Developers Back Alzheimer’s Drugs Despite Report Suggesting Lack of Efficacy
A new Cochrane review of 17 trials involving 20,342 patients concludes that anti‑amyloid drugs for Alzheimer’s disease deliver only trivial or no clinically meaningful cognitive benefit and may increase the risk of amyloid‑related imaging abnormalities (ARIA). Eli Lilly’s donanemab (Kisunla) and Eisai’s lecanemab (Leqembi), the two approved disease‑modifying therapies, were included in the analysis. Both companies rejected the review’s conclusions, citing methodological flaws and emphasizing real‑world data that show ongoing patient benefit. The debate highlights a growing rift between independent evidence syntheses and pharmaceutical defenders of the amyloid‑targeting strategy.
STAT+: Cochrane Review Reignites Alzheimer’s Amyloid Wars
The FDA announced it will convene an external advisory panel to revisit rules on compounded peptides, with meetings slated for July and a follow‑up before February 2027. A new Cochrane review has reignited controversy over amyloid‑targeting Alzheimer’s therapies, questioning their...
Why Hospital Dashboards Tell the Future But Operations Remain Stuck in the Past
Over the past decade, hospitals have poured capital into data warehouses, interoperability and predictive dashboards, creating an abundance of real‑time intelligence. Yet most health systems still treat analytics as a reporting layer, with decisions anchored in historical precedent and negotiated...
Carrot Launches ‘Carrot Intelligence’ AI Platform for Global Fertility and Family Care
Carrot, a global fertility and family‑care platform, unveiled Carrot Intelligence, an AI engine built on a proprietary clinical dataset exceeding $1 billion in claims across 195 countries. The platform fuels a new Global Price Monitoring System that automatically spots billing anomalies,...
Trials Bolster LBBAP as an Alternative to Biventricular Pacing in CRT
Recent EHRA 2026 presentations deepened the evidence base for conduction‑system pacing as an alternative to traditional biventricular (BiV) cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). The LECART trial showed a composite event rate of 12% with left bundle branch area pacing (LBBAP) versus...
Boston Scientific Plans $88.5M R&D Expansion in Ireland
Boston Scientific announced a €75 million (≈ $88.5 million) investment to expand its Galway, Ireland R&D campus, concentrating on cardiovascular innovation. The upgrade will add advanced laboratories for structural‑heart, heart‑failure and renal‑denervation programs. The Irish government, via IDA Ireland, will provide financial support...
Cookeville Medical Center Notifies Patients After July 2025 Ransomware Attack
Cookeville Regional Medical Center disclosed that a July 2025 ransomware attack exposed the personal and medical records of 337,917 patients. The Russian‑linked Rhysida gang claimed responsibility, demanding 10 Bitcoin—about $1.15 million—though it is unclear if the ransom was paid. The hospital began mailing...
Tumour Cells Use a Genetic Trick to Become Drug-Resistant
Researchers have identified that many tumor cells evade traditional Mendelian inheritance, enabling them to acquire drug‑resistance traits far faster than previously understood. The genetic maneuver involves non‑standard chromosome segregation and gene amplification, which let cancer cells adapt to chemotherapy pressures....
New Data Point to LAAO as a Safe Alternative to Long-Term Drug Therapy
The CHAMPION‑AF trial, presented at ACC.26, randomized roughly 3,000 atrial‑fibrillation patients to either the Watchman FLX left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) system or standard non‑vitamin K oral anticoagulants (NOACs). The composite endpoint of stroke, cardiovascular death and systemic embolism met non‑inferiority criteria,...
What It’s Like to Go Through Perimenopause and Menopause in Prison
The U.S. female prison population has surged 600% since 1980, bringing a growing cohort of women into perimenopause and menopause. Incarcerated women face chronic medical neglect, often forced to self‑diagnose and manage symptoms without proper care. Texas prisons, for example,...
Pendulum Expands Mayo Clinic Collaboration Into Women’s Health and Dermatology
Pendulum Therapeutics is deepening its partnership with Mayo Clinic to launch interventional microbiome trials in women’s health and dermatology. The new studies will examine bone health in breast‑cancer patients, menopause transition, and the gut‑skin axis, moving beyond associative research. Pendulum...
Now Published - OCEANIC-STROKE: Asundexian Prevents Recurrent Strokes, With No Added Bleeding
The phase III OCEANIC‑STROKE trial showed that adding Bayer's factor XIa inhibitor asundexian to standard antiplatelet therapy reduced recurrent ischemic strokes from 8.4% to 6.2% over two years, without raising major bleeding risk. The study enrolled 12,237 patients with recent non‑cardioembolic stroke...
