PAHO and Haiti sign first country cooperation strategy to strengthen health system and expand access to care amid complex challenges

Cristina Mitchell

1 Oct 2025

PAHO presents Best Buys to accelerate the elimination of more than 30 communicable diseases in the Americas

Cristina Mitchell

1 Oct 2025

Health authorities approve plan to prevent and control noncommunicable diseases, the leading cause of death in the Americas

Cristina Mitchell

1 Oct 2025

PAHO highlights innovative projects driven by its Regional Revolving Funds during the 62nd Directing Council

Cristina Mitchell

1 Oct 2025

THREE YEARS ago, Latoya Minott Smikle’s world plunged into darkness. After five-and-a-half years of fighting courageously, her son Aiden-Jon Hall passed away due to complications of the deadly Sickle Cell Disease in 2022. From her painful loss, she...

Peruvian doctor receives PAHO Award for Health Services Management and Leadership

Cristina Mitchell

30 Sep 2025

Santiago, D.R.- President Luis Abinader announced Monday that he will wait for the Public Ministry to conclude its investigation into alleged irregularities at the National Health Insurance (Senasa), after the government submitted a report on the case.

During his weekly meeting with the press in Santiago, Abinader emphasized that his administration does not tolerate corruption and is working to dismantle the culture of impunity that has affected the Dominican Republic for decades. He stressed that all corruption cases, even those linked to government agencies, will be addressed and that preventive measures are being prepared to reduce the risk of similar crimes in the future.

The president noted that Senasa operates as an autonomous institution and is not subject to the Public Procurement and Contracting Law, but reiterated his expectation for a detailed explanation from the Public Prosecutor’s Office. He reaffirmed his commitment to zero tolerance for corruption, regardless of where it originates.

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Is George Tidmarsh, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s top drug regulator, trying to exact revenge on a prominent Wall Street investor after a run-in with him six years ago? STAT asks. This is the question biotech investors were wagging about all Monday after Tidmarsh used his personal LinkedIn page to raise questions about the safety of voclosporin, a rather obscure drug the FDA approved in 2021 to treat patients with lupus nephritis, a type of autoimmune disease that damages the kidneys. Voclosporin has “significant toxicity,” Tidmarsh wrote in his LinkedIn post, adding that the drug “has not been shown to provide a direct clinical benefit for patients.” Aurinia Pharmaceuticals is the Canadian drugmaker that sells voclosporin under the brand name Lupkynis. Its stock price sank 16% on the Tidmarsh comments. It is highly unusual, if not unheard of, for a top FDA official to use a personal social media account to criticize a specific drug, particularly without providing evidence to back up such a claim. 

The Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America plans to launch a new website in January to help patients buy prescription drugs directly from manufacturers, bypassing pharmacy benefit managers and other middlemen, Reuters says. The website, to be called AmericasMedicines.com, will allow drugmakers to list medicines available for direct purchase and connect patients with programs that offer lower prices and fewer barriers to access. The move is part of a broader push by the industry to simplify how Americans get their medicines and reduce out-of-pocket costs following mounting pressure from the Trump administration. President Trump has urged pharmaceutical companies to bring down U.S. drug prices, and in July sent letters to 17 major drugmakers demanding they slash U.S. prescription drug prices to match those paid in other developed nations. The White House has also floated the idea of a government-run website, possibly named TrumpRx, to help Americans shop for cheaper medicines.

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