p=0.015). Durvalumab is given at 1,500 mg IV every four weeks for up to 13 cycles.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Apogee Therapeutics raises $1.3B royalty financing
Xavier Becerra Backpedals on Single Payer as He Woos Powerful Doctors’ Lobby
Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Xavier Becerra has softened his long‑standing advocacy for a single‑payer health system after securing the endorsement of the California Medical Association, the state’s most powerful doctors’ lobby. In a private meeting, Becerra told CMA leaders he is not currently supportive of single‑payer, shifting focus to mitigating funding losses from Trump’s H.R.1, which could drain $9.5 billion annually from Medi‑Cal. The CMA has repeatedly warned that a single‑payer model would cost roughly $391 billion a year and threaten physician autonomy. Becerra’s backpedaling mirrors Governor Gavin Newsom’s earlier retreat and leaves other Democratic candidates, such as Tom Steyer and Katie Porter, as the primary champions of Medicare‑for‑all in the race.
Registration Opens for Virtual CMS Event on Interoperability
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) opened registration for a virtual event focused on health‑care interoperability, inviting over 1,000 hospital and health‑system leaders. The event will showcase a new CMS‑FDA collaborative pathway designed to accelerate market entry for...
A Husband and Wife Escaped From a Locked Memory-Care Unit. He Solved the Door Code Just by Listening.
In March 2020, a husband and wife living in the Elmcroft memory‑care unit in Lebanon, Tennessee, escaped by using the numeric exit code the husband had learned by listening to staff enter it on a keypad. The man, a former...
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/brain-shivers-as-effexor-withdrawal-symptom-1065516-final-01-32cb22b5df7e4d3b98654cba8d8a81a9.png)
What to Expect From Effexor Withdrawal
The article explains what patients can expect when stopping Effexor (venlafaxine), detailing a typical withdrawal timeline that begins within 24‑48 hours and often resolves in three weeks. It lists common physical and psychological symptoms, including nausea, dizziness, mood swings, and the...
Senators Reintroduce Bipartisan Legislation To Enhance Vetting Of Senior Care Staff
Senators reintroduced bipartisan legislation that would allow nursing homes to tap the National Practitioner Data Bank for criminal background checks on prospective caregivers. The bill also loosens current CMS rules, enabling facilities to initiate staff training immediately after a deficiency...
Sleep Health: Circadian Rhythms and Sleep Disorders 101
The column highlights the massive burden of sleep disorders in the United States, noting that 83.7 million adults (32.4% of the population) have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and that 30‑50% of adults suffer from insomnia, with women twice as likely as...
Moderna in Talks with FDA over Phase 4 Covid Vaccine Data
Moderna is actively collaborating with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to submit Phase 4 post‑marketing data on its COVID‑19 vaccines. The company hopes the additional safety and efficacy evidence will persuade regulators to broaden the current, narrowed product labels that...
AI, Gene Therapies Drive Market Trends in Eye Care
In 2026 the ophthalmology market is being reshaped by gene‑therapy breakthroughs and the emergence of agentic AI, according to Boston Consulting Group’s Long Sha. Gene‑based treatments are moving beyond rare retinal disorders into chronic conditions such as wet age‑related macular...
Establishing Good Governance: Start with the Important Basics and Play the Long Game
Healthcare organizations increasingly recognize that robust board governance is essential for navigating financial strain, regulatory change, and emerging technologies like AI. The article outlines four foundational practices: establishing a Governance and Nominating committee, conducting biennial self‑evaluations, implementing proactive succession planning...
Mission, Margin and a Midterm Clock: Healthcare Signals to Watch
Healthcare leaders this week wrestled with the tension between mission and margin. Northwell Health accepted a 1.1% operating margin to fund a new behavioral‑health tower, while Epic’s founder emphasized profit as a side effect of a $6.7 billion revenue business. Tenet...
AI Is Forcing Even Insurance’s Most Cautious Players to Move Fast
AI is reshaping the insurance and healthcare sectors at a speed unprecedented for an industry built on caution. Jake Sloan, Appian’s VP of global insurance, highlighted that insurers can now move from pilot projects to full production in weeks, not...
