Tag: Science

  • Healthy Returns: AstraZeneca cholesterol pill shows promise as race with Merck heats up

    Healthy Returns: AstraZeneca cholesterol pill shows promise as race with Merck heats up


    Signage at the AstraZeneca facility in Gaithersburg, Maryland, US, on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. 

    Graeme Sloan | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Healthy Returns newsletter, which brings the latest health-care news straight to your inbox. Subscribe here to receive future editions.

    The race to develop more convenient versions of drugs that lower cholesterol is heating up after AstraZeneca released encouraging new data on an experimental pill. 

    AstraZeneca and Merck are the main drugmakers testing oral versions of so-called PCSK9 Inhibitors, which reduce levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, or what is known as “bad” cholesterol. Those medications, such as Amgen’s Repatha, are typically injections. 

    High LDL cholesterol is the top driver of cardiovascular events such as heart attacks and strokes. Still, more than 70% of patients taking statins aren’t reaching the target level for cholesterol, according to Mina Makar, who heads AstraZeneca’s global cardiovascular, renal and metabolism biopharmaceuticals business. 

    He said that leads to 4 million to 5 million deaths worldwide due to elevated cholesterol. While PCSK9 injections have helped treatment reach more patients, their use has still been “very limited,” Makar said. That’s due to several factors, such as challenges related to cost and access and hesitancy among some cardiologists and primary care physicians. 

    “That’s why we’re really excited about our oral PCSK9,” Makar said. “I think it has the chance to really democratize access to what these patients really need, which is something to get the majority of them” to their target cholesterol levels.

    In a note last week, Goldman Sachs analysts said oral treatments could drive growth of the PCSK9 class to around $12 billion in sales by 2034, up from about $4 billion currently. The analysts expect AstraZeneca’s oral PCSK9 to be “well-placed in the class,” and they forecast peak sales of the drug to be around $4 billion by 2037. 

    Now, let’s dive into the new mid-stage trial data. It was presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session in Chicago. 

    After 12 weeks, the experimental pill lowered LDL cholesterol by nearly 51% when taken once a day on top of a standard statin therapy, according to AstraZeneca. The pill helped 84% of patients meet the recommended cholesterol level, compared to just 13% of those who took statins alone. 

    Patients in the trial tolerated the pill well, and adverse side effects were comparable between those who took AstraZeneca’s drug and people who received a placebo. 

    Those results show promise against Merck’s treatment, though it is difficult to compare data without head-to-head clinical trials. Merck’s oral PCSK9 is also much further along in development, with late-stage trial data expected this year.  

    Early data also suggests Merck’s drug could be more effective than AstraZeneca’s treatment, according to Goldman Sachs analysts. But they still see “significant opportunity” for AstraZeneca’s pill given the size of the market for PCSK9s and the “potential for differentiation on convenience.” 

    Merck’s drug is what’s known as a macrocyclic peptide, which requires patients to fast before taking it to allow for proper absorption. That “could be burdensome and exacerbate compliance issues in an asymptomatic disease area where there is reluctance to intensify therapy,” the Goldman Sachs analysts wrote. 

    But AstraZeneca’s pill is a small-molecule drug, so it does not have any food restrictions or fasting requirements. 

    Makar said another advantage of having a small molecule drug is that it is easy to combine with other therapies in the company’s pipeline. For example, AstraZeneca is considering combining it with its statin, its GLP-1 drug for weight loss or its treatment ezetimibe, which is a cholesterol medicine for patients who can’t tolerate statins, he said. 

    Merck has similarly discussed the potential of combining its oral PCSK9 with other treatments, calling it a “pipeline in a product.” 

    We’ll continue to follow the ongoing race to develop oral PCSK9s, so keep track of our coverage!

    Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Annika at annikakim.constantino@nbcuni.com.

    Latest in health-care tech: FTC says 23andMe buyer should ‘expressly agree’ to adhere to privacy policies

    The Federal Trade Commission on Monday urged the embattled genetic testing company 23andMe not to sell consumers’ data unless the buyer agrees to adhere to strict privacy and data security standards. 

    23andMe, which was once valued at $6 billion, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Missouri federal court last month. This means its assets — including its vast genetic database — are up for sale. 

    “Any purchaser should expressly agree to be bound by and adhere to the terms of 23andMe’s privacy policies and applicable law, including as to any changes it subsequently makes to those policies,” FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson wrote in a letter

    The company rocketed into the mainstream because of its at-home DNA testing kits that gave customers insight into their family histories and genetic profiles. The five-time CNBC Disruptor 50 company went public in 2021 via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, but it struggled to generate recurring revenue and stand up viable research and therapeutics businesses in subsequent years.

    DNA data is particularly sensitive because each person’s sequence is unique, meaning it can never be fully anonymized, according to the National Human Genome Research Institute. If genetic data falls into the hands of bad actors, it could be used to facilitate identity theft, insurance fraud or other crimes.

    23andMe has repeatedly said it will not change how it manages or protects consumer data throughout the sale process. Similarly, in a release last week, the company said all potential buyers must agree to comply with its privacy policy and applicable law. 

