From Washington, DC,

• Beckers Hospital Review reports,
  • “President Donald Trump has postponed a planned announcement of a proposal to extend enhanced ACA subsidies, CNN reported Nov. 24.
  • “Trump was expected to unveil a proposal as early as Nov. 24 that would extend the subsidies for two years while introducing new eligibility restrictions, according to earlier reports from Politico and MS Now. 
  • “The proposal, dubbed the “Healthcare Price Cuts Act,” would also establish an income cap limiting subsidies to individuals earning up to 700% of the federal poverty line, three people familiar with the plan told Politico. All enrollees would be required to make minimum premium payments, two White House officials told MS Now. 
  • “The plan also includes a health savings account component. Enrollees who switch to lower-premium marketplace plans could direct the difference in premium costs into tax-advantaged savings accounts funded with their subsidy dollars, according to both reports.
  • “Additionally, the White House intends to ask Congress to appropriate funding for cost-sharing reductions, which lower out-of-pocket expenses for ACA enrollees, Politico reported.”

• MedCity News considers whether President Trump can do for branded expensive drugs what he just did for GLP-1s?
  • “While many are applauding the Trump administration for taking this step to expand access to GLP-1s, some believe that specifically targeting weight loss drugs actually does very little to bring down overall prescription drug costs.
  • “I think that focusing on market solutions on GLP-1s alone misses the mark, because it’s a market problem,” said Chris Deacon, principal and founder of VerSan Consulting. “[Whether it’s] GLP-1s or other medications, we have a problem of a complete lack of transparency for the purchaser.”
  • “Another expert echoed these comments, stating that while this is a positive move, there needs to be a broader effort in order to effectively bring down drug costs entirely.
  • “This is a step in the right direction,” said Edgar Asebey, an FDA regulatory attorney at Frier Levitt. “A policy initiative that is more of a blanket policy with branded drugs would be much better for the American patients.”

• Modern Healthcare tells us,
  • “Juan Carlos “JC” Scott, president and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association since 2018, stepped down Friday. 
  • “PCMA Chief Government Affairs Officer Lucia Lebens is serving in the president and CEO roles on an interim basis, a spokesperson for the pharmacy benefit manager trade group said Monday. The spokesperson did not respond to questions about whether Lebens also still holds the chief government affairs officer position. 
  • “A search is underway for Scott’s permanent replacement. 
  • “Scott announced in October he would be leaving the organization by the end of the year.
  • “The trade group declined to respond to a request for comment on why Scott decided to depart from the organization. 
  • “An October news release, however, said 2025 was the last year of Scott’s contract.”

• Per an HHS news release,
  • “The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced five new agency leaders who will serve our nation’s families and advance goals to Make America Healthy Again. Four of these five presidential appointees required and recently received Senate confirmation.”
    • Brian Christine, MD, Assistant Secretary for Health
    • Alex J. Adams, PharmD, MPH, Assistant Secretary for Family Support, Administration for Children and Families
    • Gustav Chiarello, Assistant Secretary Financial Resources
    • Michael Stuart, General Counsel
    • Alicia Jackson, Ph.D., Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H)

• The American Hospital Association News adds,
  • “The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health announced Nov. 21 that it will fund up to $100 million in projects for quantitative measures of mental and behavioral health through its new Evidence-Based Validation & Innovation for Rapid Therapeutics in Behavioral Health initiative. The program will focus on data regarding individual clinical outcomes and patient response to novel treatments. ARPA-H said it is seeking multimodal, longitudinal data collected in clinical trials testing the effects of rapid behavioral health interventions. The agency said the awards will be actively managed contracts, where continuation would be contingent upon satisfactory performance reviews.”

• The National Bureau of Economic Research points out,
  • “We use comprehensive tax data to study how saving behavior responds to the Health Savings Account (HSA) “catch-up” contribution provision, which raises HSA contribution limits for individuals aged 55 and older. Using a regression discontinuity design, we find a sharp increase in contributions among those previously near the limit and smaller increases among unconstrained savers. Induced contributions are not immediately withdrawn and do not appear to crowd out retirement savings. Responses are strongest among payroll contributors and long-term savers. However, married couples do not appear to coordinate their HSA behavior to take advantage of the complex spousal rules governing catch-up contributions. Our findings highlight how tax incentives shape HSA saving and suggest that tax-advantaged account design meaningfully affects household financial behavior.”

• Bloomberg Law informs us,
  • “Employers hope a forthcoming [federal] rule to improve surprise medical bill arbitration will strengthen their hand against doctors and improve transparency into insurers’ processes.
  • “Doctors win a high percentage of disputes, and industry groups are lobbying lawmakers and regulators to make changes, with employers arguing that doctors are abusing the process by refusing to negotiate and submitting ineligible claims for arbitration.
  • “The forthcoming rule is expected to address many of employers’ complaints, but it could also face legal fights similar to those that overturned a series of previous rules and guidance.”

• Federal News Network interviews OPM Director Scott Kupor about the next executive development programs that OPM announced last week.

