STAT Plus: UCB’s $2.5 billion purchase of Ra Pharma underscores immunology focus
Another Massachusetts biotech is being bought by a big foreign drug company. Belgian-based UCB said…
Author: STAT
STAT Plus: Pharmalittle: Sackler role in opioid crisis to be debated in court; J&J legal strategy shows risks
And so, another working week will soon draw to a close. Not a moment too…
Watch: How biotech startups become unicorns, explained
Thanks to a yearslong boom in the world of venture capital, keeping tabs on biotech…
Opinion: A road map for including Latinos and African Americans in Alzheimer’s research
Alzheimer’s disease is the only leading cause of death in the U.S. that is still…
Men account for a small fraction of breast cancer cases. Their mortality rate has soared over women’s
Men account for about 1% or less of all breast cancer diagnoses in the U.S.,…
Opinion: PhRMA’s talking points shouldn’t derail the Pelosi drug pricing bill
Two of the most innovative pharmaceutical corporations in the world have their headquarters on opposite…
STAT Plus: How Colorado firefighters, a Hawaiian charity, and TV writers are fueling the biotech boom
Venture capital drives biotech. Early investments power the huge capital needs and sustain the far-longer-than-normal…
Listen: Relitigating Vioxx, industry growing pains, & how biotech VC works
Were we too hard on Vioxx? Are you still a disruptor if you have a…
STAT Plus: Doctors Without Borders demands drug makers lower their prices for TB treatments
As a major conference on tuberculosis nears, Doctors Without Borders is pressuring suppliers of key…
STAT Plus: Live chat at 12 p.m. ET: The Q4 biotech scorecard
STAT’s national biotech columnist, Adam Feuerstein, is holding a subscriber-only chat on Thursday to discuss…
‘Sesame Street’ launches new initiative to help explain parental addiction to kids
Parents and kids who are fans of “Sesame Street” will now see a new storyline…
.jpg)
Opinion: Silicosis outbreak highlights the ‘malignant neglect’ of OSHA that is killing American workers
Across the United States, workers are suffering from, and sometimes dying of, the severe lung…
Not only who but what: NIH funding disparity between black and white scientists partly driven by research topic
Ever since a landmark 2011 study supported the long-held notion that African American scientists were…
STAT Plus: After a bespoke therapy rescues a young girl, the FDA considers advance of individualized treatments
Back in 2016, a 6-year-old named Mila was diagnosed with Batten disease, a progressive and…
There’s an urgent need for new carbon monoxide poisoning treatments. Could bright light be an antidote?
Scientists hunting for new ways to treat carbon monoxide poisoning are trying a new tactic:…
STAT Plus: Illumina confronts the innovator’s dilemma
DNA sequencing powerhouse Illumina announced a partnership with diagnostics giant Qiagen this week that is exactly…
STAT Plus: Pharmalittle: Puma takes two big price hikes; will we see a (generic) Vioxx redux?
Good morning. Elizabeth Cooney here today, filling in for Ed Silverman. In his spirit, I…
STAT Plus: A small biotech raises the price on its cancer drug by 20% this year, but will anyone notice?
As Puma Biotechnology (PBYI) struggles to meet sales goals and expand usage for its all-important…
Opinion: ICER’s concern for patients: Where’s the beef?
The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, commonly known as ICER, wants everyone to believe…
The return of Vioxx: Can a drug once deemed deadly be relaunched to treat rare disease?
Since its recall in 2004, the pain drug Vioxx has been a symbol of pharmaceutical…
Three sexually transmitted diseases hit new highs again in U.S.
