A motion on whether the Federal Trade Commission should study pharmacy benefit managers and how they've affected drug prices and pharmacy operations failed to get a majority vote today among FTC commissioners, who voted 2-2.
Why it matters: The PBM industry, which has been heavily consolidated over the past several years, gets a pass from antitrust scrutiny for now.
The Biden administration will ramp up its support of efforts to vaccinate the world with a "surge" in assistance to 11 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, a USAID spokesperson confirmed Thursday.
Why it matters: The global supply of vaccines has largely gone to developed nations. Officials worry that new COVID-19 variants could emerge from countries with low vaccination rates.
When it comes to job postings with a vaccination requirement, 9 of the top 10 cities went blue in the 2020 election, according to a new Indeed analysis.
The one metro area that went red is Fayetteville, Arkansas.
A nightmare scenario: A cutting-edge, life-changing device embedded in your body fails and the company behind it is all but gone.
It happened to more than 350 people who are blind around the world who received artificial eyes only to be abandoned by the company that invented them, Second Sight Medical Products, the technology journal IEEE Spectrum writes.
COVID cases are plummeting across the U.S., in some places even falling to relatively manageable levels. But deaths remain stubbornly high.
The big picture: States and cities of all political stripes are removing mask and vaccine mandates as the Omicron variant loses steam, though in some regions there's still a ways to go before the virus is truly under control.
The companies that purchase drugs for employers and government programs don't anticipate switching quickly to cheaper copycats of the popular immunology drug Humira.
Why it matters: Humira, one of the world's most-used drugs that registered $20.7 billion in global sales in 2021, fended off competition for years for this very reason — to keep its U.S. market share high for as long as possible.
Popular Korean pop boy band BTS is planning to hold three in-person concerts in South Korea next month, despite surging COVID-19 cases, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Why it matters: South Korea is currently experiencing record-breaking rates of new COVID-19 cases. On Tuesday, the country surpassed 90,000 new daily infections for the first time in the pandemic, Reuters reported.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a bill Wednesday ending school mask mandates, days after it cleared the state legislature.
Driving the news: The legislation, which will take effect on March 1, will allow parents to opt their children out of wearing a mask. It will put Virginia among the list of states to relax COVID-19 safety measures, as case numbers have declined.
Getting vaccinated against the coronavirus while pregnant can protect infants 6 months and younger from being hospitalized for COVID, according to a recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Driving the news: The study found that receiving two doses of an mRNA vaccine can help protect pregnant people and also makes it 61% less likely for infants to be hospitalized with COVID-19.
A group of citizens in Connecticut is suing Hartford HealthCare, alleging the large hospital system has amassed monopoly power "to extract higher prices from insurers, employers, and patients."
Why it matters: This is another class-action lawsuit arguing hospital consolidation has crushed everyone's bank accounts and has led to the rise of anti-competitive contracts that force insurers and employers to accept take-it-or-leave-it terms.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lowered its pandemic travel health alert for cruise ships from "very high" to "high" on Tuesday.
Driving the news: CDC spokesperson Caitlin Shockey said in a statement that the agency lowered the travel health notice to Level 3 due to decreasing COVID-19 cases on cruise ships operating in the U.S., per the Washington Post.
There will be "no vaccination, testing or masking requirements" at Coachella 2022 when the event returns to Southern California's desert this April, according to an update on the festival website Tuesday.
Why it matters: The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival was one of the biggest of its kind before the pandemic. The festival has been canceled three times due to the coronavirus.
