A deal reportedly brewing between health insurance giants Cigna and Humana will likely face antitrust challenges over their respective pharmacy benefit management businesses, experts tell Axios.
Details: The combination would be huge. Cigna is now valued at $78 billion and Humana is at roughly $60 billion.
Republican lawmakers may not be thrilled with former President Trump's renewed push to repeal and replace Obamacare — but few are firmly ruling it out.
Why it matters: The Affordable Care Act has become more popular and even more entrenched in the health care system since the GOP's failed repeal attempt in 2017 contributed to Democrats' big electoral gains the following year.
A record number of people in the United States died of suicide last year, while the country's suicide rate reached the highest level in over 80 years, according to new federal data.
The big picture: The startling statistics underscore the toll of the nation's mental health crisis coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, amid rising rates of anxiety and depression. But there were some encouraging signs among young people, who were especially affected by the pandemic.
The Biden administration for the first time will allow all schools to order free COVID-19 tests from the federal government ahead of the holidays, officials told Axios first.
Why it matters: Uptake of updated COVID vaccines has been sluggish, making other precautions like timely testing all the more critical as respiratory virus season heats up.
The Food and Drug Administration is investigating whether CAR-T immunotherapies can cause lymphoma in some patients after it received reports of serious adverse events in clinical trials and post-marketing studies.
Why it matters: The pricey treatments have been touted as potential life-savers for the way they can reprogram a patient's immune cells to attack cancer cells.
It's passed medical licensing exams. It's advanced how researchers develop new medicines and cut down on doctors' hefty paperwork. And it's nudged health care closer to a world where AI can offer diagnoses.
Why it matters: One year after OpenAI's ChatGPT exploded onto the scene, the generative AI model is already upending health care — an industry not exactly known for its speedy adoption of tech — while accelerating questions about AI's promises and limitations.
A drug that could extend large dogs' lifespans and help keep them healthier as they age is one step closer to coming to the market.
Why it matters: Bigger dogs live shorter lives than smaller dogs "by nearly half," notes a statement from Loyal for Dogs, which announced Tuesday that the drug it's developing, LOY-001, had cleared a key FDA regulatory hurdle required in the approval process.
