2018 - Pharmacist Digest

STAT+: Wyden claims Pfizer used a ‘colossal’ scheme to avoid paying billions in U.S. taxes

STAT

MARCH 27, 2025

for 2018 and 2020. In what one U.S. lawmaker described as possibly the “largest tax-dodging scheme” by a pharmaceutical company in history, Pfizer sold $20 billion in medicines to U.S. customers, but treating the profits as foreign income for tax purposes.

Pharmaceutical Companies

Pharmaceutical Companies Pharmaceutical Companies

What will it take to end health care worker burnout?

STAT

OCTOBER 26, 2023

Researchers compared survey data from 2018 and 2022, finding that health workers experienced poorer mental health outcomes post-pandemic. Of those surveyed, 46% of health workers reported feeling burnout often or very often in 2022, compared to 32% in 2018. Read the rest…

Hospitals

STAT+: The U.S. has relied on cheap, effective generic drugs for 40 years. Now that promise is under threat

STAT

SEPTEMBER 24, 2024

Then, in 2018, she finally found a drug that kept her ADHD in check. STAT is co-publishing this article by Tradeoffs. Lisa Ann Trainor struggled to stay on top of schoolwork, hold a job or even perform basic tasks like laundry for six exhausting years. Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…

Drug Pricing

Drug Pricing Drug Development

STAT+: Pharma’s reputation with patient groups dips again, mostly due to pricing issues

STAT

APRIL 28, 2025

In 2021, for instance, 59% of companies scored highly, compared with 41% in 2018. The back-to-back declines come after 60% of patient groups believed the industry fared well thanks to the initial response of many companies to quickly develop salves for the Covid-19 pandemic. Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…

Drug Pricing

Drug Pricing Drug Development

Merck Ebola vaccine Ervebo shown to offer substantial protection

STAT

AUGUST 21, 2024

Merck’s Ebola vaccine offered substantial protection to people vaccinated during the 2018-2020 outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with an effectiveness of 84% in those who had been vaccinated at least 10 days before being exposed to the virus, a new study reports.

Vaccines

Opinion: HIV self-testing is easy, effective — and underutilized

STAT

MARCH 13, 2025

In May 2024, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health released a troubling report on a cluster of HIV infections, with more than 200 new cases since 2018 attributable to injection drug use in the Boston region.

Opinion: Private equity: health care’s vampire

STAT

AUGUST 19, 2024

These firms — which pool funds from wealthy investors and are exempt from many of the regulations and disclosure requirements that apply to other types of investments — have spent a half-trillion dollars since 2018 buying up medical resources.

Nursing Homes

Nursing Homes Hospitals

The XBI biotech index hit its lowest point since 2018. No one knows what comes next.

STAT

OCTOBER 25, 2023

Want to stay on top of the science and politics driving biotech today? Sign up to get our biotech newsletter in your inbox. Hello, everyone. Damian here with a look at biotech’s latest nadir, the virtues of Neanderthal DNA, and the sudden success of a decades-old idea in oncology. Read the rest…

Drug Pricing

Drug Pricing Drug Development

USDA, FDA turf battles hamper responses to outbreaks like H5N1 bird flu

STAT

MAY 14, 2024

WASHINGTON — On a bright June day in 2018, one of the nation’s top regulators waved groceries in the air, quizzing the secretary of agriculture on which agency is charged with monitoring different types of food.

Sweeping bill to fight opioid addiction will be considered by Senate health committee

STAT

DECEMBER 4, 2023

The proposal would reauthorize a number of programs first created by the SUPPORT Act, an addiction-focused bill that Congress first passed in 2018.

No longer brushed off: A Minnesota clinic tries to rewrite medicine’s approach to miscarriage

STAT

AUGUST 31, 2023

The first miscarriage happened in June 2018, almost as soon as she found out she was pregnant. — By the time Taylor Teske came to be sitting on an exam table in an obstetrician’s office in Minnesota, her medical records marked a devastating journey: nine pregnancies, one baby, eight miscarriages.

Medical Records

STAT+: Juul spent big to court Black leaders to promote its e-cigarettes, new documents show

STAT

FEBRUARY 3, 2024

Documents released this week shed new light on an aggressive strategy from vape maker Juul to court Black leaders, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, to publicly support its e-cigarettes.

Documentation

Juul’s internal playbook opens a rare window into influence in Washington

STAT

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

WASHINGTON — A new trove of internal emails and other documents from the e-cigarette maker Juul reveals the company’s extensive behind-the-scenes efforts to promote its interests in Washington — a rare insight into the otherwise opaque methods corporations use to influence the government.

