Why it matters: Bayer — which acquired Roundup when it bought Monsanto in 2018 — recently announced a $7.25 billion settlement deal and is awaiting a Supreme Court ruling that could decide the product's fate in the U.S.
Former deputy surgeon general Erica Schwartz has emerged as the leading contender to be the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to two sources familiar.
Why it matters: The CDC has been without a full-time political leader since the ouster of Susan Monarez last August, and several top officials have resigned as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. seeks to remake the federal health bureaucracy.
State efforts to regulate pharmacy benefit managers are colliding with federal law, reviving a power struggle over who can police the companies that manage drug benefits for most Americans.
Why it matters: The states are trying to rein in the middlemen that negotiate drug prices and pay pharmacies, but they're running into a federal law that has the final say over employer health plans.
Republicans in Congress are trying to attract more people to direct-to-consumer drug purchases on platforms like TrumpRx by requiring insurers to count that spending toward patients' deductibles and out-of-pocket limits.
Why it matters: Paying cash for drugs has limited appeal for insured patients, in part because it doesn't help them get to the point where insurance picks up a bigger portion of their health costs.
