STAT+: Antitrust lawsuit alleges UnitedHealth’s Optum pressured a California hospital to stop competing over physicians
UnitedHealth Group’s Optum division is already the largest employer of physicians in the United States,…
Category: Medicine
Surge of respiratory disease in China triggers anxiety, but experts see likely explanation
Reports of increased respiratory disease among children in China have put disease watchers elsewhere on…
STAT+: U.S. Anesthesia Partners, Welsh Carson face class action over monopoly allegations
Union health plans that represent electricians and plumbers in Texas have filed a class action…
Overdose deaths during pregnancy spiked over the past few years, study says
Overdose deaths among pregnant or postpartum people skyrocketed between 2018 and 2021, according to new…
What’s behind the urge to scratch that itch? Harvard researchers have a theory
That itchy feeling isn’t just in your head, in some cases it might actually be…
Medtronic isn’t afraid of Wegovy’s potential to disrupt
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STAT+: Evelo Biosciences, a microbiome company launched by Flagship, shuts down
Evelo Biosciences, a startup hoping to use the trillions of microbes in and on the…
Pharmalittle: European patent agency invalidates a Moderna mRNA patent; pharma ally Eshoo plans to retire
Good morning! This is Jonathan Wosen, West Coast biotech and life sciences reporter, filling in…
Opinion: Listen: Living in cancer limbo
Fifteen years ago, Mara Buchbinder and colleagues came up with the concept of the “patient…
Opinion: Physician and Rep. Raul Ruiz: The infectious disease doctor shortage threatens future pandemic preparedness
In 2009, I was practicing in the emergency department when the H1N1 pandemic emerged. Then,…
STAT+: Health tech startups warn that overregulating AI could hamper innovation
Entrepreneurs across the country desperate to bring the power of AI into health care are…
Opinion: What Rosalynn Carter understood about mental health
Few people leave the world with as much grace or influence as Rosalynn Smith Carter,…
How the shakeup at OpenAI underscores the need for AI standards in health care
The leadership turmoil within OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, is triggering calls for stepped-up efforts…
STAT+: House Republicans call CDC director to testify
WASHINGTON — A House committee that has sparred with the Biden administration over its handling…
STAT+: Prominent pharmaceutical industry ally Anna Eshoo to retire
WASHINGTON — Rep. Anna Eshoo, one of the House of Representatives’ top Democrats on health…
STAT+: Sen. Bernie Sanders publicly pressures Merck, J&J, and Bristol Myers Squibb to testify on drug pricing
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Tuesday mounted a public…
Bayer’s new CEO was dealt a duo of ‘clearing events.’ Tough choices lie ahead
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STAT+: Pharmalittle: Texas sues Pfizer over ADHD drugs; Merck buys a neuro startup
Hello, everyone. Damian Garde here, filling in for Ed Silverman on what is an abbreviated…
STAT+: Flagship Pioneering launches Quotient, a new biotech, in two countries
Flagship Pioneering, the venture capital firm behind Moderna, on Tuesday unveiled a new biotech called…
STAT+: Mixed study results for MorphoSys blood-cancer drug raise questions about approval
LONDON — An experimental blood cancer drug from MorphoSys hit its primary target in a…
STAT+: How the CEO of the largest medical device accelerator molds medtech startups
If Paul Grand weren’t the CEO of MedTech Innovator, the largest medical device accelerator in…
Opinion: Filling 12-month prescriptions is one practical way to help the pharmacist crisis
Pharmacies could be called the most “rock solid” entity in our health care system. Even…
Invisible in the data: Broad ‘Asian American’ category obscures health disparities
They have roots in 50 countries that cover more than half of the globe’s surface….