How a Rural Community Hospital Deploys AI to Detect Heart Disease
Wayne General Hospital in Waynesboro, Mississippi partnered with Eko Health to roll out the AI‑driven SENSORA platform across its emergency department and primary‑care clinics. The FDA‑cleared tool captures heart sounds and ECG data in 15 seconds, automatically flagging murmurs, low...
VA Has Touted Appointment Wait Time Reductions, but New Data Shows a More Mixed Reality
The Trump‑era Veterans Affairs Department touts shorter appointment wait times, yet FOIA data from 134 VA medical centers reveals a mixed picture. Only five of ten key specialties met the agency’s 20‑day primary/mental‑health and 28‑day specialty standards, unchanged from the...
Patients' AI Privacy Concerns Meet Practicality
A recent HIMSS TV survey reveals that while AI‑savvy patients remain wary about where their health data is stored, an overwhelming 95% are willing to use ambient AI to enhance patient‑doctor interactions. Dr. Matt Sakumoto of Nabla interprets this high acceptance...
7 Things to Know About the Nonprescription Drug Product with an Additional Condition for Nonprescription Use Final Rule
The FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research issued a final rule establishing an “Additional Condition for Nonprescription Use” (ACNU) pathway for over‑the‑counter medicines. Under ACNU, a drug can be sold without a prescription but must include an extra consumer‑screening...
Electronic Submission of Adverse Event Reports to FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) Using International Council for Harmonisation (ICH) E2B(R3)...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration held two public meetings on April 4 and November 7, 2023 to outline upgrades to electronic adverse event reporting using the ICH E2B(R3) standard. The sessions targeted both pre‑market and post‑market safety surveillance programs managed by CDER and...
What “The Pitt” Gets Right About Ransomware and What Hospitals Can’t Afford to Ignore
The TV drama *The Pitt* dramatizes a ransomware attack that mirrors real‑world hospital incidents, showing how systems can be restored while operational chaos persists. The piece highlights that credential abuse accounts for 22% of healthcare breaches, leading to prolonged downtime,...
Medtronic Confirms Paclitaxel Balloon’s Efficacy in Post-Approval Trial
Medtronic reported that its IN.PACT AV paclitaxel‑coated balloon achieved a 70.2% target lesion patency rate at 12 months in a post‑approval study of end‑stage kidney disease patients. This figure mirrors the 65.3% rate observed in the pivotal trial that secured FDA...
ARC Launches ‘ARC Landing Boston’ Healthtech Accelerator with Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey
ARC, the innovation arm of Israel’s Sheba Medical Center, has launched ARC Landing Boston, a soft‑landing healthtech accelerator partnered with Governor Maura Healey’s administration. The program offers global health‑technology firms direct access to Boston’s clinical sites, regulatory guidance, and venture...
Walmart Expands Better Care Services Platform with GLP-1 Weight Management Offerings
Retail giant Walmart is expanding its Better Care Services digital health platform to provide comprehensive weight‑management support for customers using GLP‑1 therapies. The rollout adds the newly FDA‑approved oral GLP‑1 pill Foundayo to its network of nearly 4,600 pharmacies, with...
ACA Exchanges Will Continue to Shrink as Fewer Enrollees Pay Premiums, Analysis Suggests
The Wakely Consulting Group analysis warns that ACA exchanges could contract by 17% to 26% in 2026 as a wave of enrollees refuse to pay premiums after the expiration of COVID‑era enhanced tax credits. In January, 14% of beneficiaries failed...
Ala. Expands EMS Treat-in-Place Reimbursement, Rural Healthcare Under New Laws
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed a suite of health‑care bills, most notably SB 269, which allows ambulance operators to be reimbursed for basic life‑support services delivered on‑scene without patient transport. The legislation also includes measures to restrict sugary‑drink purchases with SNAP...
Precision Medicine Gaps Persist Amid Evidence and Access Challenges: Daryl Pritchard, PhD
At the AMCP 2026 meeting, senior vice‑president Daryl Pritchard highlighted persistent fragmentation, evidence gaps, and decision‑support shortfalls that curb precision‑medicine adoption. He stressed the need for robust clinical outcomes and cost‑effectiveness data to win payer and provider buy‑in. The panel...