NEW YORK — U.S. infections from three sexually transmitted diseases have risen for the fifth…
Large numbers of pregnant women not getting key vaccines, CDC says
A significant percentage of pregnant women are not getting a pair of critically important vaccines…
STAT Plus: Pharmalittle: Drug makers raised prices without new benefits; HIV prevention pill available in Calif. without prescriptions
Good morning, everyone, and how are you today? We are doing just fine, thank you,…
STAT Plus: ICER says price hikes on 7 drugs were made without proof of new benefits, costing the U.S. $5.1 billion
During 2017 and 2018, drug makers raised prices on seven widely used medicines by large…
Opinion: Time in range: a new way for people with diabetes to monitor blood sugar
Time in range, a new metric for people with diabetes, would have made no sense…
Opinion: Beyond the Sacklers: Free-trade policies contributed to the opioid epidemic
The Sackler family was once celebrated for its philanthropy. Now the owners of Purdue Pharma…
STAT Plus: With a new lobbying group and a day at the White House, synthetic biology looks for footing in Washington
WASHINGTON — Synthetic biology, the industry built around using back-end technologies to engineer the life…
STAT Plus: Public Citizen urges FDA to ‘immediately’ withdraw drug for preventing premature birth
As an Oct. 29 regulatory meeting nears to review the Makena treatment for preventing premature…
STAT Plus: A cancer company has misled investors repeatedly about its drug. It’s time for some truth-telling
Last January, I explained why a Phase 3 clinical trial involving an immunotherapy for head…
STAT Plus: Buttigieg’s balancing act: He wants far lower drug prices even as he hopes the drug industry will ‘thrive’
WASHINGTON — Just hours after he released an aggressive plan to lower prescription drug prices,…
STAT Plus: Pharmalittle: Buttigieg releases sweeping drug pricing plan; opioid victims to play role in Purdue bankruptcy
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to another working week. We hope the weekend respite was…
Opinion: We need benchmarking, not arbitration, to quell surprise medical billing
Surprise medical bills expose Americans to the high prices and occasional greed lurking in the…
STAT Plus: These 4 biotechs are already bragging about their ‘Nobel Prize-winning’ bona fides
The Nobel Prize and biotechnology have been intertwined for decades. Though the prizes in the…
STAT Plus: EMA warns that its clinical trial transparency efforts may be jeopardized
In a little-noticed statement, the European Medicines Agency warned that its hard-fought efforts to provide…
STAT Plus: Sarepta gene therapy improves muscle function for patients with rare limb-girdle disease
Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT) said Friday that three patients born with a rare muscle-wasting disease called…
Opinion: It’s time for more Gen X women to step up as mentors
Some days I see the #MeToo movement as akin to climate change. Both are making…
STAT Plus: ‘It shows how much pharma has on their plate’: Congress just quietly passed a bill that will cost drug makers $3 billion
WASHINGTON — It’s on the lips of every presidential candidate, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and even…
Growing tumors in a dish, scientists try to personalize pancreatic cancer treatment
Only about 15% of advanced pancreatic patients are alive two years after their diagnosis. Margaret…
Listen: Congressional paralysis, drug shortages, & biotech’s foul mood
Does impeachment have a pharma angle? Who’s to blame for drug shortages? And why is…
An unconventional health care speech: Trump wishes pharma stocks would drop, and implies drug industry is behind impeachment
WASHINGTON — President Trump is back in attack mode — and drug companies are again…
STAT Plus: Nevada fines 21 companies for not providing drug-pricing data
For the first time since requiring drug makers to report pricing data about their diabetes…
STAT Plus: White House insists drug prices are falling, but critics say its report is flawed
In a bid to seize the narrative on prescription drug pricing, the White House issued…
STAT Plus: Beyond DNA testing: Can analyzing RNA turn up more patients at risk of cancer?
When people get tested for genes that might expose them to an increased risk of…
‘I really love the feeling’: As vaping injuries climb, doctors struggle to wean youth off nicotine
The 16-year-old looked sick. Tubes snaked around her face to deliver oxygen through her nose….
Opinion: Blame rising cancer overdiagnosis on ‘irrational exuberance’ for early detection
Here’s some good news for a change about cancer: Cancer mortality — the rate of…
Vaping-related lung injuries resemble chemical burns, study finds
The airways and lungs of some patients with a vaping-related illness appeared damaged in ways…
STAT Plus: Judge tosses whistleblower suits alleging Lilly and Bayer used nurse educators to push drugs
In a boost for the pharmaceutical industry, a federal judge dismissed a pair of lawsuits…
STAT Plus: FDA challenges testing used by lab that found a carcinogen in Zantac and other heartburn meds
As concerns mount over a possible carcinogen found in popular heartburn medicines, the Food and…
STAT Plus: Pharmalittle: Trump to name Hahn to head FDA; J&J settles opioid suit brought by Ohio counties
Hello, everyone, and nice to see you again after an extended respite that, in part,…
STAT Plus: Sarepta under new pressure as a competitor files with FDA for Duchenne drug
Sarepta Therapeutics is in more trouble. The Japanese drugmaker NS Pharma said Wednesday that the…