Documentation

STAT+: Why FDA product recalls have spiked in recent years

STAT

DECEMBER 14, 2023

Whichever the case, product recalls by the Food and Drug Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) more than doubled between 2018 and 2022, according to new research published on Wednesday by life sciences software company MasterControl. In 2018, the agency only recalled 22 products. In 2022, it recalled 310.

STAT+: Insitro, biotech AI’s quiet unicorn, unveils efforts in ALS, liver disease, and cancer at JPM

STAT

JANUARY 7, 2024

Insitro, a South San Francisco firm, was founded in 2018 by Daphne Koller, who had previously been a Stanford professor, a 2004 MacArthur “genius” grant recipient, and the co-founder and co-CEO of the online course company Coursera. But in biotech, one of the most well-funded AI players has been quiet.

Drug Development

STAT+: GLP-1s lower risk of 10 obesity-associated cancers, study shows

STAT

JULY 5, 2024

million patients with type 2 diabetes from 2005 to 2018 who were prescribed GLP-1s, insulin, or metformin. New research finds that the GLP-1 class of drugs — glucagon-like peptide receptor agonists — is more effective in mitigating the risk of 10 obesity-associated cancers than its type 2 diabetes drug alternatives.

Diabetes

Why doesn’t the U.S. have more Black midwives?

STAT

SEPTEMBER 18, 2023

Universities have also expanded their course offerings, with the number of new students enrolled in accredited midwifery programs growing from 1,006 students in 2014 to 1,214 in 2018 , according to the latest data available. Read the rest…

Hospitals

STAT+: A pariah in science, the ‘CRISPR babies’ researcher gains support from a U.S. cryptocurrency entrepreneur

STAT

OCTOBER 8, 2024

He rose to international infamy in 2018, when it came to light that he had performed a series of secretive, ethically fraught , scientifically sloppy genetic experiments that resulted in the birth of three CRISPR’d children.

STAT+: Machine learning biotech raises $273 million in rare successful late-stage round

STAT

SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

Generate was founded in 2018 by venture-creation firm Flagship Pioneering to use machine learning algorithms to identify antibodies, peptides, cell therapies, and other medicines. It launched its first clinical trial in July for a Covid monoclonal antibody, and is working on starting another clinical trial for an asthma treatment.

STAT+: AI can speed up drug discovery but don’t expect it to cure cancer, yet

STAT

FEBRUARY 7, 2024

At Amgen, where he’s led drug research and development since 2018, Reese said this moment has finally arrived. David Reese calls it a “hinge moment” — the turning point when biotech and big tech merge to attack human disease with artificial intelligence.

Drug Development

STAT+: NYU professors who defended vaping didn’t disclose ties to Juul, documents show

STAT

MAY 6, 2024

Abrams, a frequent commentator about vaping in the news media, including CBS This Morning, CNN, and The New Yorker, coordinated extensively with Juul on public messaging in 2017 and 2018, according to company emails.

Documentation

STAT+: Biotech veteran John Maraganore raises $135 million for his ‘next-generation RNAi’ startup

STAT

OCTOBER 8, 2024

That’s a familiar enough story in biotech: Alnylam won regulatory approval of the first RNAi treatment in 2018, and several other such therapies have followed. City Therapeutics, based in Cambridge, Mass.,

STAT+: $400 million for an obesity drug startup? A new venture is a sign of the times

STAT

OCTOBER 1, 2024

billion acquisition of Cerevel Therapeutics , a spinout of Pfizer assets that Bain helped finance back in 2018. The investors have also brought in a familiar face: Ron Renaud, who recently oversaw the $8.7

STAT+: Risky bet by Biogen and UCB on systemic lupus drug appears to pay off, data show

STAT

SEPTEMBER 23, 2024

A Phase 2 study of “dapi” in systemic lupus, conducted in 2018, was negative, although Biogen and UCB saw enough evidence of a treatment effect to keep investing in the drug. Still, the positive outcome is likely to be viewed favorably by investors given the drug’s mixed history.

STAT+: Jiankui He, creator of CRISPR-edited children, relocates to a Chinese medical tourism hub

STAT

JULY 24, 2024

Jiankui He, the Chinese scientist who s parked a global uproar in 2018 when he revealed he had created the first gene-edited children , is again out on his own after being dismissed from an academic post.

Opinion: What happened to obesity after Chile slew Tony the Tiger?

STAT

JUNE 13, 2024

” So read the headline of a front-page story in The New York Times in 2018 on a dramatic step Chile was taking to fight obesity. “In Sweeping War on Obesity, Chile slays Tony the Tiger.”

STAT+: Cancer vaccine startup launches with $54 million, Spark veteran as CEO

STAT

APRIL 18, 2024

The biotech is also being led by Spark Therapeutics co-founder Steven Altschuler, who joined Ziff Capital in 2018 as its managing director of health care ventures. Corner Therapeutics’ Series A round was led by Ziff Capital Partners, a little-known family office started by billionaire Dirk Ziff.