Common Cholesterol Medications Do Not Alter Long-Term Dementia Risk
A massive target‑trial emulation study of more than 320,000 older adults found that statin use does not change long‑term risk of dementia. While statin users showed a 46% spike in dementia diagnoses during the first year after initiation, researchers attribute...
Battery-Free Skin-Conformal Wearable System Can Measure Electrocardiogram Signals
A research team led by Prof. Jerald Yoo at Seoul National University unveiled SkinECG, a skin‑conformal wearable that records electrocardiogram signals without a battery. The device uses an Orthogonal Energy Harvesting Network to wirelessly deliver power harvested from multiple on‑body...
Sequenex Announces Partnership with MedTech Innovator, Industry’s Leading Startup Accelerator
Sequenex announced a strategic partnership with MedTech Innovator, the world’s largest medtech accelerator, to support early‑stage companies developing connected medical devices. The 2026 accelerator will select 65 startups from a record 1,800 applications, and Sequenex will provide financial backing and...
Surgery Still Outperforms GLP-1 Drugs in Terms of Heart Health
A Mayo Clinic study of more than 800 patients compared metabolic and bariatric surgery (MBS) with GLP‑1 drugs such as semaglutide and tirzepatide. Surgery produced an average 28% weight loss versus 11% for medication and cut lifetime cardiovascular risk by...
Amgen Launches Late-Stage Obesity Trial in Patients Who Switch From Rival Drugs
Amgen is initiating three Phase III trials for its long‑acting obesity injection MariTide, including a pivotal study that enrolls about 1,200 patients switching from Eli Lilly’s semaglutide or Novo Nordisk’s tirzepatide. The primary goal is a minimum 10% body‑weight loss after 68 weeks,...
Faster and Easier Ways to Diagnose Mpox: New Approaches Improve Detection
A review in *Trends in Biotechnology* outlines new point‑of‑care (POC) diagnostic platforms for Mpox, highlighting isothermal amplification, CRISPR‑based assays, biosensors and AI‑enhanced lesion imaging. The authors argue these tools can approach PCR sensitivity while eliminating the need for complex labs....
How to Write Better IQ, OQ, PQ Protocols
Pharma, biotech, and medical‑device firms routinely draft IQ, OQ and PQ protocols, but many fail regulatory scrutiny because they treat the documents as paperwork rather than engineering verification. The most common flaws are vague acceptance criteria, copy‑forward templates that ignore...
Nemours Children’s Health Breaks Ground on Multispecialty Facility
Nemours Children’s Health broke ground on a new 34,000‑square‑foot multispecialty pediatric facility in Viera, Melbourne, Florida. The center will host roughly two dozen services, ranging from allergy and cardiology to oncology and orthopedics. Construction is set to begin this summer...
TMDX’s OCS Tech Drives Rapid Adoption, Pressures Valuation
$TMDX reports Tuesday after the close This is the only company on earth that keeps a donor heart, lung, or liver beating outside the body Not a metaphor... the organ stays warm and oxygenated e2e The number to watch on Tuesday isn't rev,...
CMS Bets on Tech as US Healthcare Hits ‘Inflection Point’
CMS deputy administrator Chris Klomp told the Chamber of Commerce that the U.S. health system is at an inflection point and urged private‑sector innovators to bring commercial tech solutions to Medicare. He highlighted two new CMS initiatives: the ACCESS Model,...
Harris Teeter Carries More GLP-1 Med Weight
Harris Teeter announced that its pharmacies will now carry a broader selection of GLP‑1 weight‑loss medications and related treatments. The expansion includes pharmacist and registered dietitian counseling, as well as assistance with manufacturer savings programs such as Eli Lilly’s KwikPen card. In‑store...
First Psychiatric Admission Marks the Beginning of a Long-Term Illness for Most Patients
A 20‑year Danish cohort study of 150 young adults found that 95% of individuals admitted to a psychiatric ward either returned for readmission or remained in long‑term treatment. Diagnoses of schizophrenia and schizotypal disorder proved highly stable, while personality‑disorder labels...
