Medicare announces 15 new drugs up for price negotiations, including Ozempic
The Biden administration on Friday released the next round of prescription drugs selected for Medicare price negotiations, including Ozempic and Wegovy — the blockbuster diabetes and weight loss drugs. The drugs have faced public backlash over their high price, fueling demand for cheaper alternatives. The list, which includes 15 drugs, up from 10 last year, is the first step in a negotiation process between Medicare and drugmakers that is expected to take place over the coming months. The new negotiated prices won’t take effect until 2027.
Cancer death rates decline yet new diagnoses spike for some groups, says report
Cancer diagnoses are expected to exceed two million in 2025, with approximately 618,120 deaths predicted, according to the American Cancer Society’s annual cancer trends report, which was published today in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
As bird flu spreads, CDC recommends faster 'subtyping' to catch more cases
"Clinicians and laboratorians are reminded to test for influenza in patients with suspected influenza and, going forward, to now expedite the subtyping of influenza A-positive specimens from hospitalized patients, particularly those in an intensive care unit (ICU)
FDA moves to slash nicotine in cigarettes
Nicotine levels in cigarettes sold in the U.S. would have to be drastically lowered under a proposal released Wednesday by the Food and Drug Administration. If finalized, the change would mean that cigarettes would lose their ability to hook most people into addiction. “By reducing the nicotine level of cigarettes and certain other combusted tobacco products to a level low enough to no longer create or sustain addiction, the cycle of exposure to these toxic chemicals can be broken,” Brian King, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, said during a briefing with reporters. Smoking kills more than 480,000 Americans each year. Levels of nicotine in cigarettes vary widely depending on the brand but usually average 13 milligrams a cigarette. The FDA’s plan would limit nicotine in nearly all combustible tobacco products — a category that includes cigarettes, most cigars and pipe tobacco — to 0.07 milligrams. That’s about a 95% reduction.
Food safety advocates expect a smooth transition away from the newly banned Red No. 3
Food safety advocates cheered the news that U.S. regulators are banning Red No. 3 — and said they don’t anticipate any hiccups in quickly removing the artificial dye from America’s grocery shelves. Red No. 3 gives thousands of foods, beverages and sweets their cherry-red hue. On Wednesday, following decades of concerns over the additive’s safety, the Food and Drug Administration announced it would ban its use starting in 2027. Those who petitioned to have Red No. 3 prohibited said there’s no reason why it can’t be taken out of products sooner. It has long been banned in the European Union and some other countries, meaning many companies that sell foods and beverages overseas already have recipes that they can easily swap in for American consumers.
Cancer cases are increasing in women while declining in men, report finds
A new report shows that cancer cases are shifting from men to women in the United States and from older to younger adults. For the first time, cancer rates in women ages 50 to 64 have surpassed those in men, the report found. The reasons for the trend aren’t known — doctors raised factors such as alcohol consumption, lack of exercise and diets high in ultra-processed foods as some potential factors.
Young cancer patient who inspired millions with viral Nebraska football touchdown dies at 19
A young cancer patient who inspired millions of college football fans in 2013 with a 69-yard springtime sprint in Nebraska has died of the disease, officials said Wednesday. Jack Hoffman, a freshman at the University of Nebraska at Kearney and an aspiring attorney, was 19. “Jack may no longer be with us in person, but his legacy lives on in the work of the Team Jack Foundation, in the lives of the children and families we’ve helped, and in the hope he gave to so many,” said a statement from Team Jack, a foundation that raises money for cancer research in the young man’s honor. “Jack Hoffman, you will always be our hero.”
Norovirus cases skyrocket across US, here's how to avoid the stomach bug
The number of suspected or confirmed outbreaks skyrocketed at the end of 2024, with more than 91 norovirus outbreaks reported by state health departments by the first week of December, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
USDA documented insects and slime at Boar's Head plants, records show
Government inspectors documented unsanitary conditions at several Boar’s Head deli meat plants, not just the factory that was shut down last year after a deadly outbreak of listeria poisoning, federal records show. Newly released reports from Boar’s Head plants in New Castle, Indiana; Forrest City, Arkansas; and Petersburg, Virginia, described multiple instances of meat and fat residue left on equipment and walls, dripping condensation falling on food, mold, insects and other problems dating back roughly six years. Last May, one inspector documented “general filth” in a room at the Indiana plant. The U.S. Agriculture Department released the inspection records in response to Freedom of Information Act requests from The Associated Press and other news organizations.
Top three insurers reaped $7.3 billion through their drug middlemen's markups, FTC says
The three largest drug middlemen inflated the costs of numerous life-saving medications by billions of dollars over the past few years, the Federal Trade Commission said in a report Tuesday. The top pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) — CVS Health’s Caremark Rx, Cigna’s Express Scripts and UnitedHealth Group’s OptumRx — generated roughly $7.3 billion through price hikes over about five years starting in 2017, the FTC said. The “excess” price hikes affected generic drugs used to treat heart disease, HIV and cancer, among other conditions, with some increases more than 1,000% of the national average costs of acquiring the medications, the commission said.