Vaccines

Vaccines Hospitals

Opinion: Sen. Maggie Hassan on what Congress must do next to fight the opioid crisis

STAT

JANUARY 9, 2024

In 2018, we came together across party lines to pass the SUPPORT Act, which established vital infrastructure for communities in New Hampshire and across the country to treat addiction, help people recover, and prevent substance misuse in the first place.

Opinion: Diagnostic tests for rare conditions present a mathematical conundrum

STAT

NOVEMBER 30, 2023

Even before the Covid pandemic, a 2018 paper reported that new genetic tests, many of them for increasingly rare conditions, were being released at the rate of 10 a day. You can now avail yourself of noninvasive diagnostics that claim to screen for rare birth defects, cancer-associated mutations, and even Alzheimer’s.

Labelling

STAT+: Civica Rx considers moving into chemo drugs as shortages worsen

STAT

SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

Frustrated by drug shortages and the price spikes that typically ensue, executives from large hospital systems launched the nonprofit Civica Rx to deal with the problem in September 2018. Months later, the publicly traded group purchasing organization Premier created a subsidiary , ProvideGx, with the same aim.

Hospitals

Hospitals Chemotherapy Drug Pricing

STAT+: Otsuka’s digital treatment for depression cleared by FDA, as pharma tries to crack tricky market

STAT

APRIL 1, 2024

Rejoyn has been in development since 2018 and Otsuka is the first drug company to receive FDA clearance for a digital treatment for a mental health condition. ” Patients also receive cognitive behavioral therapy.

STAT+: Telehealth providers can drive antibiotic overuse — or choose to combat it

STAT

APRIL 11, 2024

That care, the medical board charged in 2018, was negligent: Anh didn’t collect vital signs, get a reliable medical history, or otherwise verify that his patients were actually sick and needed antibiotics. Another undercover investigator, “Mary Peters,” got antibiotics for a nonexistent urinary tract infection.

STAT+: ChatGPT for genomes: introducing a CRISPR-designing generative AI

STAT

MAY 17, 2024

In 2018, during her chemistry Nobel Prize lecture, Frances Arnold noted that scientists had arrived at a point where they could read, write, and edit any sequence of DNA. But composing whole genes or even whole genomes from scratch — that was something only evolution could do.

Delta 8 THC use reported by 11% of high school seniors

STAT

MARCH 12, 2024

Delta 8 THC is a quasi-legal psychoactive version of cannabis, which has skyrocketed in popularity after a loophole found in a 2018 federal law allowed it to be sold nationwide without the same restrictions placed on traditional marijuana.

STAT+: CVS went hard after Medicare Advantage patients, now it’s retreating

STAT

MAY 1, 2024

The company, which absorbed the health insurer Aetna in 2018, marketed its Medicare Advantage plans aggressively last year and expanded its geographic reach more than any insurer. CVS’ operating income fell by 34% — roughly $1.2 Now, that strategy is proving a detriment to its bottom line.

STAT+: Medicare Advantage’s supplemental benefits will cost taxpayers $86 billion this year, with little transparency

STAT

JUNE 12, 2025

Back in 2018, Medicare paid the plans $21 billion. Medicare pays MA plans in the form of what’s known as rebates to help fund supplemental benefits, and that funding has shot up by more than 300% over the past eight years, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission’s annual report to Congress.

Screen early in pregnancy for gestational diabetes, new Lancet series urges

STAT

JUNE 20, 2024

Gestational diabetes has long been diagnosed between weeks 24 and 28 of pregnancy.

Diabetes

STAT+: Oregon suspends a portion of its drug transparency law found to be unconstitutional

STAT

FEBRUARY 23, 2024

For now, the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services will no longer require drug companies to compile annual reports on price increases, a key feature of a transparency law that was enacted in 2018. The reporting requirements stem from a pair of laws that were enacted in 2018 and 2019. However, a U.S.

Drug Pricing

Opinion: My stalled relay race to get access to ALS drugs in development

STAT

JULY 5, 2024

One night in November 2018, I fell while crossing a street in Subic Bay, a U.S. naval logistics station in The Philippines. My face whacked the asphalt. Lying in the path of oncoming traffic, I couldn’t move a muscle. After 45 seconds of terror, I was able to stand up and haul myself to the other side.

Opinion: Cutting-edge insulin is good. But it’s the ‘trailing edge’ of older versions that can keep it affordable

STAT

MAY 15, 2024

In a 2018 survey, 45% of respondents managing diabetes reported having intentionally foregone insulin treatment for a period because of the financial burden. Many avoid or ration their treatment because of the high cost. Each new generation of insulin products has been marked by an increase in price.

