We may also hold another listening party, where the rotation will likely include this, this, this, this and this. And what about you? This may be an opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors if the heat is not a deterrent. After all, lakes and oceans are often happy antidotes to the humidity. If you prefer, you could rummage about your local library for a fun read, visit a museum, or take in a moving picture show — remember those? Well, whatever you do, have a grand time. But be safe. Enjoy, and see you soon. …

Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic was linked to lower rates of dementia and other mental problems in a study that raises expectations about its potential ancillary benefits, The Telegraph writes. Researchers analyzed 130,000 U.S. diabetes patients, including about 20,000 taking semaglutide, known by the brand name Ozempic for diabetes, or Wegovy for weight loss. They compared the injections with three other common diabetes drugs and the impact on 22 different neurological and psychiatric conditions. The risk of developing dementia was 48% lower in those taking Ozempic than those on sitagliptin, 37% lower than those on glipizide, and 9% lower than those on empagliflozin.

Smaller pharmacy benefit managers may be having more than a moment as some health insurers and employers show the major players the door, according to Modern Healthcare. Insurance companies and employers fed up with commonplace industry practices are ditching PBMs owned by CVS Health, Cigna Group, and UnitedHealth Group, and instead are inking contracts with smaller competitors pushing transparent business models. The changes occur amid increased scrutiny of the largest pharmacy benefit managers over concerns their business practices and a lack of transparency are driving up the cost of medicines.

Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…

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Good morning. It’s been a challenging time for workers in the biopharma industry. We’ve seen companies announce layoffs one after another, and people online talk about how it seems increasingly difficult to secure a new job. Read our latest on this subject below, with new numbers on the state of the job market.

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Hello! Hope your weekend was a blissful one. Today, we talk about AbbVie’s outsize marketing spend, see how GLP-1s are impacting cancer rates, and more.

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So we will make an effort to nudge it in a better direction by brewing a few cups of stimulation. Our choice today is strawberry creme. Please feel free to join us. Meanwhile, here are a few items of interest for you to peruse. We hope you have a smashing day and conquer the world. And as always, do keep in touch. We appreciate feedbacks and tips. …

Eli Lilly will acquire Morphic Holding for $3.2 billion in cash and gain access to an experimental drug for different types of inflammatory bowel diseases, STAT notes. Morphic’s lead drug is an oral treatment that is being evaluated in Phase 2 studies in ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Morphic is developing a portfolio of oral integrin therapies for treating serious chronic diseases, including fibrosis, autoimmune, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases and cancer. Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Lilly’s Omvoh for treating adults with moderate-to-severe active ulcerative colitis.

AbbVie paid health care providers roughly $145.7 million last year to promote its drugs, according to a STAT analysis of newly released government data. The massive sum spent by the company, which makes the blockbuster Humira anti-inflammatory drug, is the most a pharmaceutical company has doled out on marketing to doctors since such data became available in 2017. The figure includes compensation for consulting and other services like speaking fees, lodging and travel for doctors, and meals, as well as a small number of payments made directly to hospitals.

Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…

The massive sum spent by AbbVie, the maker of the mega blockbuster anti-inflammatory drug Humira, is the most a pharmaceutical company has spent on marketing to doctors since such data became available in 2017. The figure includes compensation for consulting and other services like speaking fees, lodging and travel for doctors, and meals, as well as a small number of payments made directly to hospitals.

The payments, made public by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, provide an insight into AbbVie’s marketing in the immediate aftermath of the company losing its monopoly on Humira, which dominated the company’s balance sheets for the better part of the last two decades. The payments show that the company is being far more aggressive in targeting doctors than competitors of comparable size.

Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…

AbbVie has acquired Celsius Therapeutics, a startup whose lead program is in early clinical development for inflammatory bowel disease. It’s the latest in a series of AbbVie business deals that broaden the pharma company’s scope in the gastrointestinal condition.

The post AbbVie Expands IBD Drug Pipeline Again With $250M Celsius Therapeutics Acquisition appeared first on MedCity News.

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Good morning. Read on today for some exclusive hiring news and a retraction of a high-profile paper on cancer detection.

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Good morning. It’s Wednesday, which means it’a also “The Bear” season 3 premiere day. For my Boston readers, know that Ayo Edebiri has been thinking deeply about the tragedy of the Great Molasses Flood of 1919.

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So grab that cup of stimulation and get started. Our flavor today is mocha hazelnut, for those tracking our habits. Now, though, the time has come to get busy. So please grab your own cup and dig in to the items of interest assembled below. We hope you have a wonderful day, and please do keep in touch. …

For the second time, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has declined to approve an AbbVie therapy for patients with Parkinson’s disease due to problems at a third-party manufacturer, Reuters writes. The company maintained that the agency had not identified issues with the therapy’s safety or efficacy and did not request additional trials. The therapy is a version of carbidopa-levodopa, the standard of care for the disease. It is administered subcutaneously, or under the skin, through an infusion pump in order to improve patients’ motor functions. If approved, analysts estimate $619.67 million in sales for ABBV-951 in 2026, according to LSEG data.

U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) wants the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to investigate why a low-cost generic cancer drug is not widely available to patients, The Hill reports. In a letter sent to the agency, Rosen questioned why Medicare patients pay $3,000 a month for abiraterone, a generic oral drug used as part of prostate cancer treatment, when a version that costs $171 is also on the market. The drug is sold by CivicaScript, a nonprofit that works with manufacturers to develop a drug and then partners with insurers, pharmacies, and pharmacy benefit managers to sell it to patients at a fraction of the price it would cost otherwise.

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Patent and Trademark Office has proposed a new rule designed to stem the use of so-called patent thickets, which are wielded by pharmaceutical companies to delay the arrival of lower-cost generic medicines in the marketplace.

Essentially, thickets are collections of numerous patents that add only incremental changes to a drug and, therefore, produce little to no additional benefit to patients. Yet they extend precious monopolies for brand-name drugmakers and, consequently, are blamed for contributing to ongoing high drug costs for countless Americans.

To assemble a thicket, drug companies rely on a critical tool with a wonky name — a terminal disclaimer — which is the subject of the proposed rule. In short, a terminal disclaimer is a stipulation made by a drug company to the PTO that a continuation or follow-on patent — essentially, a minor patent that makes few substantive changes to a medicine — will expire at the same time as the original patent.

Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…