Simplicity is a virtue.

From Washington, DC,

• Federal News Network reports,
  • “House lawmakers return to Washington on Monday with a short to-do list after five weeks back in their home districts. The first order of business is likely a vote on a stopgap spending bill designed to keep the federal government fully funded through early December, removing the possibility of a shutdown before the midterm elections.” * * *
  • “House Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to tee up the funding bill early in the week. The bill underwent some significant changes in the Senate, which made it more palatable for Democrats. It delays a proposed rule from the Office of Management and Budget that would give political appointees more power over the distribution of federal grants. It also includes language to ensure the administration can’t transfer funds to the Border Patrol.
  • “But a provision that delays for one month a federal ban on intoxicating hemp THC products has prompted criticism from many GOP lawmakers. As a result, GOP leaders will likely place the bill on a fast-track process that avoids a separate procedural vote. Suspension bills require a two-thirds vote to pass, meaning a significant number from both parties need to support the measure for it to pass and advance to Trump’s desk.
  • “Lawmakers are anxious to avoid the possibility of a shutdown as voters weigh their options going into November. The funding bill passed by a 90-6 vote in the Senate, showing that lawmakers from both political parties want to avoid a repeat of the two historic shutdowns that occurred this past year.”
    
• The Wall Street Journal relates,
  • The Trump administration reached agreements for most-favored-nation drug pricing with nine pharmaceutical companies, including Teva Pharmaceuticals, Astellas Pharma, and BridgeBio.
  • The agreements provide for all state Medicaid programs to pay prices for prescription drugs that match the lowest prices paid by other developed nations, the White House said Monday, adding that the agreements also guarantee MFN pricing for all new medicines the companies bring to market.
  • The U.S. has now reached 26 such deals covering 89% of the branded drug market, the White House said.
  • The nine companies—which include Alcon, BeOne Medicines, CSL, Kyowa Kirin, Sun Pharma, and UCB—also agreed to collectively commit $19.6 billion to manufacturing in the U.S. in the near term, the White House said. Some of the companies also agreed to donate active pharmaceutical ingredients to a federal stockpile.

• Per a Department of Health and Human Services news release,
  • “The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), today announced on Overdose Awareness Day that it has awarded $77 million in new grant funding to strengthen substance use prevention, treatment and recovery, community mental health, suicide prevention, and crisis services. The announcement comes as National Substance Use Primary Prevention Month draws to a close, with more than $22 million of the funding supporting critical substance use prevention efforts in communities.
  • “Every American deserves the chance to live free from addiction and the devastation of untreated mental illness,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “President Trump’s Great American Recovery is taking on these crises at their roots. We are investing in prevention, expanding access to effective treatment, strengthening crisis response, and helping communities intervene before tragedy strikes. Our goal is clear: save lives, restore families, and help more Americans achieve lasting recovery and better health.”

• Beckers Hospital Review notes,
  • “The comment period closed Aug. 31 for CMS’ CY 2027 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System and Ambulatory Surgical Center proposed rule, and healthcare groups laid out their objections in formal letters to the agency. 
  • “The AHA, AAMC and AMGA each submitted comments in late August urging CMS to withdraw or scale back key provisions, from 340B drug payment cuts to site-neutral payment expansion and new prior authorization requirements.” 

• The Census Bureau tells us,
  • “The share of the world population age 65 and older is projected to nearly double from 10.5% to 19.6% between 2025 and 2060, according to a new report released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.
  • “An Aging World: 2025 finds that the global population is aging faster than ever before. Between 2020 and 2025, the proportion of the population age 65 and older exceeded the population age 5 and younger for the first time in recorded history.
  • “In 2025, the United States ranked the 48th oldest country out of 227, with 18.9% of its population age 65 or older. By 2060, older adults are projected to make up 23.4% of the U.S. population. Yet the United States will fall to 110th place globally because other countries are aging much more rapidly.”

From the Food and Drug Administration front,

• MedTech Dive tells us,
  • “Boston Scientific plans to stop selling certain angiographic catheters after a manufacturing problem led the company to pull the devices from the market. 
  • “The medical device manufacturer sent a letter to customers last week instructing them to immediately stop using or distributing all Imager II Angiographic Catheters due to an issue that can increase the risk of the tip detaching. The Food and Drug Administration posted an early alert on Friday.
  • “Boston Scientific had reported two serious injuries associated with the problem as of July 16.”

