STAT Plus: Congress is hoping for another major medical research bill. But pharma’s not nearly as excited as before
WASHINGTON — The bipartisan duo behind a 2016 law that poured billions into medical research…
Category: Biotech
The history of OxyContin, told through unsealed Purdue documents
PIKEVILLE, Ky. — STAT’s multiyear legal battle to unseal secret Purdue Pharma files in a…
Purdue’s Richard Sackler proposed plan to play down OxyContin risks, and wanted drug maker feared ‘like a tiger,’ files show
PIKEVILLE, Ky. — In the early days of OxyContin, Dr. Richard Sackler, a member of…
STAT Plus: Watch: Top Biogen scientist explains why he’s confident in company’s drug for Alzheimer’s
Does the Alzheimer’s drug aducanumab work? That was the central issue during an interview of…
STAT Plus: Pharmalittle: China to bulk-buy to lower drug costs; Senate bill to tackle drug prices going nowhere fast
Good morning, everyone, an welcome to another working week. We hope the weekend respite, which…
Opinion: Medicaid covers sick or dying children. But it takes ‘going to battle’ to get it
One of the first things that happens when you find out your child has a…
STAT Plus: This invite-only club is grooming new biotech CEOs — and helping make them less lonely, too
Steve Woit runs an exclusive, confidential, invite-only club for biotech CEOs — but it’s not…
STAT Plus: Startup Spotlight: Juno, Vir alum starts a new immunotherapy company
A Juno Therapeutics and Vir Biotechnology founder may be about to launch a new company…
Opinion: The view from West Virginia: the end of HIV transmission is a distant dream
“End the AIDS epidemic” seems to be the battle cry of the day. It’s a lofty…
Warning: Swimming and deep brain stimulation do not mix
For people with Parkinson’s disease, deep brain stimulation can calm the tremors and tame the…
Opinion: Policymakers are taking the wrong approach to health care reform
Here’s what good health care looks like: it emphasizes prevention, is accessible and affordable, and…
Four Ebola-response workers killed in attacks, forcing withdrawal from critical DRC region
Four people working for the Ebola containment effort in the Democratic Republic of the Congo…
Two Ebola treatments yield ‘substantial decrease’ in mortality, landmark trial shows
Final data from a landmark clinical trial of four Ebola therapies conducted in the current…
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For babies born with HIV, start treatment right away, study says
WASHINGTON — When babies are born with HIV, starting treatment within hours to days is…
STAT Plus: Biogen will offer discounts to a health plan if patients say its multiple sclerosis drugs don’t work
In a twist on value-based contracting, a drug maker has agreed to offer a larger…
STAT Plus: Pharmalittle: Feds probe drug makers for flooding communities with opioids; States proceeding with importation
And so, another working week will soon come to an end, but earlier than usual,…
Opinion: Concussions, broken bones, and more: a week of football in the U.S.
News about concussions and other injuries to young football players appears with alarming frequency, as…
Opinion: Changing emergency doctors’ behaviors to promote wider use of medication for opioid use disorder
Emergency departments have become the front line in the battle against the epidemic of opioid…
Why the huge surge in EEE cases? Federal rules requiring quick sample disposal mean we may never know
A massive surge in human cases of Eastern equine encephalitis this autumn has raised urgent…
STAT Plus: Enlight Biosciences was going to ‘transform pharma R&D.’ What happened?
Unlike most biotech startups, Enlight Biosciences was never expected to make any drugs. Instead, the…
New CDC report offers a possible clue about why vaping illnesses sprang up in 2019
A new report adds to the evidence that vitamin E acetate might play a role…
With the help of ketamine, researchers rewrite memories in a bid to curb harmful drinking
Our memories are immensely powerful. For a person with alcohol use disorder, a memory triggered…
How difficult is a $1 billion health-tech fraud? A new indictment makes it sound easy
Building a health-technology startup on nothing but hot air may be easier than you’d think…
STAT Plus: EMA adopts EU Ombudsman recommendations to avoid bias concerns over drug approvals
Seeking to end another flap about transparency, the European Medicines Agency has agreed to recommendations…
STAT Plus: Pharmalittle: Generic makers talk to feds about ending price-fixing probe; how the Arnolds fueled the pricing debate in D.C.