From the Food and Drug Administration front,

• MedTech Dive reports,
  • “Abbott has issued a medical device correction for about 3 million Freestyle Libre 3 and 3 Plus sensors in the U.S. after determining that some sensors may provide incorrect low glucose readings, the company announced Monday.
  • “Abbott has received reports of 736 severe adverse events and seven deaths overall associated with the problem. In the U.S., 57 severe adverse events and no deaths were reported.
  • “The problem could lead to incorrect treatment decisions, such as people skipping or delaying insulin doses and excessive carbohydrate intake. Abbott said it has resolved the cause of the problem, which was related to one production line, and will replace any potentially affected sensors at no charge.”

• Reuters notes,
  • “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Novartis’ (NOVN.S) new gene therapy for patients with a rare muscle disorder, the drugmaker said on Monday.
  • “The therapy, branded as Itvisma, was approved for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy patients of age two years and older who have a confirmed mutation in the survival motor neuron 1 gene.
  • “Itvisma contains the same active ingredient as the Swiss drugmaker’s older therapy, Zolgensma, which is approved in the U.S. to treat SMA patients less than 2 years of age.”

From the public health and medical / Rx research front,

• The Washington Post reports,
  • “Unlike much of Europe and East Asia, America hasn’t reached the point at which we have more people dying than we do being born.
  • “At least not in the long run. We briefly blew past that point in a few winter months at the height of the covid-19 pandemic, according to our analysis of birth- and death-certificate data collected by the National Vital Statistics System.”
  • The article digs into the details.

• The AP relates,
  • “The U.S. flu season is starting slowly, and it’s unclear if it will be as bad as last winter’s, but some health experts are worried as U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data posted Friday shows a new version of the virus has emerged.
  • “An early analysis suggests current vaccines may still be somewhat effective against the new version of the flu, which has been the main driver of recent infections, CDC data shows.
  • “Some scientists and medical professionals are more worried about disappointing vaccination rates, a main reason why flu hospitalizations and deaths were unusually bad during last year’s flu season — one of the deadliest this century.” * * *
  • “Some sources have suggested flu vaccinations are down. Over two million fewer flu shots were given at U.S. pharmacies through the end of October compared to last year, according to data from IQVIA, a health information and research company.
  • “But the latest CDC data indicates that for children, the vaccination rate this year is about the same as it was at this point last fall, at 34%. And the vaccination rate for adults is up a few percentage points to about 37%, according to the CDC data, which relies on survey information.
  • “It is early in the season and too early to know if the increase will be sustained or what is causing it, CDC officials said.”

• Per Health Day,
  • “Many people don’t know they have a genetic risk factor for high cholesterol
  • “Nearly 90% of people carrying variants for familial hypercholesterolemia didn’t know it
  • “Researchers say 1 in 5 had already developed heart disease”
  • “Our findings expose a blind spot in current national guidelines, which rely on cholesterol levels and family history to determine who should receive genetic testing,” lead researcher Dr. Niloy Jewel Samadder, a cancer geneticist at the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center in Phoenix, said in a news release.”

• Per MedPage Today,
  • “Girls ages 16 years or younger who received HPV vaccines were 80% less likely than their unvaccinated counterparts to develop cervical cancer.
  • “Evidence from 23 studies showed with moderate certainty that HPV vaccination lowered the incidence of high-grade cervical precancers.
  • “Vaccinated persons had 25 fewer cases of anogenital warts per 1,000 participants at 48 months, regardless of HPV type.”

• Per the Washington Post,
  • “People who stopped taking weight-loss drugs before or during pregnancy were associated with greater gestational weight gain and had a higher risk of preterm delivery and gestational diabetes compared with those who had not been prescribed the drugs before, according to a study published Monday in JAMA.
  • “Researchers from Mass General Brigham in Boston reviewed medical records from nearly 150,000 pregnancies between June 2016 and March 2025. They found that people who had been prescribed GLP-1 drugs, a class of medications used to treat Type 2 diabetes and obesity, were more likely to gain more weight than recommended during pregnancy.
  • “Sixty-five percent of 448 pregnancies among people previously prescribed GLP-1 medications included excess gestational weight gain, compared with 49 percent of 1,344 pregnancies among those who did not receive the medication but had similar characteristics to those who received a GLP-1.
  • “If we can find those at risk of cardiovascular disease early, we can treat it early and change its course and likely save lives,” Samadder said.”

• Per BioPharma Dive,
  • “The theory that GLP-1 medicines, which have profound benefits on metabolism and heart health, can also help combat Alzheimer’s disease suffered a major blow Monday with the failure of two large, closely watched clinical trials.
  • “The studies, titled Evoke and Evoke+, together enrolled more than 3,800 people with early-stage Alzheimer’s to evaluate whether Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide can help preserve brain function. According to Novo, its drug was not significantly better than a placebo on that measure after two years of follow-up. And though semaglutide treatment did improve some biological markers tied to Alzheimer’s, it didn’t delay the progression of the disease.”