• Fierce Pharma informs us
  • “These are heady days for PharmaEssentia, a biotech that got its start 23 years ago in Taiwan, went public 10 years later and is now deepening the foothold of its first commercial product, Besremi.
  • “There’s a lot of electricity in the air in the organization right now,” Samuel Lin, PharmaEssentia’s Head of U.S. Global Operations, said in an interview with Fierce. “Sometimes you have to stop and pinch yourself a little bit.”
  • “The excitement ramped up on Monday as the FDA signed off on a key label expansion for Besremi, endorsing it as a treatment for the rare bone marrow disorder essential thrombocythemia (ET). 
  • “The label specifically covers adults with ET regardless of their genotype or disease status, including newly diagnosed patients who haven’t received cytoreductive therapy, according to an Aug. 31 release.”

From the public health and medical / Rx research front,

• Healio reports,
  • “The United States’ death rate likely dropped to a record low last year, according to provisional CDC data.
  • “The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) released the report, which offers an early estimation of the deaths that occurred in 2025, in late July.” * * *
  • “The new data show that, in 2025, there were 3,094,593 deaths, and the overall mortality rate was 689.2 per 100,000 people — 4.6% lower than the 2024 rate of 722.1 per 100,000 people. The leading causes of death remained the same, though, with heart disease, cancer and unintentional injuries in the top three spots.
  • “In the 2025 provisional data, the age-adjusted mortality rate was 582.9 for women and 811.1 for men. It dropped for every age group. Additionally, the age-adjusted mortality rates were the highest in the Black non-Hispanic population at 869 per 100,000 and lowest for “the multiracial non-Hispanic population” at 187.3 per 100,000.” * * *
  • “Although nothing is confirmed, some experts have pointed to the decline in overdose deaths as a reason for the lowered mortality rate.”

• The New York Times points out,
  • “It’s been two months since Ericka Ratliff, 55, fell ill with cyclospora, yet she is still dealing with sharp abdominal pains and sudden urges to go to the bathroom. “It’s very unpredictable,” she said, as if “my stomach is just extremely angry.”
  • “Ms. Ratliff, who lives in Adrian, Mich., has tried following a bland diet and eating small, frequent meals to quell her symptoms, but she said she worried that her gut would “never be the same again.”
  • “Research suggests that roughly 10 to 20 percent of people who get intestinal illnesses from bacteria, viruses or parasites will end up having symptoms, like diarrhea and abdominal pain, that can last for months or even years. This condition is called post-infection irritable bowel syndrome.
  • “It’s too soon to know whether Ms. Ratliff is dealing with post-infection I.B.S. But after the recent surge in cyclospora infectionsin the United States, along with other foodborne illness outbreaks linked to jalapeños, sprouts, frozen blueberries and more, some gastroenterologists worry that they may soon be seeing more patients with the condition.
  • “I’m expecting our clinics to be getting inundated,” said Dr. Baha Moshiree, a gastroenterologist and professor of medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina.”
• and
  • “After the unpredictability of last year’s flu season, when a new variant of the virus spread widely and rapidly, infectious disease experts are hoping for a tamer fall and winter this year.
  • “Scientists look to countries like Australia, in the Southern Hemisphere, for clues about how the flu will play out. This year, the flu seems to be circulating in those regions at relatively moderate levels, and this year’s flu shots appear well matched to combat the virus. But it’s uncertain whether that will change as flu season unfolds in the Northern Hemisphere.
  • “I’m cautiously optimistic,” said Dr. Scott Roberts, an assistant professor of infectious diseases at the Yale School of Medicine, emphasizing “cautiously.”
  • “Doctors are also reassured that there are new options for vaccination against the flu, and that at-home tests have entered the market in recent years.”

• Health Day relates,
  • “For people with asthma or COPD, reaching for a rescue inhaler too often may be a warning sign — not just for their lungs, but for their heart.
  • “It’s estimated nearly 1 in 5 asthma patients and 1 in 3 COPD patients overuse these products.
  • “Researchers analyzed real-world health data from more than 280,000 asthma and COPD patients in Belgium.
  • “They found frequent use of short-acting reliever inhalers, also called bronchodilators, was associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and death, including heart failure, heart attack and ischemic stroke.”
• and
  • “Integrated cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is effective for primary care patients with depression, according to a study published in the June issue of The Lancet Primary Care.
  • “Debbie Tallon, from University of Bristol in the United Kingdom, and colleagues evaluated the clinical effectiveness of integrated therapist-delivered CBT (consisting of combined one-to-one CBT delivered by instant messaging with an accredited CBT therapist and online resources) in reducing depressive symptoms for primary care patients. The analysis included 334 adults meeting depression criteria, randomly assigned to nine integrated CBT sessions through the INTERACT therapy platform or usual care.
  • “The researchers found that at six months, the mean Beck Depression Inventory score was significantly lower in the intervention group versus control (22.5 versus 27.4; adjusted difference in means, –4.4; effect size, 0.43). There were more adverse events in the intervention group (33 versus 21 in the control group), including serious adverse events (12 versus two in the control group). Self-harm (six patients) and referrals to a mental health team (six patients) were the most common. Of the serious adverse events, none were definitely or probably related to the intervention.”