High-Intensity Exercise After Breast Cancer Surgery May Help Speed Recovery
A recent study presented to the American Society of Breast Surgeons found that high‑intensity resistance training can accelerate recovery after breast‑cancer surgery. Nearly 200 women who had lumpectomies, mastectomies or lymph‑node removals completed a three‑month program, lifting up to 200 lb....
Dr. Kimberly Biss Speaks with Freedom Counsel
In this episode, Dr. Kimberly Biss discusses her observations of dramatically increased miscarriage rates among her patients following COVID‑19 vaccination, citing a rise from a normal 4‑5% to as high as 30% before rates began to normalize. She critiques social‑media...
GoodRx Expands Cash-Pay Access to Oral Ozempic for Patients With Type 2 Diabetes
GoodRx announced a new cash‑pay option for oral Ozempic, the tablet form of semaglutide, making it available through its nationwide pharmacy network. The program lists transparent monthly prices of $149 for the 1.5 mg dose, $199 for 4 mg, and $299 for...
WHO Member States Agree to Extend Negotiations on Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing Annex
Member States of the World Health Organization agreed to extend negotiations on the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) annex, a cornerstone of the WHO Pandemic Agreement, to allow more time for technical and legal refinement. The outcome will be...
CMS’ Medicare Provider Directory Released Social Security Numbers: Washington Post
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) inadvertently exposed dozens of healthcare providers' Social Security numbers in its publicly accessible Medicare Advantage provider directory. The Washington Post discovered the leak after downloading the database, which had been open for...
Maine Health System Lays Off 38 IT Staff After EHR Upgrades
Central Maine Healthcare in Lewiston is cutting 38 IT positions as it retires legacy systems and rolls out a new Epic MyChart portal for patient scheduling. The layoffs follow Prime Healthcare Foundation’s February acquisition, which has already begun modernizing the...
Update on Brad Stanfield's Rapamycin Clinical Study in NZ
Brad Stanfield’s New Zealand rapamycin trial enrolled older adults on a 12‑week protocol, with participants typically taking 6 mg every other week. The study measured functional outcomes such as the chair‑stand test, sparking debate over whether short‑term dosing can reveal longevity benefits. Commentators...
Anyone Taking Rapamycin Monthly?
A growing community of longevity enthusiasts is experimenting with monthly rapamycin dosing, typically ranging from 5 mg to 30 mg and often boosted with grapefruit juice. Participants cite benefits such as fewer infections and slower aging markers, but also report side effects...
Court Bars Non‑Party Contract
Judge Conway dismissed @veevasystems v. @HeyEpic with prejudice on standing grounds, ruling that non-parties to a contract can't challenge its validity under Wisconsin law. Both the declaratory judgment claim and the tortious interference claim are dead. Conway also...
Trice Imaging Accelerates Growth in Women’s Health Sector
Trice Imaging unveiled a suite of upgrades to its FDA‑cleared Tricefy platform, adding dynamic reports synced with growth charts, expanded patient history capture, and a revamped Single Sign‑On security module. The company announced new market‑access partnerships with ModMed’s synapSYS and...
Pregnancy Boosts Clot Risk—Move, Hydrate, Watch Symptoms
Your blood becomes more prone to clots during pregnancy. Fibrinogen increases substantially. Multiple coagulation factors rise. Your body starts doing this early in the first trimester itself. The reason is to prevent a hemorrhage. When the placenta detaches, you are...
CNS Gene Therapies Showcase Tau-Targeted VY170
CNS Gene Therapies Featured in Multiple Presentations at ASGCT 2026, Including Late Breaker on Tau-Targeted VY1706 for Alzheimer’s Disease https://t.co/oQ5MCd5piS https://t.co/8KeWSTJ1q7
Breast Cancer in Young Women: Rani Bansal, MD, Discusses Subtypes, Disparities, and the Importance of Self-Advocacy
In a recent AJMC interview, Duke oncologist Dr. Rani Bansal highlighted that breast cancer rates are climbing fastest among women under 50, driven primarily by estrogen‑receptor‑positive tumors. She noted that African‑American patients disproportionately develop aggressive triple‑negative disease, which limits targeted...
Governor's Promised Hospital Ships Still Missing in Greenland
Hey Governor, have those hospital ships that you promised gotten to Greenland yet? I heard the people there are desperately waiting.