Long-Acting HIV Therapies Improve Adherence and Access Options: Kelsea Aragon, PharmD
At the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy meeting, Dr. Kelsea Aragon highlighted long‑acting HIV injectables as a solution to adherence gaps that plague daily oral regimens. She cited lenacapavir, dosed every six months, and cabotegravir, administered every two months, as...
Philippines Plans ID Verification for Healthcare with PhilSys Integration
The Philippines will embed its national ID system, PhilSys, into the PhilHealth Check Utility to verify patients in real time, aiming to curb fraudulent claims and streamline benefit delivery. A memorandum of understanding between PhilHealth and the Philippine Statistics Authority...
The Key Biomarkers Changing How and When We Diagnose Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s disease will affect nearly 14 million Americans by 2060, with annual care costs projected to exceed $384 billion. The FDA has approved disease‑modifying therapies such as lecanemab and donanemab for patients with mild cognitive impairment, creating a demand for earlier, more...
Proteins.1 Launches with €4.7m to Make Protein Detection as Easy as PCR
Proteins.1, a Finnish spin‑off, announced a €4.7 million (~$5.1 million) pre‑seed round to commercialise a PCR‑style protein amplification platform. The enzyme‑free, solid‑state technology uses magnetic cycling and thin‑film transistors to read a single captured protein repeatedly, delivering up to 1,000× greater sensitivity...
The End of Incrementalism: Why Healthcare Innovation Is Finally Reshaping the Model
Healthcare innovation is shifting from costly, incremental upgrades to AI‑driven models that make the traditional hospital‑centric system economically untenable. Pioneers such as Ro and Transcarent demonstrate that new platforms can lower total care costs rather than merely reallocating expenses. Continuous...
STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re Reading About a Review of Alzheimer’s Drugs, FDA Interest in Compounded Peptides, and More
A Senate‑Democrats report released ahead of a drug‑pricing hearing shows that companies which signed pricing deals with former President Trump have continued to raise drug prices, with new therapies averaging $353,000 a year and combined profits climbing to $177 billion in...
Wegovy HD Now Available on GoodRx for $399 Per Month Self-Pay
GoodRx has launched a self‑pay option for Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy HD, a 7.2 mg semaglutide injection, priced at $399 per month and scaling to $798 for two months and $1,197 for three months. The higher‑dose formulation serves as an FDA‑approved step‑up...
M&A: D2 Solutions Acquires ProModRx to Streamline Patient Journeys
D2 Solutions, a market‑access consulting firm, has acquired cloud‑based platform ProModRx to accelerate patient access to prescription drugs. Financial terms were not disclosed. The acquisition will embed ProModRx technology into D2’s UltraTouch® Verify and UltraTouch® Engage suites, automating benefit verification,...
Song without Beats Powers Magdi Yacoub Donation Campaign
The Magdi Yacoub Heart Foundation launched “The Most Important Beat” campaign to fund treatment for children with congenital heart disease in developing nations. In partnership with Publicis Middle East and streaming platform Anghami, regional singers Abu and Dina El Sherbiny created a...
New Lab-Grown Organoids Accurately Mimic Pediatric Brain Tumor Biology
Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have created patient‑derived tumor organoids and organoid xenografts that faithfully recapitulate the genetic, epigenetic and cellular landscape of pediatric brain tumors. The 3D models, validated with DNA methylation, bulk and single‑cell RNA sequencing, and...
Technology Giveth and Taketh Away
Anthony Guerra revisits Shelby Foote’s three‑part Civil War audiobook, praising its narrative flair compared with today’s AI‑generated prose. He cites Ethan Mollick’s warning that AI often produces bland text, highlighting the loss of style. The piece then shifts to healthcare, noting...
EPtalk by Dr. Jayne 4/16/26
Dr. Jayne cautions against the hype that AI can fully replace radiologists, noting that AI merely extends existing human‑generated knowledge. She argues that while routine imaging interpretation may be automated, novel diseases or tumors that fall outside training data require...
The Hidden Reason So Many Retirees Run Out of Money
A Fidelity Investments study projects that a 65‑year‑old retiring in 2025 will spend roughly $172,500 on health‑care and medical expenses throughout retirement, up from $80,000 in 2002. The estimate reflects accelerating health‑care inflation that outpaces general consumer prices and excludes...
Breakthrough HIV Drug Is Out Of Reach For Many Who Need It Most
Gilead's long‑acting HIV pre‑exposure prophylaxis, lenacapavir, demonstrated almost 100% efficacy in trials and requires only two injections per year. The company can produce up to 10 million doses by 2026 but has pledged just 3 million through the Global Fund and PEPFAR,...