• The American Medical Association lets us know “what doctors want patients to know about sodium consumption.” 
  • Sodium isn’t just lurking in heavily salted snacks. Two physicians discuss where sodium resides and which choices to make to avoid it in excess.

• tctMD tells us,
  • “People over age 70 with no history of cardiovascular disease see dramatic reductions in major adverse cardiovascular events when newly prescribed statin therapy for primary prevention, according to results of the STAREE trial.
  • “Compared with those given placebo, patients taking 40 mg of atorvastatin once daily had a 30% lower incidence of CV death, nonfatal MI, stroke, or coronary revascularization (6.0% vs 8.3%; P < 0.001) over the 6-year study period. There was, however, no difference between groups in the incidence of disability-free survival, defined as a composite of death from any cause, dementia, or persistent physical disability.
  • “In a media briefing here prior to the presentation at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2026, lead author Sophia Zoungas, MBBS, PhD (The George Institute for Global Health, Sydney, Australia),  said the data answer important questions about the safety and efficacy of statins in older people.”

• MedPage Today informs us,
  • “Nearly half of adults who started semaglutide (Wegovy) for obesity management stopped treatment within a year, a Danish cohort study showed.
  • “Among 157,822 first-time semaglutide initiators without diabetes, 49% discontinued treatment by 12 months, defined as a prescription gap of 60 or more days. Discontinuation steadily increased from 13% by 3 months, to 27% by 6 months, and 39% by 9 months.
  • “However, one in four discontinuers restarted therapy within 3 months, Aurélie Mailhac, MSc, of Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark, and co-authors reported in JAMA Network Open.
  • “These findings may reflect frequent temporary treatment interruptions or self-adjusted dosing below guideline-recommended levels,” they wrote.”
    
• Per BioPharma Dive,
  • “Novartis and Bristol Myers Squibb have paused multiple trials evaluating their respective cell therapy programs against autoimmune conditions after observing inflammatory side effects in testing, the companies confirmed Monday afternoon.
  • “Novartis, which is testing a personalized cell therapy called rap-cel in a handful of autoimmune studies, found three cases of immune effector cell-associated hemophagocytic syndrome, a rare and possibly life-threatening reaction. The company said it initiated holds on those trials — which are evaluating rap-cel in lupus, myasthenia gravis, multiple sclerosis and more — on Aug. 24. Novartis is “engaged” with regulators and is reviewing the findings, according to a company spokesperson. 
  • “The temporary halt will allow for a more comprehensive review of the evolving clinical and safety data across the program,” the spokesperson wrote in an email to BioPharma Dive.”

From the U.S. healthcare business and artificial intelligence front,

• Beckers Payer Issues reports,
  • “High deductible health plans may reduce how much people spend on healthcare in the short term, but they don’t appear to slow the rate at which that spending grows over time, according to a study of more than 324,000 commercially insured members published in the International Journal of Health Economics and Management.
  • “The study, published in May, was led by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and included co-authors from Analysis Group, the Elevance Health Public Policy Institute and Georgia State University.”

• Beckers ASC Review adds,
  • “From a jointly built AI documentation tool with Abridge to three distinct growth partnership models, Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente has spent the past few months navigating expansion, labor tension and legal exposure.”

• Fierce Healthcare relates,
  • “It’s been nine months since the opening of the country’s largest all-electric acute care hospital in Irvine, California.
  • “UCI Health was already in the planning stages of its new Irvine campus when the University of California (UC) established a policy that no new or renovated buildings could burn fossil fuels for space and water heating. 
  • “The health system may have gotten an exemption as a healthcare facility. But leadership decided to push the boundaries of hospital design by going all-electric. The ambitious plan was not purely a cost-saving strategy. According to Tony Dover, UCI Health’s energy management & sustainability officer, it was a moral imperative.
  • “We were doing it because it was the right thing to do,” Dover told Fierce Healthcare. “It was for decarbonization, resilience, and we’re mitigating our pollution for the community that we serve.”