FDA Approves Early, yet ARVN, PFE Lack Partner
FDA approves vepdegrestrant one month early. $ARVN and $PFE still haven't found (or disclosed) a third-party company to commercialize it. What a world...
Do ARBs Increase Cancer Risk?
A recent Mendelian randomization study provides genetic evidence that ACE inhibitors and ARBs, including losartan, lower the risk of several cancers such as gastric, colorectal, lung, breast, and endometrial. Losartan is marketed for hypertension and kidney protection without the cough...
Spring Health Joins TIME100, Spotlighting Digital Mental‑Health Influence
Spring Health, the AI‑native mental‑health platform, was named to TIME's 2026 TIME100 Most Influential Companies and listed among the publication's 10 Most Influential Wellness Companies. The honor highlights the company's decade‑long push for continuity of care across employers, insurers and...
Biotin Hair‑Growth Supplement Can Skew Cancer Lab Tests, Experts Warn
Oncologists at Ohio State University warn that biotin, a common hair‑growth supplement, can produce false lab results for several cancers. The warning follows a study in JCO Oncology Practice urging doctors to discuss supplement use with patients to avoid treatment...
Brain Scans Reveal Three ADHD Subtypes, Offering New Guidance for Parents
Scientists have identified three distinct ADHD subtypes through brain‑scan analysis, highlighting a severe form marked by emotional dysregulation. The discovery promises more personalized treatment plans and clearer guidance for families navigating the disorder.
Veeva V. Epic: Dismissed With Prejudice
A Wisconsin judge dismissed Veeva Systems’ lawsuit against Epic Systems with prejudice, ruling Veeva lacks standing to challenge a restrictive covenant between a prospective employee and its former employer. The decision also bars Veeva’s tortious interference claim. The ruling comes...
One Mississippi Health System's Journey to a System-Wide Epic EHR
South Central Regional Medical Center launched a system‑wide Epic electronic health record across five sites, tackling fragmented legacy systems and data silos. The "Race to Epic" framework aligned clinicians, administrators, and IT staff around clear milestones, shared accountability, and intensive...
Nanit Study Finds Sleep‑Tracking Apps May Harm Infant Sleep, Fueling Orthosomnia Concerns
Nanit analyzed data from more than 100,000 families and concluded that excessive reliance on sleep‑tracking apps correlates with poorer sleep outcomes for babies aged 0‑8 months. Dr. Natalie Barnett, Nanit’s VP of Clinical Research, cautioned that parental obsession—termed orthosomnia—can stress...
High‑Intensity Exercise Cuts Sleep Disruptions in Older Adults with Cognitive Impairment
Researchers at Texas A&M University discovered that high‑intensity exercise dramatically lowers sleep disruptions in older adults with mild cognitive impairment, with each extra second of vigorous activity trimming sleep disturbances by nearly a fifth of a second. The finding, based...
2 Post-Acute Groups React to Bill to Improve CNA Training
The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living praised the reintroduced Ensuring Seniors’ Access to Quality Care Act, a bipartisan bill aimed at easing certified nursing assistant (CNA) shortages. The legislation would let nursing homes resume in‑house...
Study: 1 in 3 Children with Autism Were Diagnosed by a PCP
A new study of Medicaid claims from 2017‑2019 found that nearly one‑third of children diagnosed with autism were identified by primary care providers (PCPs) rather than specialists. Analyzing 36,263 children across 29 states, researchers reported a national PCP diagnosis rate...
32 Hospitals Closing Departments or Ending Services
Since the start of 2024, Becker’s Hospital Review has documented 32 U.S. hospitals shutting down or scaling back specific departments, ranging from burn units and obstetrics to emergency and pediatric services. The closures span 20 states and are driven by...
IRhythm Q1 Revenue Jumps 25.7% to $199.4M as Wearable ECG Demand Holds Strong
iRhythm posted $199.4 million in first‑quarter revenue, up 25.7% year‑over‑year, as demand for its wearable ECG platform stays robust. The company narrowed its GAAP net loss to $13.9 million but flagged ongoing regulatory scrutiny, including an FDA warning letter and a pending...