• STAT News adds,
  • “A promising Alzheimer’s disease treatment from Johnson & Johnson failed to slow the progress of the disease in a closely watched study, news that could dampen enthusiasm for a new class of potential medicines.
  • “J&J terminated its mid-stage study of the injectable medicine posdinemab, the company said Friday, after an early look at results determined the treatment would not prove more effective than placebo. J&J said it would present full data from the trial at a later date.
  • “Posdinemab’s failure could cast a shadow over a cadre of in-development Alzheimer’s treatments meant to improve on the standard of care. Biogen, UCB, and Voyager Therapeutics are developing similar treatments of their own.”

• The New York Times discusses how certain hospitals lowered their C-section rates,
• and tells us,
  • “Dialing down the use of social media for a week reduced symptoms of anxiety, depression and insomnia in young adults, according to a study published on Monday in the journal JAMA Network Open.
  • “Researchers followed 295 volunteers, ages 18 to 24, who opted to take a break from social media. Instructed to stay off social media as much as possible, the group on average reduced it to a half-hour per day from just under two hours. Before and after, the participants answered surveys measuring depression, anxiety, insomnia, loneliness and a number of problematic social media behaviors.
  • “Overall, they reported positive changes: On average, symptoms of anxiety dropped by 16.1 percent; symptoms of depression by 24.8 percent; and symptoms of insomnia by 14.5 percent. The improvement was most pronounced in subjects with more severe depression. At the same time, there was no change in reported loneliness — perhaps, the authors wrote, because the platforms play a constructive social role.”

• The American Medical Association lets us know what doctors wish their patients knew about cutting down on screen time.
  • “Too much time with smartphones or TVs can do harm. Three physicians share tips on how to reduce screen time before it turns toxic.”

• Per BioPharma Dive,
  • “Bayer’s experimental blood thinner asundexian met its main goal in a closely watched Phase 3 stroke prevention trial, reducing the recurrence of a stroke in people who took the therapy along with standard treatments. The trial compared treatment with a combination of asundexian and an antiplatelet therapy against a placebo and the same antiplatelet treatment. 
  • “The German-based company didn’t release detailed data, stating that researchers will disclose them at an upcoming medical meeting while company executives discuss them with regulators ahead of possible approval applications.
  • “Results of the trial lifted optimism for asundexian’s drug class, called Factor XIa inhibitors, following a series of clinical setbacks. Most recently, a rival drug missed its main goal in a trial of people who’d had a recent heart attack.”

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

• Fierce Healthcare reports,
  • “Optum Rx will reduce reauthorizations on 40 additional medications Jan. 1, surpassing initial goals set out earlier this year.
  • “The pharmacy benefit management arm of UnitedHealth Group first revealed earlier this year that it was aiming to reduce reauthorizations, a specific model for prior authorization, by up to 25%. The new additions bring the total number of drugs in the initiative up to 180, surpassing that 25% goal.
  • “The new group of 40 medications includes therapies for chronic conditions and two new classes of drugs: hormone therapy and injectables for knee osteoarthritis.
  • “In addition, Optum announced that it will expand the PreCheck Prior Authorization program, covering more than 45 medications beginning Jan. 1. The tool will reach 20 health systems, Optum said.”
• and
  • “Three former Amazon employees launched a new online healthcare marketplace earlier this year aiming to make healthcare a better experience for patients. The vision, executives said, was to make healthcare as easy as shopping online.
  • “General Medicine, started by the founding team that built PillPack and Amazon Pharmacy, connects consumers to providers to either address specific medical needs or to chat about the symptoms they’re having. Consumers can use General Medicine for a wide variety of medical issues, and the platform provides both insurance and cash pricing. There’s no subscription or access fee. 
  • “General Medicine executives refer to it as a “one-stop-shop” for telemedicine, prescriptions, imaging, labs and specialists. PillPack co-founders TJ Parker and Elliot Cohen teamed up with Ashwin Muralidharan, who most recently served as technical advisor and chief of staff to Amazon’s top health executive Neil Lindsay, to launch General Medicine.”

• Cardiovascular Business tells us,
  • “Medtronic had a strong second quarter, reporting a worldwide revenue of $8.96 billion, and earnings per share (EPS) of $1.36. Both figures exceeded the company’s expectations. 
  • “Medtronic’s cardiovascular portfolio helped lead the way with a worldwide revenue of $3.44 billion, an increase of 9.3%. 
  • “This was our strongest growth in over a decade, excluding the easy comparisons we had after the pandemic,” Thierry Piéton, Medtronic’s chief financial officer, explained during an earnings call.
  • “Ablation devices—particularly those built for pulsed field ablation (PFA)—played a critical role in Medtronic’s triumphant quarter. In fact, worldwide revenue was up 71% for cardiac ablation solutions, including a 128% increase in the United States.”  

• MedTech Dive informs us,
  • “Insulet laid out plans for new diabetes devices at an investor event last week, including a fully automated insulin delivery system for people with Type 2 diabetes. 
  • “The company is working on updates to its current Omnipod 5 device, plans to debut its Omnipod 6 device in 2027 and expects to launch a separate, fully-closed loop system for people with Type 2 diabetes in 2028, CEO Ashley McEvoy said.  
  • “Insulet, which leads the market for insulin patch-pumps, is also working on bringing its devices to more people with Type 2 diabetes, after receiving an expanded label from the Food and Drug Administration last year.”