Ukrainian Emergency Services and Hospitals Hit by Espionage Campaign Using New AgingFly Malware
Ukrainian hospitals, emergency services and municipal authorities have been hit by a coordinated espionage campaign using a new malware suite dubbed AgingFly. The attacks, attributed to the Russian‑linked APT28 group, began with phishing emails masquerading as humanitarian‑aid proposals and delivered...
Scientists Remove “Zombie” Cells and Reverse Liver Damage in Mice
UCLA scientists discovered that senescent liver macrophages, marked by the p21‑TREM2 signature, accumulate with age and high cholesterol. In mice, the senolytic drug ABT‑263 selectively removed these cells, dramatically reducing liver size and body weight despite a continued unhealthy diet....
Stop-Loss Insurers Are Using New Tools to ‘Laser’ Out More Patients
Predictive claim‑modeling tools are enabling stop‑loss insurers to more precisely identify participants likely to incur $1 million‑plus medical expenses, a practice insiders call “lasering.” Executives say the rise in high‑cost claims and improved data access are prompting carriers to exclude or...
Interview: Bernard Seiser, Vice-President of Digital, Data and IT, AOP Health
Bernard Seiser, vice‑president of digital, data and IT at AOP Health, joined the Vienna‑based rare‑disease specialist in September 2024 after senior roles at Bayer, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca. He has crafted a 2030‑oriented digital strategy that already moved the legacy Navision ERP...
Interna Therapeutics Collaborates with Daiichi Sankyo to Develop MNM-Based Targeted Delivery Technologies
Interna Therapeutics announced a research collaboration with Daiichi Sankyo’s Boston Research Institute to evaluate its MNM (Molecular Nanoparticle Matrix) technology as a delivery enhancer for targeted therapeutics. The partnership will integrate MNM molecules with Daiichi Sankyo’s targeting approaches, beginning with...
VA Health Care: Efforts to Assess Mental Health Support for Veteran Caregiver Program Need Strengthening
The Veterans Health Administration’s Caregiver Support Program served roughly 98,000 caregivers in fiscal year 2025 and has received $2.6 billion in funding since its expansion in 2020. While the program offers mental‑health services, support groups, and respite care, GAO found that...
Lilly's Obesity Pill Heads for Diabetes Filing After Heart Risk Trial
Eli Lilly’s newly approved obesity medication, marketed as Foun…, demonstrated a 16% lower incidence of major cardiovascular events compared with a standard insulin regimen in a recent trial. The data, presented by Lilly, suggest the drug not only aids weight loss...
Health Tech Innovators and Industry Experts Invited to Join Fast-Paced Innovation Sprint to Accelerate Solutions
Health Tech Enterprise has opened applications for its Health Innovation Sprints, a one‑day intensive workshop series scheduled for 11 May 2026 in London and 2 June 2026 at the Imperial War Museum Duxford, Cambridge, with the latter focusing on paediatrics. The program invites NHS...
Phase III Study of Lilly’s Foundayo, Reaffirms Cardiovascular and Overall Safety Profile, Plus Improvements to Cardiometabolic Health
Eli Lilly announced that its oral GLP‑1 drug Foundayo (orforglipron) achieved the primary endpoint in the Phase 3 ACHIEVE‑4 trial, demonstrating non‑inferior major adverse cardiovascular event risk versus insulin glargine. The study, the largest of its kind with over 2,700 participants...
Lessons From Innovation Pioneer Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale transformed 19th‑century health care by pairing rigorous data analysis with clear, public‑facing communication and by founding the world’s first formal nursing school. Her polar‑area chart exposed the deadly impact of unsanitary hospitals, while her 1859 book *Notes on...
Re: Flawed NHS League Tables Won’t Help Patients and Could Punish Struggling Trusts, Experts Warn
A letter to the BMJ argues that the NHS Oversight Framework’s league tables are fundamentally flawed because they exclude health‑inequality metrics and impose a blanket financial penalty that caps trust scores at three. The framework treats all 134 acute trusts...
Sarcopenic Obesity Explained: Why Losing Muscle While Gaining Fat Raises Death Risk by 83%
A Brazilian study of over 5,000 adults tracked for 12 years found that sarcopenic obesity—simultaneous excess body fat and muscle loss—raises mortality risk by 83% compared with individuals having normal weight and muscle mass. Researchers demonstrated that simple measurements, such...