News
Posted on July 24, 2026
An FDA committee is recommending the addition of several peptides to the 503A bulk drug substances list. The FDA’s Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee, which has faced scrutiny for having several members with conflicts of interest, met July 23 and 24 to discuss peptides. Owais Durrani, DO, an emergency medicine physician in Houston, previously wrote for Healio that “some of the most transformative drugs in modern medicine are peptides,” including insulin and semaglutide. While “the science of peptides is real, serious and worth pursuing,” Durrani wrote, the current system is messy: “a
Posted on July 24, 2026
[Editor’s note: The following story is part of our “Hooked on ID” series. Tell us your story by emailing infectiousdisease@healio.com, with the subject line “Hooked on ID.”] My interest in infectious diseases can be traced back to a formative experience I had in my native country of Peru. I began my 8-year-long medical school training as an aspiring physician. During my fifth year, I enrolled in a tropical medicine course that included a field trip to the Peruvian Amazon. It was there that I encountered indigenous communities facing health challenges such as parasitic infections and inadequate
Posted on July 24, 2026
Black Americans continue to have higher rates of heart disease mortality compared with white Americans, despite a decline in recent years, according to data from a Journal of the American College of Cardiology progress report. “After 2.5 decades of follow-up, the gap in excess cardiovascular mortality for Black compared with white Americans is smaller than it was in 2000 but no smaller than it was a decade ago. The 2024 update shows partial recovery from the pandemic-era widening but no return to the trajectory of modest decline that characterized the early 2000s,” Adith S. Arun, a medical
Posted on July 24, 2026
Among patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension, once-daily treprostinil palmitil inhalation powder for 12 months was well tolerated and improved four efficacy endpoints, according to interim data from an open-label extension study. “In everyday practice, clinicians are focused on optimizing therapy to help patients achieve the greatest benefit while maintaining tolerability and safety,” Eugene Sullivan, MD, chief product strategy officer at Insmed, told Healio. “One of the key differentiating features of treprostinil palmitil inhalation powder (TPIP) is the ability to increase the dose
Posted on July 24, 2026
Executives from the largest U.S. health care payers cited proactive management of high-risk patients, biosimilar use and site-of-care steerage as their top tactics to lower care costs, according to a survey from Spherix Global Insights. Spherix surveyed 27 decision-makers from nine of the leading managed care organizations and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) in the United States: UnitedHealth Group, CVS Health, Cigna, Kaiser Permanente, Elevance Health, Humana, Health Care Service Corporation, Molina Healthcare, and Centene Corporation. The respondents included directors of pharmacy, planning
Posted on July 23, 2026
More people globally are living longer, but many of those extra years are spent experiencing disability and diseases, according to a new report in Lancet Public Health. “The central finding is that we are adding years to life faster than we are adding health to those years,” Simon I. Hays, DPhil, DSc, FMedSci, director of research strategy at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), told Healio. Several recent IHME reports have indicated encouraging jumps in life expectancy over the last couple years, with a 2025 study showing that life expectancy returned to prepandemic rates in
Posted on July 23, 2026
The Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee delayed a scheduled vote Thursday on the nomination of Erica Schwartz, MD, JD, MPH, to be the next CDC director. The vote was scheduled to occur off the Senate floor but was postponed because of “attendance issues,” according to the office of Republican HELP Committee Chair Bill Cassidy, MD, of Louisiana. Republicans control the Senate and have a one-member majority on each committee. Politico reported that Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, was absent due to a family emergency, which means at least one non-Republican would have had to
Posted on July 23, 2026
Survival for adults with congenital heart disease improved over the past 30 years, but those living in states with lower median household income and more uninsured people had higher rates of death and disability, researchers reported. Household income and insured status may serve as significant indicators for areas where residents with congenital heart disease may experience disparate morbidity and mortality, according to data published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. “While having health insurance does matter, it does not explain the differences we found in terms of how long
Posted on July 23, 2026
Retatrutide conferred weight loss of greater than 20% for adults with obesity and type 2 diabetes, as well as those with severe obesity and established cardiovascular disease, according to topline results from two phase 3 trials. As Healio previously reported from the TRIUMPH-1 trial, adults with obesity without diabetes achieved weight loss of up to 25% at 80 weeks with once-weekly retatrutide (Eli Lilly). In new findings from the TRIUMPH-2 and TRIUMPH-3 trials, Eli Lilly and Co. reported that the novel medication also induced significant weight loss for adults with obesity and other
Posted on July 22, 2026
Initiating continuous glucose monitoring in primary care was tied to improved HbA1c and lower recurrent hospitalizations and ED visits among patients with diabetes, according to a recently published study. “It is refreshing to see the impact of advancing current therapies within primary care,” Sybil J. Hodgson, MD, assistant vice president of clinical services at Montefiore Medical Group, told Healio. “Primary care is the front line for patients managing their health. It is imperative for patients to receive care through their primary care provider that supports reaching their care goals and
Posted on July 22, 2026
