The Trump administration is moving to speed up approvals of copycat biologic drugs as a way to lower health costs and boost an underused market.

Why it matters: Efforts to elevate biosimilars have been thwarted by unfavorable placement on formularies and doctors' refusal to switch patients to the look-alike treatments.

• Now, the FDA is easing some requirements around studies that biosimilar makers conduct to compare the treatments with brand-name products.

Driving the news: The FDA on Monday changed rules to allow comparison with products approved outside the United States and to cut down on the need for additional studies comparing to a product licensed in the U.S.

• While some drug policy experts said the moves are a step in the right direction, they cautioned there's no guarantee they'll deliver on the administration's goals.
• "It may not lower prices, but it might, which is a good thing," said Ryan Conrad, a visiting fellow at Brookings and a former economist at the FDA.
• Insurers and pharmacy benefit managers still may not cover certain biosimilars or may favor their own private-label products, Conrad said. And certain drugs for small patient populations can't support multiple manufacturers.

Between the lines: One of the highest-profile use cases for biosimilars has been AbbVie's blockbuster anti-inflammatory drug Humira.

• Biosimilar versions struggled even after the brand-name version lost market exclusivity in 2023, though business has started to pick up.
• Biosimilars backers said another obstacle was the way AbbVie used "patent thickets" to file overlapping intellectual property claims on the product and delay competitors from getting on the market.

What we're watching: Whether the changes meaningfully boost prospects for big players like Sandoz, Pfizer and Amgen.

• Juliana Reed, executive director of the Biosimilars Forum, an industry trade group, said the Medicare drug price negotiation program could serve as an incentive for brand-name drug companies to break down barriers to biosimilar competition, since drugs with competitors on the market are exempted.

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Novo Nordisk on Monday agreed to drop its lawsuit against Hims & Hers and to sell its brand-name GLP-1 drugs on the telehealth platform while Hims agreed to stop selling compounded alternatives.

Why it matters: It signaled a truce in a feud that's seen the Danish drug giant try to defend its flagship drug franchise amid mounting price pressure.

• Selling compounded GLP-1s has been central to Hims' growth, until now.

Driving the news: Hims said it will offer injectable and oral versions of Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Wegovy starting later this month and no longer advertise compounded GLP-1 offerings on its platform or in its marketing.

• "We see tremendous growth opportunities in the U.S. with the expanding assortment of branded GLP-1 medications," Hims co-founder and CEO Andrew Dudum said in a statement.
• "We have decided to drop the current court proceedings and, of course, we reserve to bring that back if need be, but I don't foresee that happening," Novo Nordisk CEO Mike Doustdar told CNBC on Monday.

Context: Hims in early February backed off plans to sell a compounded version of the new Wegovy pill after HHS referred the company to the Justice Department to review whether it violated federal law.

• The FDA also warned it would restrict GLP-1 active ingredients intended for use in non-FDA-approved compounded drugs.

Hims shares surged 40% Monday on the news, while Novo Nordisk also was higher.

Related: The fight over copycat weight-loss drugs escalates

Federal agencies involved with biomedical research and public health lost 36,146 employees between September 2024 and December 2025, according to a new analysis.

Why it matters: Reductions the administration said were for the sake of efficiency hit the CDC particularly hard, cutting off public communications channels and reducing spending on R&D contracts by 79% from FY24 to FY25, the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service analysis said.

By the numbers: The workforce in medical research and public health agencies including NIH, CDC, the Veterans Health Administration and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry declined 7.9% over the period studied.

• The agencies directed $43.3 billion in project grants in FY25, a 2.9% decrease from the year before.
• The ripple effect of $12 billion in HHS grant cuts to state health departments also disrupted local services addressing substance abuse, mental health and HIV care in states like Wisconsin and North Carolina, the analysis found.
• The workforce data was drawn from the Office of Personnel Management.

The administration and its allies in Congress have defended overhauling federal health agencies, arguing that federal spending contributed to out-of-control growth in the bureaucracy.

Pharmacists, nurses and the paper industry are rallying around legislation to preserve the patient package inserts that come with prescription drugs and are one of the last relics of pre-digital medicine.

Why it matters: That fine print, which can run dozens of pages, has long been an annoyance to manufacturers who hate the extra cost and say the information can be easily digitized and updated when there are safety alerts.

Driving the news: The National Community Pharmacists Association and the National Black Nurses Association are among six trade groups endorsing the House bill to require keeping the printed inserts, the Pharmaceutical Printed Literature Association told Axios.

• The bill already has endorsements from the National Rural Health Association and the Printing United Alliance, a trade group.
• It's sponsored by Reps. Cliff Bentz (R-Ore.) and Jared Golden (D-Maine), whose states have significant paper industries.

Drugmakers, who now pay the cost of printing the information and stuffing it into packaging, say mandates to keep the status quo are passing on extra costs to consumers.

• The FDA in 2023 proposed allowing prescription information to be given out electronically at a patient's request, but the plan was never finalized.

Our thought bubble: This may not be the biggest election year health care fight, but the bill is prime fodder for a year-end spending package. Appropriations riders in the past have prevented the FDA from going all digital.

🌴 Florida lawmakers are trying to adopt Medicaid work requirements, even though the state hasn't expanded its program. (KFF Health News)

🏛️ Wyoming's governor signed an abortion ban prohibiting the procedure after a "fetal heartbeat" is detected, around six weeks of pregnancy. (ABC News)

💉 Leaders of a Robert F. Kennedy Jr.-allied think tank called for the elimination of all childhood vaccine recommendations. (NOTUS)