Julia Rock-Torcivia

Pictor Labs announced the release of ClearStain, an AI-powered virtual staining technology, on Thursday. ClearStain enables pathologists to visualize and annotate the exact tissue being sequenced with no adjacent slides and no chemical stains, the company said. The technology could accelerate turnaround time from days to minutes, according to Pictor Labs.  Pathologists compared tissues and…

On Thursday, the Trump administration announced agreements with Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to reduce the prices of the companies’ GLP-1 drugs for Americans. Under the agreements, Ozempic and Wegovy will be sold at $350 per month and Zepbound for an average of $346 per month, depending on dose, when purchased through TrumpRx, a platform…

Pfizer has filed two lawsuits against the metabolic-focused startup Metsera and Novo Nordisk as of Tuesday. The first suit, filed last Friday, claims that Novo Nordisk’s rival bid for Metsera is a move “to suppress competition,” Pfizer said in a press release.  Metsera could be a vital acquisition for either company. The company is developing…

George Tidmarsh, the head of the FDA’s drug division, resigned on Sunday after he was placed on leave Friday, “after the Office of the General Counsel and the Office of the Inspector General were notified of serious concerns about his personal conduct,” Emily Hilliard, an HHS spokeswoman, told ABC News in a statement. Tidmarsh said…

Quarter 3 results Eli Lilly reported a 54% increase in revenue in the third quarter, rising to $17.60 billion in 2025 from $11.439 billion in 2024, which the company largely credited to sales of Mounjaro and Zepbound, the company’s GLP-1 agonist weight-loss treatments.  Mounjaro revenue saw a 109% increase in revenue from the third quarter…

The Pistoia Alliance, a nonprofit alliance that advocates for greater collaboration in life sciences R&D, launched the next phase of its Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (CMC) Process Ontology project on Thursday. The project, which aims to develop a pharmaceutical CMC process ontology based on the ISA-88/95 framework, is supported by Eli Lilly, Amgen, Merck &…

Ken Paxton, the Republican attorney general of Texas, sued Kenvue, the manufacturer of Tylenol, on Tuesday, for “deceptively marketing Tylenol to pregnant mothers despite knowing that early exposure to acetaminophen leads to a significantly increased risk of autism and other disorders,” according to the press release.  J&J illegally offloaded liability, Paxton claims Paxton also claimed…

The FDA approved Lynkuet (elinzanetant) 60 mg capsules for the treatment of moderate to severe hot flashes due to menopause last week. Lynkuet is reportedly the first and only dual neurokinin (NK) targeted therapy, as it is both a neurokinin 1 (NK1) and neurokinin 3 (NK3) receptor antagonist.  Filling the gap of nonhormonal treatment options…

Once so valuable its market capitalization eclipsed that of its home country of Denmark, pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk is now showing signs of strain. Most recently, several members of Novo Nordisk’s board of directors quit after failing to reach an agreement with the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the firm’s controlling shareholder (via Novo Holdings), on the…

The FDA has granted simultaneous approval for HERNEXEOS (zongertinib tablets), developed and commercialized by Boehringer Ingelheim, for the treatment of adult patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The approval covers tumors with HER2 (ERBB2) activating mutations. It also signed off on Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Oncomine Dx Target Test as a companion diagnostic (CDx) to…

Following a White House press conference on Sept. 22, during which Donald Trump alleged a link between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and autism, the Informed Consent Network (ICAN) filed a petition with the FDA to add a warning to all drugs that contain acetaminophen. ICAN is a nonprofit organization that aims to provide “every person…

AstraZeneca announced a deal with the U.S. government to lower drug prices for American patients last Friday. According to the press release, AstraZeneca agreed “to a range of measures which will enable American patients to access medicines at prices that are equalized with those available in wealthy countries.” Under the agreement, AstraZeneca will provide Direct-to-Consumer (DTC)…

Novo Nordisk has agreed to acquire Akero Therapeutics, a clinical-stage company that develops treatments for metabolic diseases, the company announced last week.  Akero’s EFX pipeline Akero Therapeutics’ treatment for metabolic-dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) “is closely linked with Novo Nordisk’s expertise in diabetes and obesity,” the press release stated. More than 40% of patients with MASH, formerly…

A Los Angeles jury ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $966 million to the family of a California resident who died of a rare form of cancer. The family filed a suit against the company claiming that its baby powder contains a carcinogen.  Mae Moore died in 2021 from mesothelioma, cancer of the mesothelium –…

Novo Nordisk has laid off dozens of employees at its plant in North Carolina, an analysis of LinkedIn posts by Reuters found. The layoffs come after the company announced a plan to cut 9,000 jobs globally in an effort to compete with Eli Lilly last month. The exact number of layoffs at the Clayton plant…

New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has filed a lawsuit against Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Honeywell and several real estate companies, claiming there is toxic waste on an old pharmaceutical plant site, contaminating the groundwater.  The plant, located in Morris Plains, was operational from the 1950s to the 1980s under Warner-Lambert, which Pfizer acquired…

Three days before the ACIP’s meeting last week, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appointed five new members to the ACIP, a process that usually takes months. The panel now has a total of 12 members. The new members will “bring diverse expertise that strengthens the committee and ensures it fulfills its mission with transparency, independence, and…

Last Friday, the ACIP voted to recommend COVID vaccination “based on individual-based decision-making” for adults 65 and older. For individuals 6 months to 64 years old, the vaccine is recommended based on individual decision, “with an emphasis that the risk-benefit of vaccination is more favorable for individuals who are at an increased risk for severe…

The ACIP met this week to vote on recommendations for the MMRV, Hepatitis B and COVID vaccines. On Thursday, they voted to recommend separate MMR and varicella vaccines for children under four, instead of the combination MMRV vaccine. On Friday, they voted to table the Hepatitis B decision for another meeting.  Also on Friday, the…

Despite some vocal attacks against vaccines, a poll conducted by Republican pollsters — including Donald Trump’s chief pollster — shows “that there is broad unity across party lines supporting vaccines such as measles (MMR), shingles, tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (TDAP), and Hepatitis B.” NBC News reported that the poll results were made known to Republican…

Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of Ozempic, announced a plan to reduce its global workforce by approximately 9,000 positions today. Around 5,000 positions are expected to be cut in Denmark. This will reduce the company’s workforce from its current 78,400 positions to approximately 69,400.  The company’s stock has fallen about 58% over the past year as…

On Friday, Kevenue, the maker of Tylenol, saw its stocks drop more than 10% after the Wall Street Journal reported that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy plans to release a federal report connecting prenatal use of Tylenol to autism.  As Kennedy and his appointed vaccine panel continue to erode vaccine recommendations, many…

Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo, the Florida surgeon general, announced at an event on Wednesday that the Department of Health, working with the governor, would “end all vaccine mandates in Florida law.” He also compared vaccine mandates to slavery. “Your body is a gift from God. What you put into your body is because of your…

Modern medicine and vaccines have saved millions of lives, but this comes with an environmental cost. A 2019 report by Health Care Without Harm found that the broader health care sector contributes 4.4% of the global total net emissions. This is equivalent to two gigatons of carbon dioxide, the annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from…

Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE announced today that the FDA has approved their COVID-19 vaccine for adults ages 65 and older and individuals from 5 to 64 years old who have at least one underlying condition that puts them at high risk for severe outcomes from COVID-19.  The approval comes amidst the development of a…