STAT+: Delay of eye drop recall highlights FDA’s impotence on the issue
WASHINGTON — It took nearly three weeks for a maker of eye drops to recall…
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STAT+: Pharmalittle: CRISPR pioneers reflect on future of gene editing; U.K. and pharma reach deal on how NHS pays for drugs
Good morning and welcome to Thanksgiving week! STAT reporter Andrew Joseph here filling in for…
Merck cough drug doesn’t pass panel scrutiny
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STAT+: U.K., pharma industry strike deal for how the NHS pays for medicines
LONDON — The U.K. and the pharmaceutical industry have reached a deal on a five-year…
STAT+: What Eli Lilly’s Zepbound reveals about the intricate process of naming drugs today
Whether you’re a fan of the drug name Zepbound or, like one X user, think…
STAT+: How a major hospital shows just how inflated hospital list prices are
Hospitals’ list prices for surgeries, therapies, and other procedures always come with massive discounts. Financial…
STAT+: Hospitals put tech spending on a tight leash, raise the bar for pilots
Health systems whose budgets were squeezed dry during the pandemic are creeping back into the…
Respiratory viruses, thrown out of whack by Covid, appear to be falling back into seasonal order
In the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic, something strange happened: For a year or two,…
Opinion: The FDA is at a crossroads on cell and gene therapies
Cell and gene therapies are the next frontier in medicine and promise long-sought hope for…
STAT+: CRISPR’s pioneers reflect on the first gene-editing treatment
The revolution started in silence. Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier, now Nobelists, published their first…
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Opinion: What STAT readers think about premed requirements, too much health care, harm reduction, and more
STAT now publishes selected Letters to the Editor received in response to First Opinion essays…
STAT+: FDA approves Medtronic high blood pressure device despite a negative advisory panel vote
The Food and Drug Administration has approved a Medtronic device to lower blood pressure, the…
Flu season is approaching, CDC says
Flu activity in many parts of the United States is starting to rise more rapidly,…
STAT+: Biden appoints Vanderbilt oncologist to head National Cancer Institute
WASHINGTON — President Biden on Friday said he plans to appoint cancer researcher and doctor…
STAT+: A digital pill shows early promise in detecting opioid overdose, sleep apnea
Gathering health data remotely is a pain. Forgetting to slip on a wearable is easy,…
STAT+: Pharmalittle: Woodcock to retire from the FDA; Acrotech urged to speed up confirmatory study of cancer drugs
And so, another working week will soon draw to a close Not a moment too…
The return of biotech’s “bump factor” amid an economic downturn
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Opinion: We tried to quantify how harmful hospital ransomware attacks are for patients. Here’s what we found
This article is part of a partnership between First Opinion and Tradeoffs, a nonprofit news organization…
Preterm birth and infant mortality measures in U.S. remain stubbornly high
Preterm births and infant mortality are at alarming levels in the U.S., according to a…
STAT+: Even as Wegovy rides high, interest surges in weight loss drugs that preserve muscle
Have you ever seen a mouse with a set of muscles more appropriate for a…
STAT+: Doctors divide over reforming a secretive panel that determines their Medicare pay
WASHINGTON — Doctors are splitting, specialty by specialty, over whether and how to overhaul a…
STAT+: FDA’s Janet Woodcock to retire early next year
WASHINGTON — Principal Deputy FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock will retire early next year from the…
Key questions (and answers) about the historic approval of a CRISPR-based medicine
History just happened. For the first time, a regulator has cleared a treatment using CRISPR,…
Listen: A CRISPR milestone, algorithms amok, & biotech mixology
Who polices algorithms? How would you name the first approved CRISPR medicine? And what pairs…
Colon cancer screening kits have a high rate of untestable samples
More than a tenth of fecal immunochemical tests, used for routine colorectal cancer screening, contained…
Report: Measles cases and deaths increase worldwide, as childhood vaccinations rates decline
A dangerous decline in the rate of children vaccinated against measles is spurring a global…
STAT+: FDA cites Dr. Reddy’s for quality control problems at a biologics plant
Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, one of the world’s largest generic drugmakers, was cited by the U.S….