Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Meghana Keshavan
Published on 2024-01-29 14:30:22
To receive our biotech newsletter, sign up on our website. In today’s update, we cover the potential Medicaid coverage for expensive sickle cell gene therapies and a lawsuit alleging a data breach at 23andMe targeting Chinese and Jewish customers.
Sarepta Therapeutics announced positive results from a mid-stage clinical trial of its next-generation treatment for patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy caused by mutations in a gene called exon 51.
This week, Pfizer, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, GSK, Merck, Sanofi, Roche, Abbvie, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Regeneron Pharma will report their pharma earnings.
The FDA recently approved two curative gene therapies for sickle cell disease, but the costs of these drugs are creating a strain for government health coverage, particularly for Medicaid programs.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is developing a pilot program to help create outcomes-based agreements between state Medicaid programs and cell and gene therapy manufacturers.
A new class action lawsuit accuses 23andMe of failing to protect the privacy of customers whose data were exposed during a breach last year that affected nearly 7 million profiles. Customers with Chinese and Ashkenazi Jewish profiles seem to have been targeted.
The CEOs of Merck and Johnson & Johnson have agreed to testify before the Senate health committee after a subpoena was threatened by Bernie Sanders.
Keytruda has shown positive results in extending patient lives when used as a post-surgical treatment for resectable kidney cancer, while Opdivo has failed as an adjuvant treatment for kidney cancer.
In other news, North Carolina will stop paying for obesity drugs, a scientific sleuth from Wales has shaken Dana-Farber, and big pharma is preparing to lose revenue from blockbuster drugs.
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