By Philip Pullella ROME (Reuters) – Pope Francis’ overall condition is progressively improving and his post-surgical recovery is normal, allowing him to get out of bed, be detached from intravenous tubes and resume handling some Church work from his hospital armchair on Friday. Two statements from the Vatican, one in the early afternoon and the…
By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) -The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Friday sued the federal government, challenging a new law that for the first time gives Medicare the power to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. In a complaint filed in federal court in Dayton, Ohio, the chamber said the pricing program violated drugmakers’ due process…
By Brendan Pierson (Reuters) – A mandate that U.S. health insurers cover preventive care like cancer screenings and HIV-preventing medication at no extra cost to patients could remain in place while the Biden administration appeals a court order striking it down, following a tentative agreement announced on Friday. The agreement between the administration and conservative…
By Leroy Leo and Julie Steenhuysen (Reuters) -A panel of expert advisers on Friday unanimously agreed that a late-stage trial of Eisai and Biogen’s Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi verified the benefit of the treatment for those at an early stage of the disease, clearing the way for traditional U.S. approval. All six advisers on the panel…
By Dietrich Knauth NEW YORK (Reuters) -A U.S. judge on Friday dismissed the bankruptcy of 3M subsidiary Aearo Technologies, rejecting an effort to resolve nearly 260,000 lawsuits alleging that 3M military earplugs caused hearing loss for veterans and U.S. service members. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Jeffrey Graham in Indianapolis ruled that Aearo, as a well-supported subsidiary…
By Patrick Wingrove (Reuters) – The Biden administration on Friday announced it would impose inflation penalties on 43 drugs for the third quarter of 2023, having fined 27 earlier this year, in a move it said would lower costs for older Americans by as much as $449 per dose. Drugmakers hiked the price of these…
By Julie Steenhuysen and Michael Erman (Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday it is seeking new suppliers to ease shortages of methotrexate, one of the most commonly used cancer drugs, building on its push to shore up two other scarce chemotherapy medicines. An FDA spokesperson told Reuters the agency is…
By Brendan Pierson (Reuters) -Walgreens Boots Alliance has agreed to pay $500 million to New Mexico to settle claims that its pharmacies helped fuel opioid addiction in the state by failing to stop illegal pill sales, lawyers for the state announced on Friday. The settlement, the largest obtained by New Mexico against a single company…
By Clark Mindock (Reuters) – One of the first climate change trials in U.S. history is set to kick off on Monday in Helena, Montana, where 16 young people are seeking to hold the state accountable for fossil fuel-friendly policies that they say have exacerbated global warming and dimmed their futures. Lawyers for the young…
By Tyler Clifford NEW YORK (Reuters) – The mass of smoky air that choked New York, Washington and other U.S. cities earlier this week moderated on Friday as it drifted as far south as the Florida Panhandle, and conditions improved to “moderate” along most of the Eastern Seabord. The U.S. National Weather Service said air…