CHICAGO — Among patients with type 2 diabetes who discontinued use of a GLP-1 receptor agonist, more than half reinitiated within 1 year and about two-thirds reinitiated within 2 years, researchers reported at ENDO 2026. “The question we were asking is, of the patients who do go on GLP-1s, who have type 2 diabetes, how many of them actually stay on treatment?” Sanjeev Rampam, MD, resident physician at the University of Michigan, told Healio. “The adherence rates are fine in clinical trials, but in the real world, how often are patients discontinuing these drugs, and of those who discontinue,
Posted on July 22, 2026
Death from ischemic heart disease in the U.S. has declined significantly since 1990, but nearly all deaths were still attributable to modifiable risk factors such as BP, diet and LDL, according to a study published in JAMA Cardiology. Exposure to certain modifiable risk factors for ischemic heart disease death such as high fasting plasma glucose and high BMI increased since 1990, but exposure to tobacco, lead and airborne fine particulate matter has decreased, researchers reported. “In the U.S., ischemic heart disease (IHD) is the leading cause of death driven by modifiable metabolic,
Posted on July 21, 2026
What if you found out you had cancer while attending a wedding? Or before a job interview? Or while reading a bedtime story to your child? How about when you are home and alone with no semblance of what the test results mean? David E. Gerber, MD, medical oncologist and professor at Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center at UT Southwestern Medical Center, has heard all these stories. In 2021, the information-blocking provision of the 21st Century Cures Act went into effect, requiring hospitals and medical institutions to immediately release nearly all patient test results. “The Cures Act’s
Posted on July 21, 2026
Khadijah Breathett, MD, MS, FACC, FAHA, FHFSA, and colleagues have been at the forefront of research on disparities in heart transplantation. The group’s most recent paper indicates that racial disparities in acceptance of a first offer of a donor heart may be tied to the decision-making process at the individual center level. Centers with a higher proportion of Black patients and a lower proportion of white patients had lower acceptance rates of a first offer of a donor heart compared with centers with a lower proportion of Black patients and a higher proportion of white patients, and
Posted on July 21, 2026
The “primary” care physician — as suggested by the word — is designed and meant to be a first-contact health care professional. This person should provide care that is continuous, comprehensive and coordinated with specialists. Primary care improves population health, contains health care costs and reduces health disparities. PCPs focus on prevention, as well as the early detection, diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic diseases. The primary care and lifestyle medicine connection is easy to see. This is ground zero for doctors and patients to co-design a health plan focused on the
Posted on July 20, 2026
Weight bias and stigma have been increasingly recognized as a major barrier to effective obesity care and the mental well-being of patients. Patients with obesity often encounter judgement, negative assumptions and weight-based discrimination across many settings, including health care. Understanding the psychological and physical effects of weight bias and stigma, and how to reduce it in clinical practice, is crucial to delivering compassionate, comprehensive obesity care. Weight stigma is defined as social rejection and prejudice directed at those with excess weight. Weight bias is negative
Posted on July 20, 2026
Professional medical societies have issued a call to action for health care institutions to implement enhanced radiation protection systems to reduce occupational hazards in fluoroscopy laboratories. The expert consensus document, published in the Journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions and JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions, highlighted occupational hazards of working in fluoroscopy laboratories, factors contributing to slow adoption of enhanced radiation protection systems and called on health care systems to adopt contemporary devices to protect staff.
Posted on July 17, 2026
Variation in facility fees was linked to significant differences in cost of cardiology services with major national insurers, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open. Facility fees varied by nearly $30,000 for certain cardiology procedures, with UnitedHealthcare and Blue Cross Blue Shield having the highest facility prices and Aetna consistently having the lowest, researchers reported. “Price variation was substantial, especially for facility fees. For implantable cardioverter-defibrillator insertion, median facility prices ranged from $6,674 to $36,269 across insurers. Facility
Posted on July 16, 2026
ACOG and other medical societies revealed a framework urging Congress to invest $20 billion over 10 years to “to transform women’s health research, care and outcomes,” the organization announced. “Now that we’ve unveiled the framework, the real work begins to make it a reality,” Rachel Gandell Tetlow, ACOG vice president of government and political affairs, told Healio. “By design, this national strategy leaves room for the myriad women’s health organizations to find a priority they align with and advocate for it.” Tetlow added that many Congressional members “already have existing legislative
Posted on July 16, 2026
Merck and the FDA announced the approval of enlicitide 20 mg as an add-on to diet and exercise to lower LDL in adults with hypercholesterolemia and those with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia. Enlicitide (Lipfendra), a novel macrocyclic peptide, is the first oral PCSK9 inhibitor FDA-approved to lower LDL, according to press releases from the company and the FDA. Approval was based on the results of the phase 3 CORALreef Lipids and CORALreef HeFH trials, which were presented at the 2025 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions and published in The New England Journal of Medicine
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