Chronic drug shortages are difficult to resolve because of multiple races to drive down prices on generics, The New York Times reported Dec. 19. 

The Novo Nordisk Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Danish pharmaceutical giant, announced Dec. 18 that it has committed $260 million toward the development and improvement of respiratory virus vaccines. 

Georgia had been ramping up to become the first state to allow pharmacies to dispense medical cannabis. Now the Drug Enforcement Administration is warning pharmacies in the state that doing so would violate federal law.

Some patients taking Ozempic (semaglutide) are considering skipping doses to indulge during the winter holidays, but a short break in the regimen can spur health issues, according to a UCLA physician.

Bristol Myers Squibb is ending a phase 3 clinical trial of a combination treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer after an independent committee determined it was unlikely to produce meaningful results, the drugmaker said Dec. 15.

Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co. has announced a partnership with pharmacy benefit management company PCA Rx to bring members even more clarity about drug pricing, according to a Dec. 18 news release. The company is now the fourth PBM to team up with Cost Plus.

The FDA placed a clinical hold on three trials for CAR-T medications made by China-based CARsgen Therapeutics after inspecting a manufacturing site in Durham, N.C.

On Dec. 14, the Biden administration imposed penalties on the makers of 48 prescription drugs that saw price increases higher than inflation rates. 

More than half, or 65%, of the nation's 20 most commonly prescribed medications are in constrained supply. 

Martin Shkreli — the former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals who became infamous for hiking the price of a lifesaving drug by 4,000 percent overnight — has asked an appeals court to overturn an order that bars him from working in the pharmaceutical industry, Bloomberg reported Dec. 14.

A quarter of the nation's current drug shortages are more than five years old, and a slight majority are at least two years old. 

Results from a phase 2 trial found a drug-vaccine combination developed by Merck and Moderna cut the risk of recurrence or death in patients with severe melanomas by 49%.

The Supreme Court decided Dec. 13 to review a decision from the Fifth Circuit on mifepristone. The outcome could limit access to the abortion drug.

In the first 11 months of 2023, poison control centers across the U.S. received nearly 3,000 calls involving semaglutide — a more than 15-fold increase since 2019, according to a Dec. 13 report from CNN. 

AstraZeneca has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Icosavax for $1.1 billion, the drugmaker said Dec. 12.

A congressional probe launched after the Supreme Court's decision in 2022 to overturn Roe v. Wade has found eight of the nation's largest pharmacy chains allow pharmacy staff to share customer records with police and government investigators without a warrant, according to a Dec. 12 report from The Washington Post. 

Optum Rx is launching a new weight management and wellness support program for health plan sponsors, including employers, beginning Jan. 1.

Moderna announced Dec. 12 that its chief commercial officer, will step down. The company is planning several commercial product launches in 2024 and 2025, and noted that this strategic reorganization of leadership is an adjustment to help it align with those goals. 

Eight drugs had price increases so steep that they cost health insurers nearly $1.3 billion from 2021 to 2022, according to a Dec. 11 report from the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review.

Pfizer will donate the royalty rights from sales of cancer drug Bavencio to the American Association for Cancer Research starting in January.