Hello, everyone, and how are you today? We are doing just fine, thank you, now…
Opinion: In pricing our gene therapy, Bluebird weighed value, shared risk, and a lifetime cap
It is hard to not get emotional when you witness the unfair reality of terrible…
How a billionaire couple greased the skids for Nancy Pelosi’s drug pricing bill
WASHINGTON — When House Democrats pass legislation next month that would slash prescription drug spending…
Global Blood secures FDA approval for new pill to treat sickle cell disease
The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved a once-daily pill for sickle cell disease…
STAT Plus: Pharma execs tell researchers that multiple sclerosis drug pricing is based on competition, not R&D costs
Despite claims that prices for new medicines are generally shaped by R&D costs, initial pricing…
STAT Plus: Merck is probed by Spain’s antitrust regulator for allegedly delaying competition for a contraceptive
The antitrust regulator in Spain has accused Merck (MRK) of working with other companies to…
Some brain-boosting supplements contain an unapproved drug that could harm users, study warns
Promising to lift brain fog or improve memory, brain-boosting supplements have joined sexual-enhancement and weight-loss…
STAT Plus: Generic trade group sues California for an ‘unconstitutional’ law banning pay-to-delay deals
A newly enacted California law that bans so-called pay-to-delay deals between drug makers would reduce…
STAT Plus: Pharmalittle: Novartis to pay $9.7 billion for The Medicines Co.; Trump bashes Pelosi drug pricing bill
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to another working week. We hope the weekend respite was…
Opinion: Barring cisgender women from the Descovy trials was a bad call
Of the estimated 38 million people living with HIV around the world, more than half…
STAT Plus: Facing bottlenecks in manufacturing cell therapies, Boston leaders plan to build their own
A group of leading Boston-area universities, hospitals, and corporations will create a new center for…
With $9.7 billion acquisition, Novartis bets that heart drugs are coming back
Novartis’ $9.7 billion acquisition of The Medicines Company, which the companies announced Sunday after days…
New data on Takeda’s dengue vaccine look promising, but with troubling exception
New data about the effectiveness of Takeda Pharmaceutical’s experimental dengue vaccine will likely raise more…
Listen: Warren’s awkward home front, the ethics of treating dwarfism, and the sound of STAT Summit
Can Sen. Elizabeth Warren ever go home again? Is it ethical to make little people…
STAT Plus: Watch: The state of biotech at time of innovation — and high prices
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — We live in an age of miracles, but they come at a…
Having gobbled up Celgene, the Bristol-Myers CEO ducks questions about his key rival
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — In his first appearance since Bristol-Myers Squibb completed its takeover last week…
Biogen’s top scientist nearly dares FDA not to approve Alzheimer’s drug
Biogen’s top scientist offered unflinching support Thursday for the efficacy of the company’s controversial Alzheimer’s…
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Across several continents, infecting mosquitoes with bacteria results in dramatic drops in dengue illness, trials show
The number of people infected by dengue and at least one related virus has plunged…
STAT Plus: A bold prediction: Machine learning will yield new drug candidates within three years
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — An explosion of biological data will lead to the first drug candidates…
STAT Plus: ‘The industry has earned it’: Three CEOs own up to biopharma’s bad reputation
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Biopharma’s reputation is, objectively speaking, the worst. And on Thursday, several biotech…
STAT Plus: Gene therapy pioneer says the field is behind — and that delivery technology is ‘embarrassing’
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Gene therapy pioneer Dr. James Wilson is disappointed by the progress in…
STAT Plus: Pharmalittle: Trump and senators push for drug prices in TV ads; Sanofi looks to spin off consumer business
Top of the morning to you, and a fine one it is. We may have…
Gilead CEO Daniel O’Day says company is in an ‘acquisitive mode’
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Daniel O’Day, in his eight months on the job as CEO of…
STAT Plus: Patient charity settles allegations it helped MS drug makers pay kickbacks
A patient assistance charity has agreed to pay $4 million to settle allegations that it…
FDA approves Alnylam’s Givlaari, second-ever drug based on RNAi
The FDA has approved the second-ever drug based on a Nobel prize-winning technique known as…
Stephen Hahn, Trump’s FDA nominee, pledges ‘bold action’ on vaping but sidesteps questions on flavor ban
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration, faced with a…