• Healthcare Dive notes,
  • Name: Michael Grasher
  • Previous title: Chief financial officer, IFG Companies
  • New title: Chief financial officer, Teladoc Health
  • Teladoc has appointed Grasher as its CFO effective immediately, the telehealth firm announced Monday. He’s succeeding Mala Murthy, who departed in November after six years for another opportunity.
  • Grasher has more than three decades of experience across insurance and financial services, including more than 12 years as a chief financial officer.

• Beckers Hospital Review tells us,
  • “Contract breaks between major health systems and certain Medicare Advantage insurers are continuing in 2026. Providers [listed in the article] dropping plans often cite prior authorization denials and slow reimbursement; in other cases, insurers are terminating the contracts themselves.
• and
  • “Charlotte, N.C.-based Advocate Health recorded an operating income of $775.3 million (3.8% operating margin) during the first six months of 2026, down from $824.4 million (4.4% margin) during the same period last year, according to its Aug. 27 financial report.”
• and
  • “Burlington, Mass.-based Tufts Medicine’s operating margin fell to -3.4% through the first nine months of fiscal 2026, compared with -2.3% during the same period a year earlier, as the health system’s CEO and CFO prepare to step down.
  • “Tufts reported an operating loss of $79.5 million on $2.4 billion in revenue for the nine months ended June 30, according to financial documents filed Aug. 28. That compares with an operating loss of $50 million on $2.2 billion in revenue during the same period in fiscal 2025.”
    
• Beckers Clinical Leadership informs us,
  • “Internal medicine is the most in-demand physician specialty and locum tenens specialty, Doximity found.
  • “Doximity, a digital platform for U.S. medical professionals, released its 2026 Physician Compensation Report Aug. 25. The report surveyed physicians in June on how AI is changing physician careers and pay, and included salary data from the platform’s dataset of more than 23,000 responses collected in 2025, according to a company news release. To find the most in-demand jobs, the company analyzed tens of thousands of job postings across its network in 2025.
  • “Doximity also found the specialties with the highest demand for locum tenens. This is an increasingly popular way for physicians to supplement their income and practice with more flexibility, according to the report. 
  • “Three of the four most in-demand specialties and locum tenens were primary care specialties. Eight specialties appeared on both lists [found in the article]. 
• and
  • “Three out of four physicians say they would accept lower pay in exchange for greater autonomy or work-life balance, a preference that has remained remarkably consistent over the past four years, according to a Doximity poll of nearly 1,000 physicians conducted in July 2026.
  • “The share of physicians willing to trade compensation for autonomy or work-life balance has held steady at 71% in 2023, 75% in 2024, 77% in 2025 and 76% in 2026. The preference is significantly stronger among women physicians at 86% compared with 71% of men, which has slightly widened compared to the prior year.”

• The Wall Street Journal lets us know,
  • “Eli Lilly remains on a shopping spree, agreeing to pay up to $2.875 billion in cash for biotechnology company Merida Biosciences in a deal that bolsters the drugmaker’s immunology portfolio.
  • “Eli Lilly on Monday said privately held Merida is advancing a new class of precision therapeutics for serious autoimmune and allergic diseases, with its lead program in Phase 1 development for Graves’ disease and thyroid eye disease.
  • “The Merida deal continues a spate of acquisitions by the Indianapolis company, which is flush with cash from its market-leading weight-loss-drug franchise.”

• The New York Times adds,
  • “Revolution Medicines set a sticker price of about $480,000 a year, or $663 a tablet, for its new pancreatic cancer drug — a cost that would have once been unthinkably high.
  • “Today, such prices are routine for cancer drugs.
  • “One cutting-edge CAR-T therapy now goes for $600,000 for a one-time infusion. A competitor, given the same way, is listed at $550,000. A daily pill for gastrointestinal cancer has a sticker price of $520,000 a year. A twice-daily pill for leukemia? It’s $430,000 a year.
  • “In 2024 alone, nine cancer drugs were approved and then introduced with sticker prices above $400,000 annually, according to a tally by the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, which evaluates the value of medicines.
  • “That these prices have become commonplace would have been hard to imagine two decades ago, when even the prospect of a $100,000-a-year cancer drug evoked fierce criticism.
  • “But since then, cancer drug prices have steadily increased, with few constraints beyond what a company thinks the market will bear. The expense is borne by government programs like Medicare, employers, patients and Americans who pay taxes and health insurance premiums.”