STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re Reading About a Lilly Gene Therapy for Cholesterol, Three New Lilly Deals, and More
Eli Lilly announced that its gene‑editing therapy, acquired from Verve Therapeutics for $1 billion, lowered LDL cholesterol by 62% in a Phase 1 trial. The study reported no treatment‑related serious adverse events, paving the way for a Phase 2 trial. In parallel, Lilly disclosed plans to purchase three vaccine developers—Curevo, LimmaTech Biologics and Vaccine Company—for up to $4 billion, broadening its infectious‑disease pipeline. The moves reflect Lilly’s strategy to leverage cash from its GLP‑1 franchise into new therapeutic areas.
STAT+: Eli Lilly to Buy Three Small Vaccine Developers
Eli Lilly announced it will acquire three early‑ and mid‑stage vaccine developers—Curevo, LimmaTech Biologics and Vaccine Company—for a combined price of nearly $4 billion. The deals expand Lilly’s pipeline into vaccines targeting pathogens that cause long‑term health complications. Funding comes from the...
STAT+: Virginia Governor Vetoes Legislation to Create an Advisory Panel to Lower the Cost of Prescription Drugs
Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger vetoed HB 483, a bill that would have created a state advisory panel to lower prescription drug costs by using Medicare’s drug list as a benchmark and setting upper payment limits. The proposal would have made Virginia...
STAT+: Eli Lilly Tops Prominent Rankings on Pharma R&D Performance
Eli Lilly topped the IDEA Pharma index, claiming the No. 1 spot in both Innovation and Invention categories. The Innovation ranking weighs revenue from new products, recent approvals and major development milestones, while the Invention ranking evaluates pipeline depth, clinical trial activity and...
STAT+: Maryland State Affordability Board Places a Price Cap on Ozempic
Maryland’s Prescription Drug Affordability Board has set a price cap of $274 per 30‑day supply for Ozempic, effective January 2027, aiming to curb state pharmacy spend. The cap, based on Medicare’s maximum fair price, is projected to save the state and...
STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re Reading About U.S. Biotech’s China Problem, a Regeneron Flop, and Much More
U.S. biotech companies have poured roughly $60 billion into Chinese‑origin molecules in the first quarter of 2026, a rate that could double the previous year’s spend and is ten times the 2021 level. The surge is deepening a split in the...
STAT+: U.K. Advocacy Groups Threaten Court Action over a Key Provision in the Pharma Trade Deal with the U.S.
The United Kingdom and United States finalized a pharma‑trade agreement that grants the U.K. tariff‑free access to the U.S. market for at least three years. In exchange, Britain pledged to raise its medicines spending to 0.35% of GDP by 2028...
STAT+: Takeda Will Pay $13.6 Million to Settle Allegations It Paid Kickbacks to Doctors
Takeda Pharmaceuticals has agreed to pay $13.6 million to settle U.S. Department of Justice allegations that it provided illegal kickbacks to physicians. The DOJ says the company offered speaking fees and high‑end restaurant meals from January 2014 through October 2020 to boost prescriptions...
Opinion: RFK Jr.’s Antidepressant Deprescribing Push Gets One Thing Right — and Others Dangerously Wrong
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s recent campaign urging Americans to stop antidepressants mixes a valid concern about over‑prescribing with unsupported, potentially hazardous claims. Clinical professor Jonathan Slater recounts a carefully monitored 18‑month fluoxetine taper followed by a gradual bupropion reduction, illustrating...
STAT+: Colombia Wins a Key Court Ruling over a Compulsory License Issued for an HIV Medicine
Colombia’s health ministry secured a landmark ruling from the Court of Justice of the Andean Community, confirming that the government’s 2024 compulsory license for the HIV drug dolutegravir complied with regional regulations. The tribunal found the public‑interest justification and the...
STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re Reading About Medicare and Alzheimer’s Drugs, Estrogen Patch Shortages, and More
Medicare enrollment in the newly approved Alzheimer’s therapies Leqembi and Kisunla is dramatically lower than the federal government expected. The agency now projects minimal spending on the drugs through 2027, a sharp reversal from earlier forecasts of billions in annual...
