Some Blue Cross Blue Shield companies now cover two newly approved sickle cell gene therapies, which cost about $2 million and $3 million per dose. 

During a visit last summer, FDA inspectors flagged eight deficiencies at an Eli Lilly manufacturing plant in Branchburg, N.J., according to an inspection report Reuters obtained through a Freedom of Information Act Request. 

Despite their rise to popularity as solutions for weight loss, drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy can also lead to muscle loss, and now pharmaceutical companies are looking at ways to curb the unwanted side effect, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Physicians, drugmakers, obesity organizations and the FDA are fretting about compounded versions of popular weight loss and diabetes drugs, including Wegovy, Ozempic and Zepbound. 

Washington, D.C.-based Children's National Hospital administered Zynteglo, a $2.8 million gene therapy, to its first pediatric patient with the help of Clearway Health. 

The bone disease drug Prolia has a new boxed warning, the FDA's most prominent warning, because of an increased risk of severe hypocalcemia among chronic kidney disease patients. 

Hospitals should start conserving supply of short-term anesthetics as drug manufacturers become more conservative with nitrosamine measures, according to Eric Tichy, PharmD. 

Former health system pharmacy leader Shawn Parekh, PharmD, recently became CEO of a Philadelphia hospital. 

United Health Services' pharmacies are managing an issue with processing health savings account and flexible spending account debit card payments, the Binghamton, N.Y.-based system said. 

Type 2 diabetes drugs Ozempic and Mounjaro are among the 775 brand-name drugs with higher prices in 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported Jan. 18. 

Drugmakers aren't raising prices like they used to, according to data from 46brooklyn Research.

The FDA on Jan. 16 approved Casgevy to be used as a treatment for beta-thalassemia. The move comes just over a month after the nation's first medicine based on CRISPR gene-editing technology was approved to treat patients with sickle cell disease. 

After multiple failed attempts at developing a vaccine against one of the most common infections, Staphylococcus aureus, researchers at the University of California San Diego have suggestions about how to fix the problem.

On Jan. 5, Florida became the first state approved by the FDA to import cheaper medicines from Canada, but the plan is facing backlash from experts in Canada and the U.S. 

Pharmacy robots named after singer-songwriters Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash and June Carter-Cash now fill the hallways at Ballad Health's Bristol (Tenn.) Regional Medical Center. 

The Mayo Clinic Diet, a weight loss program developed by the Rochester, Minn.-based health system, is launching a weight loss telemedicine service.

A mechanical fire at UK HealthCare's Good Samaritan Hospital in Lexington, Ky., led to the temporary closure of the pharmacy.

The Institute for Safe Medication Practices added tranexamic acid injection solutions to its high-alert medications list, which registers drugs linked with a high risk of causing significant harm to patients if used in error. 

As the FDA imports a syphilis drug from France that's been in short supply since spring 2023, the FDA and American Society of Health-System Pharmacists have reported five new drug supply issues in 2024.

Popular medications indicated for Type 2 diabetes or chronic weight management, including Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy, are dancing through a flood of research for broader indications.