Diabetes

Diabetes Drug Pricing

Why drug shortages are having an outsize impact on ovarian cancer patients

STAT

AUGUST 16, 2023

Sarah Evans considers herself a lucky ovarian cancer patient, though she is dealing with the second recurrence of the disease since she was first diagnosed in February 2018.

Pediatricians’ group reaffirms support for gender-affirming care while planning research review

STAT

AUGUST 4, 2023

The board of directors for the group, which represents 67,000 pediatricians, unanimously voted to reaffirm its 2018 position on the treatments.

Documentation

CytoDyn’s former CEO indicted for securities fraud. His misleading statements hurt patients even more than investors

STAT

DECEMBER 20, 2022

Beginning in 2018 and through 2021, CytoDyn and its former CEO Nadir Pourhassan told investors repeatedly that a clinical trial had successfully demonstrated the effectiveness of an experimental treatment for HIV, and that a completed marketing application had been submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

STAT+: At genome-editing summit, experts worry that rule changes on embryo research in China fall short

STAT

MARCH 6, 2023

Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…

STAT+: Wyden claims Pfizer used a ‘colossal’ scheme to avoid paying billions in U.S. taxes

What will it take to end health care worker burnout?

Trending Sources

STAT+: The U.S. has relied on cheap, effective generic drugs for 40 years. Now that promise is under threat

STAT+: Pharma’s reputation with patient groups dips again, mostly due to pricing issues

Merck Ebola vaccine Ervebo shown to offer substantial protection

Opinion: HIV self-testing is easy, effective — and underutilized

Opinion: Private equity: health care’s vampire

The XBI biotech index hit its lowest point since 2018. No one knows what comes next.

USDA, FDA turf battles hamper responses to outbreaks like H5N1 bird flu

Sweeping bill to fight opioid addiction will be considered by Senate health committee

No longer brushed off: A Minnesota clinic tries to rewrite medicine’s approach to miscarriage

STAT+: Juul spent big to court Black leaders to promote its e-cigarettes, new documents show

Juul’s internal playbook opens a rare window into influence in Washington

STAT+: Why FDA product recalls have spiked in recent years

STAT+: Insitro, biotech AI’s quiet unicorn, unveils efforts in ALS, liver disease, and cancer at JPM

STAT+: GLP-1s lower risk of 10 obesity-associated cancers, study shows

Why doesn’t the U.S. have more Black midwives?

STAT+: A pariah in science, the ‘CRISPR babies’ researcher gains support from a U.S. cryptocurrency entrepreneur

STAT+: Machine learning biotech raises $273 million in rare successful late-stage round

STAT+: AI can speed up drug discovery but don’t expect it to cure cancer, yet

STAT+: NYU professors who defended vaping didn’t disclose ties to Juul, documents show

STAT+: Biotech veteran John Maraganore raises $135 million for his ‘next-generation RNAi’ startup

STAT+: $400 million for an obesity drug startup? A new venture is a sign of the times

STAT+: Risky bet by Biogen and UCB on systemic lupus drug appears to pay off, data show

STAT+: Jiankui He, creator of CRISPR-edited children, relocates to a Chinese medical tourism hub

Opinion: What happened to obesity after Chile slew Tony the Tiger?

STAT+: Cancer vaccine startup launches with $54 million, Spark veteran as CEO

Opinion: Sen. Maggie Hassan on what Congress must do next to fight the opioid crisis

Opinion: Diagnostic tests for rare conditions present a mathematical conundrum

STAT+: Civica Rx considers moving into chemo drugs as shortages worsen

STAT+: Otsuka’s digital treatment for depression cleared by FDA, as pharma tries to crack tricky market

STAT+: Telehealth providers can drive antibiotic overuse — or choose to combat it

STAT+: ChatGPT for genomes: introducing a CRISPR-designing generative AI

Delta 8 THC use reported by 11% of high school seniors

STAT+: CVS went hard after Medicare Advantage patients, now it’s retreating

STAT+: Medicare Advantage’s supplemental benefits will cost taxpayers $86 billion this year, with little transparency

Screen early in pregnancy for gestational diabetes, new Lancet series urges

STAT+: Oregon suspends a portion of its drug transparency law found to be unconstitutional

Opinion: My stalled relay race to get access to ALS drugs in development

Opinion: Cutting-edge insulin is good. But it’s the ‘trailing edge’ of older versions that can keep it affordable

Why drug shortages are having an outsize impact on ovarian cancer patients

Pediatricians’ group reaffirms support for gender-affirming care while planning research review

CytoDyn’s former CEO indicted for securities fraud. His misleading statements hurt patients even more than investors

STAT+: At genome-editing summit, experts worry that rule changes on embryo research in China fall short

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