Trump Reportedly Plans to Fire FDA Commissioner Makary
President Donald Trump has reportedly approved a plan to dismiss FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, who has served just over a year. Makary’s tenure featured initiatives to speed drug reviews, curb deceptive advertising, and push food manufacturers to eliminate synthetic dyes....
STAT+: Capricor Therapeutics Accuses Nippon Shinyaku of Slow-Walking Plans on Duchenne Drug
Capricor Therapeutics has filed a lawsuit in New Jersey alleging that Nippon Shinyaku and its U.S. arm, NS Pharma, are deliberately stalling the U.S. launch of deramiocel, its experimental Duchenne muscular dystrophy therapy. The complaint highlights a pricing formula error...
STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re Reading About an FDA Gender Rule Change, Its Program for One-Day Inspections, and More
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced a proposed rule to strip references to “gender” from its regulations, aligning with a 2025 Trump administration executive order that stresses biological sex. While the agency claims the change won’t affect industry practice,...
STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re Reading About Sanofi and an FDA Voucher, FDA Rethinking a Rejection, and More
Sanofi asked the FDA to withdraw its type 1 diabetes antibody teplizumab from the new fast‑track voucher program after Center for Drug Evaluation and Research director Tracy Beth Høeg publicly challenged a staff decision to approve the drug. The agency missed...
STAT+: What Was Lost at the FDA
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. oversaw the termination of roughly 3,500 FDA employees last year. The agency now targets hiring more than 3,200 scientists, reviewers, and investigators, but has added only about 350 staffers as of...
STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re Reading About a PhRMA Ad Campaign Aimed at 340B, Sales of Novo’s Obesity Pill, and More
PhRMA, the leading pharmaceutical lobby, has launched a seven‑figure TV advertising campaign aimed at the 340B Drug Pricing Program, accusing hospitals of misusing the discount to benefit themselves rather than low‑income patients. Meanwhile, FDA data show the rejection rate for...
STAT+: Pharma’s Reputation Among Patient Groups Rose Last Year, but Concerns Remain over Access and Pricing
A STAT+ survey of more than 2,400 patient groups in 35 countries shows the pharmaceutical industry’s reputation rose to 57% rating drugmakers as “excellent” or “good” in 2025‑26, up from 56% in 2024 but still below the 60% peak in...
STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re Reading About RFK Jr. Targeting Antidepressants, J&J Pushing an IBD Drug, and More
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a new HHS initiative aimed at curbing the widespread prescription of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which currently treat roughly 16.7% of American adults. The plan introduces clinician training,...
STAT+: Johnson & Johnson Advances IBD Therapy, Despite Trial Miss
Johnson & Johnson's combination therapy JNJ-4804, pairing Tremfya and Simponi, failed to meet the primary clinical remission endpoint in two Phase 2b trials for ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, though it outperformed each drug alone. The DUET study results were...
STAT+: French Regulator Fines Novo and Lilly over Weight Loss Ad Campaigns
France’s medicines regulator ANSM imposed a $2 million fine on Novo Nordisk for misleading advertisements promoting its Wegovy and Saxenda weight‑loss drugs. Eli Lilly was also fined about $127 000 for an ad campaign that indirectly promoted prescription‑only Mounjaro. The actions reflect heightened...
STAT+: Pump the Brakes on AI, Buddy; and Deposition Deadlock
Elevance Health is attempting to block the deposition of a senior executive in a DOJ‑led Medicare Advantage fraud lawsuit, arguing the request is overly burdensome and could reveal privileged information. The Department of Justice counters that the testimony is essential...
STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re Reading About an Abortion Pill Controversy, Another UCB Deal, and More News
Two drugmakers, Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro, have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to restore mail‑order access to the abortion pill mifepristone after a lower court temporarily blocked deliveries. The appeal follows a series of lawsuits challenging the drug’s original 2000...
STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re Reading About Obesity Drugs and a Compounding List, an AstraZeneca Setback, and More
The FDA proposed removing semaglutide and tirzepatide—the active ingredients in Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy/Ozempic and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro/Zepbound—from the list of substances that compounding pharmacies may bulk‑manufacture, arguing there is no clinical need. This move effectively blocks large‑scale compounding of popular GLP‑1...
STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re Reading About a Supreme Court Hearing on ‘Skinny Labels,’ AstraZeneca U.K. Expansion, and More
AstraZeneca announced a $400 million investment to complete the Rosalind Franklin building in Cambridge and launch a new digital‑focused laboratory in Macclesfield, reviving UK R&D expansion after the US‑UK trade deal lifted NHS cost‑effectiveness thresholds. Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court heard...
STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re Reading About the FDA Speeding up Trials, a Supreme Court Hearing on ‘Skinny Labels,’ and More
The FDA announced a pilot program that will review real‑time data from AstraZeneca and Amgen cancer trials using a platform built by Paradigm Health, aiming to speed regulatory feedback. The agency also opened a public comment period on a separate...
STAT+: AIDS Group Sues Trump Administration over Undisclosed Agreement with Gilead
An AIDS activist group has sued the Trump administration for failing to disclose a research and development agreement that underpinned a 2025 settlement with Gilead Sciences over patents on HIV‑prevention drugs Truvada and Descovy. The settlement ended a lawsuit dating...
STAT+: Supreme Court to Hear Case About ‘Skinny Labeling’ and Generic Access
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on a case involving “skinny labeling,” a practice where generic manufacturers seek approval to market a drug for only a subset of its approved uses. By limiting the label, generics aim to...
STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re Reading About Warnings over Trump’s MFN Plan, Purdue Pharma Sentencing, and More
Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan warned that President Trump’s most‑favored‑nation (MFN) drug‑pricing plan creates a "very difficult situation" for both manufacturers and patients. The policy ties U.S. Medicare and Medicaid prices to those in 19 reference countries, including Japan, potentially lowering revenues...
STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re Reading About a Lilly Deal, an Intellia CRISPR Rare-Disease Treatment, and More
Intellia Therapeutics reported that a single dose of its CRISPR‑based therapy lonvo‑z dramatically reduced swelling attacks in hereditary angioedema patients during a Phase 3 trial, positioning it for a rolling FDA submission as the potential second approved CRISPR drug. The treatment...
STAT+: Up and Down the Ladder: The Latest Comings and Goings
Tenpoint Therapeutics announced the appointment of Stephen Lane as its new chief medical officer. Lane also holds the role of executive chair at the Holland Foundation for Sight Restoration. He joins Tenpoint after serving as chief medical officer and head...
STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re Reading About a Trump Deal with Regeneron, Reclassifying Medical Marijuana, and More
President Trump sealed a private drug‑pricing pact with Regeneron, securing lower Medicaid prices, a $225 price point for Praluent, and a $27 billion commitment to U.S. drug development. The agreement also coincided with FDA approval of Otarmeni, the first gene therapy...
STAT+: Legislatures in Colorado and Virginia Resist Moves to Constrain Drug Affordability Boards
Legislators in Virginia and Colorado pushed back against attempts to limit the authority of state drug‑affordability boards. In Virginia, the General Assembly voted unanimously to keep the original bills that would create a board with power to set price caps...
STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re Reading About Cheap Telehealth Visits, Pharma Withholding Meds in Europe, and More
Health policy experts are flagging large fees that telehealth platforms receive from pharmaceutical companies, warning that such payments may breach federal anti‑kickback statutes and encourage overprescribing of costly brand drugs. At the same time, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary...
STAT+: With Successful Trials, Roche Takes Its MS Drug to Regulators, but Safety Questions Loom
Roche presented data on its experimental multiple‑sclerosis drug fenebrutinib, which showed efficacy in three late‑stage trials by cutting relapse rates and slowing disability progression. The Swiss firm is now seeking regulatory approval, but analysts highlight liver‑safety signals and two drug‑related...
Judge Postpones OxyContin-Maker Purdue Pharma’s Sentencing to Let Opioid Victims Attend in Person
U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo postponed Purdue Pharma’s criminal sentencing to allow opioid‑crisis victims to attend the hearing in person. The original sentencing, slated for a videoconference, was moved to the following Tuesday after protesters gathered outside the Newark...
STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re Reading About a Purdue Pharma Settlement, a Setback for Merck and Eisai, and More
Pfizer executive Andrew Baum, a former Citibank analyst who joined in June 2024, has left his EVP and chief strategy role but will stay on as an adviser to CEO Albert Bourla through the end of the year. His departure...
STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re Reading About Trump Boosting Psychedelic Treatment, the Future for Weight-Loss Drugs, and More
Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks warned that GLP‑1 weight‑loss drugs will likely reach only about half of the eligible overweight and obese population due to healthcare system complexities and cost barriers. Currently, just 10% of those who could benefit are...
STAT+: PBMs Warn Trump’s Proposal to Disclose Drug Prices Is Illegal
The U.S. Department of Labor has issued a proposed rule that would require pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to disclose detailed drug‑pricing information to employers and simplify audit processes. The rule, released in January, has sparked a flood of comments, with...
STAT+: A Controversy over Research Monkeys Highlights Ambiguity over Health Standards
Animal‑rights group PETA has accused Pfizer of violating its own animal‑welfare standards in the handling of nearly three dozen research monkeys procured in late 2024. The monkeys were obtained from an academic research center and slated for shipment to a...
STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re Reading About Lilly Weight Loss Pill Trial Results, Slashed U.K. Clinical Trial Times, and More
Researchers led by Richard DiMarchi and Matthias Tschöp reported a novel GIP‑glucagon dual agonist that may achieve weight loss comparable to GLP‑1 drugs without the typical nausea and vomiting. In parallel, Eli Lilly announced that its new obesity pill Foundayo lowered...
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...
STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re Reading About FDA Seeking More Data on a Lilly Obesity Pill, a Pharma 340B Win, and More
U.S. FDA has asked Eli Lilly to provide additional safety data on its newly approved obesity drug Foundayo, mandating post‑marketing trials for cardiovascular events, delayed gastric emptying, and a lactation study. The pill, a GLP‑1 agonist, received accelerated approval through the...
STAT+: Flawed Study on the Antidepressant Paxil Came with a Cautionary Note — if You Knew How to Find It
The Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry issued an expression of concern in late 2025 about a 2001 study that linked the antidepressant Paxil to outcomes in adolescents. The notice followed a formal request to retract...
STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re Reading About an FDA Push for Trial Transparency, a Novo-OpenAI Deal, and More
The FDA has dispatched reminder letters to more than 2,200 companies and researchers, warning that failure to post required clinical trial results to the federal database could trigger fines. An internal review found that nearly 30% of studies likely subject...
STAT+: Maryland State Affordability Board Sets Its First Price Cap for a Medicine
Maryland's Prescription Drug Affordability Board announced its first price cap, targeting the type‑2 diabetes drug Jardiance. Starting January 2027 the state will limit a 30‑day supply to $204, roughly $6.80 per pill. The cap, modeled after Medicare’s maximum fair price...
STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re Reading About a Pancreatic Cancer Pill, FDA Rejecting a Replimune Drug Again, and More
Revolution Medicines reported that its KRAS‑targeting oral pill daraxonrasib more than doubled median overall survival for metastatic pancreatic cancer patients, achieving 13.2 months versus 6.7 months on standard chemotherapy. The company will leverage a FDA priority‑review voucher to seek accelerated...
STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re Reading About Top Pharma Lobbyist Stepping Down, Genes and GLP-1 Drugs, and More
Steve Ubl, longtime chief executive of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), announced he will step down at the end of the year after more than a decade leading the industry’s primary trade group. His tenure spanned the...
STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re Reading About FDA Seeking New Powers over DTC Ads, an EU Pledge to Fight AMR, and More
Activist hedge fund Shah Capital, Novavax’s second‑largest shareholder with a 9% stake, announced it will vote against the company’s board nominees and executive compensation at the upcoming annual meeting. The fund is pressing the vaccine maker to accelerate cost‑cutting, launch...
STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re Reading About FDA Backing Domestic Production, Another Gilead Deal, and More
The FDA, leveraging the Trump administration’s budget, unveiled proposals to boost domestic drug development and manufacturing, including streamlined early‑stage trials and a rule letting U.S. generic makers challenge brand patents a month before foreign competitors. Commissioner Marty Makary framed the...