Axios

The bird flu outbreak in dairy cattle that's swept across nine U.S. states is posing perplexing questions about how the virus is spreading between animals and the risk posed to humans.

Why it matters: Detecting viral spread early and limiting how long the flu circulates in a population of animals cuts the odds it will mutate and adapt to other species.

Undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children can enroll in health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces for the first time this fall, the Biden administration announced Friday.

Why it matters: An estimated 100,000 previously uninsured people in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program could get health coverage, the administration estimates.

Novo Nordisk, the maker of Ozempic and Wegovy, continues to enjoy booming sales, but supply constraints and pricing concerns are putting pressure on the stock.

Why it matters: The company's weight-loss and diabetes drugs have transformed the Danish drug giant into one of the hottest stocks on the market.

Between the lines: Novo on Thursday reported sales of $9.35 billion in the first quarter, up 22% from a year earlier, as its GLP-1 drugs continue to soar in popularity.

• Wegovy is now getting 25,000 additional patients every week in the U.S., up from a rate of just 5,000 weekly when 2024 began, CFO Karsten Knudsen said on an earnings call.

Yes, but: Supply constraints are still affecting Ozempic and Wegovy — and the company said those will continue.

• The company said it expects sales growth of 19%–27% for 2024, about the same as the forecast it released in January: 18%–26%.
• "Not raising the outlook underscores the uncertainty on the manufacturing capacity ramp," Lee Brown, health care sector global team leader at research firm Third Bridge, tells Axios.

State of play: The company also reported "continued pricing pressure" on diabetes and obesity care products, including lower realized prices on Wegovy, despite demand outstripping supply.

• Insufficient supply usually means higher prices, but Novo CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen said lower prices reflect the company's effort to reach "more and more patients."

Threat level: While Ozempic and Wegovy enjoy a huge head start in the weight-loss lane, competitors are surging — namely from Eli Lilly with Mounjaro and Zepbound, whose sales are soaring.

• Others are targeting the market with ferocity owing to the substantial revenue opportunity.
• Those include a still-under-development treatment by Amgen that may help patients keep weight off after they stop using it.

The impact: Novo's stock closed down 4% on Thursday, though it's still up nearly 20% on the year.

Congress hauled UnitedHealth Group's CEO to the Hill on Wednesday seeking more clarity about the cyberattack at subsidiary Change Healthcare that threw much of the health care system into turmoil.

• What they got was an apology and some notable non-answers.

Why it matters: UnitedHealth is a $371 billion behemoth that could face more regulation or even calls to divest some of its businesses in the fallout from the hack.