Simplicity is a virtue.

Quick Hits

• The Business Group on Health released its 2027 Employer Healthcare Strategy Survey. August 2026. Available at: https://www.businessgrouphealth.org/resources/2027-Employer-Healthcare-Strategy-Survey.

• Reuters adds,
  • “About 14% of employers in the United States have already or plan to drop GLP-1 drugs in 2027, as companies see ​rising healthcare costs, according to a survey released on Tuesday by the Business Group ‌on Health.
  • “Healthcare costs are set to increase 9.2% if employers do not make changes to manage costs in 2027, up from 8.5% in 2026, the group said. Two-thirds of employers surveyed said they saw rising utilization of ​the drugs.”

• Healthcare Dive reports,
  • “The federal process for insurers and providers to settle disputes over out-of-network bills appears to be dramatically adding to U.S. healthcare spending, fueling calls for reform.
  • “That mechanism, set up by the No Surprises Act, has generated more than $22.4 billion in extra costs over just four years, according to new estimates from Georgetown University. That’s a significant acceleration from researcher’s past estimates of $5 billion in extra costs over the dispute resolution process’ first two years.
  • “But dispute volumes and total awards have continued to increase since — a worrying finding, given costs could push premiums up. The researchers urged policymakers to revisit the NSA.

• The Wall Street Journal reports,
  • “For four decades, cancer researchers fought to disable a stubborn mutation that made pancreatic cancer a death sentence—to little avail. 
  • “Now, doctors have a medicine that targets the mutation. The Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug from Revolution Medicines on Wednesday marks a milestone in treatment of one of the most intractable kinds of tumors. 
  • “This is life-altering,” said Carla Kurkjian, an oncologist at Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City, who wasn’t involved in the studies. “Not just for patients, as far as helping them extend their lives beyond anything we’d ever seen, but for us as physicians, to be able to have a different conversation than we’ve had for so long.”
  • “The drug, called Rasonque, helped subjects in a late-stage study live more than 13 months, nearly twice as long as those on chemotherapy alone. When presented at the world’s largest gathering of cancer researchers last spring, the results drew a nearly minute-long standing ovation.” 
  • “Yet the drug does have side effects, including a harsh rash across the body and gastrointestinal issues. Former Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, who went public in the spring with what he described as a significant reduction in his tumors while in a clinical trial of the drug, appeared on television with his face covered in red blotches.
  • “RevMed said the drug will cost $39,800 a month, or more than $477,000 a year.
  • “Wall Street expects Rasonque, which was approved for use in patients for whom other treatments failed, to be a big seller. The drug could generate more than $20 billion in annual sales, according to pharmaceutical commercial intelligence firm Evaluate, if the drug proves to work safely in earlier stages of the disease and with different types of cancers.”

• The New York Times adds,
  • “The Food and Drug Administration’s approval on Wednesday of a new drug for pancreatic cancer marked the end of a long quest to develop a medicine that can hit one of cancer’s most elusive targets.
  • “Researchers hope the new drug is just the beginning, opening a new chapter in treatment for a range of cancer types.
  • “At least 79 drugs that take a similar approach are being tested in 238 clinical trials worldwide, according to one tally by academic researchers.
  • “Large drugmakers like Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Amgen and AstraZenecaare among the companies racing to develop their own medicines that work like the new drug, daraxonrasib, which is made by Revolution Medicines and will be sold as Rasonque.”

• STAT News notes,
  • “The newer shingles vaccine has been turning heads since its link to lower dementia rates was reported two years ago. Now the same research team behind that observation has found an association between receiving the Shingrix shot and a reduced risk of heart disease.
  • “There have been signals before of cardiovascular benefits in people who got the newer, recombinant vaccine to prevent shingles, a painful, often serious flare-up in older people of the chickenpox virus from childhood. Those who got Shingrix were less likely than unvaccinated people to have heart attacks, strokes, or heart failure.” * * *
  • “Although the benefits are relatively small on an individual basis, millions of people receive shingles vaccination, meaning that even a small cardiovascular benefit could translate into a substantial number of cardiovascular events prevented at a population level,” Mark Russell, clinical senior lecturer and consultant rheumatologist of King’s College London, said in a statement shared by the Science Media Centre.”