    “To constitute a qualified bid, potential buyers must, among other requirements, agree to comply with 23andMe’s consumer privacy policy and all applicable laws with respect to the treatment of customer data,” 23andMe said in the release.

    At this point, it’s not clear who will purchase 23andMe’s assets. Anne Wojcicki, who resigned as CEO last month, said in a post on X that she will pursue the company as an independent bidder. Wojcicki co-founded 23andMe in 2006, and she has submitted several unsuccessful proposals to take the company private over the last year. 

    All of Wojcicki’s offers have been rejected by 23andMe’s special committee, which was convened in March of 2024 to evaluate the company’s path forward. 

    If you want to learn how you can delete your data from 23andMe, you can read more here.

    Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Ashley at ashley.capoot@nbcuni.com.



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  • Vaccine stocks fall after key FDA official resigns in protest of RFK Jr.

    Vaccine stocks fall after key FDA official resigns in protest of RFK Jr.


    Rafael Henrique | Lightrocket | Getty Images

    Shares of major vaccine makers dropped on Monday after a key U.S. health official resigned in protest of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s views on immunization.

    The departure of Peter Marks, the Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine regulator, has raised fresh fears about whether the Trump administration will quickly approve and promote critical shots. In his position, Marks oversaw the introduction of Covid-19 vaccines and rules for the use of emerging treatments like cell and gene therapies.

    Shares of Moderna and Novavax dropped more than 11% and 6%, respectively, in early trading. Meanwhile, the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF slid nearly 5%. Shares of Pfizer, which has broader businesses to insulate it from damage to its vaccine portfolio, lost about 2%.

    Some Wall Street analysts said Marks’ departure could undermine the FDA’s mission of ensuring safe and effective treatments reach patients in the U.S. That could put even more pressure on a struggling biotech sector.

    “Taking a step back, we view this departure as a significant negative for the BioPharma and Biotech sectors, as FDA’s independence rooted in sound scientific rigor is critical for their efficient functioning,” analysts at BMO Capital Markets wrote in a note Monday.

    Peter Marks, director of the center for biologics evaluation and research at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, May 11, 2021. 

    Greg Nash | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    In his resignation letter obtained by CNBC on Friday, Marks criticized Kennedy’s “misinformation and lies” about immunization. He said a growing measles outbreak that started in Texas came as a consequence of “undermining confidence in well-established vaccines.”

    “As you are aware, I was willing to work to address the Secretary’s concerns regarding vaccine safety and transparency by hearing from the public and implementing a variety of different public meetings and engagements with the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine,” Marks wrote. “However, it has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.”

    The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Kennedy, a prominent vaccine skeptic, has already taken steps that public health experts say could deter routine immunizations in the U.S. He has downplayed the importance of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine and promoted unproven treatments to counter the measles outbreak. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also carrying out a study into long debunked links between vaccines and autism, led by a researcher with a history of spreading misinformation about shots.

    Analysts at Leerink Partners wrote in a Monday note that the effect of Marks’ resignation on biotech and pharmaceutical stocks will depend in part on who replaces him at the FDA and whether Republicans in the White House and Congress start to lose patience with his approach. Other analysts also stressed that Marks is only one official at the agency and noted that new FDA Commissioner Marty Makary has a track record of supporting proven treatments.

    “Though many believe the Marks resignation is a very bad omen for the Healthcare industry and innovation at large, it may be a bit premature to cast too dark of a shadow on the entirety of Pharma and Biotech,” wrote Mizuho Securities analyst Jared Holz.

    — CNBC’s Angelica Peebles and Annika Kim Constantino contributed to this report



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  • 23andMe bankruptcy: With America’s DNA put on sale, market panic gets a new twist

    23andMe bankruptcy: With America’s DNA put on sale, market panic gets a new twist


    Signage at 23andMe headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, U.S., on Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021.

    David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    DNA testing has become a valuable tool for hobbyists and novice genealogists. For some, learning they are the 10th cousin of Paul Revere or the 15th great nephew four times removed of the last King of Prussia is worth the perceived risk of sharing a DNA sample. But what happens when the company harvesting the DNA goes bankrupt? 

    That was the question posed to millions of Americans last week when 23andMe, the company that popularized consumer genetic testing and had early backing from Google, filed for bankruptcy, leading to a wave of calls for Americans to delete their DNA from the company’s database.

    While it’s not 100 percent clear if the “delete your DNA” calls were warranted, privacy experts are alarmed, and Americans who had taken the genetic test took the advice to heart.

    According to data from online traffic analysis company Similarweb, on March 24, the day of the bankruptcy announcement, 23andMe received 1.5 million visits to its website, a 526% increase from one day prior. According to Similarweb, 376,000 visits were made to help pages specifically related to deleting data, and 30,000 were made to the customer care page for account closure. The next day, that figure rose to 1.7 million visits, and rraffic to the delete data help page about 480,000.

    Margaret Hu, professor of law and director of the Digital Democracy Lab at William & Mary Law School, thinks Americans made the right move. “This development is a disaster for data privacy,” said Hu. In her view, the 23andMe bankruptcy should serve as a warning as to why the federal government needs strong data protection laws.

    In some states, Hu noted, the government is taking an active role in counseling consumers. The California Attorney General’s Office is urging Californians to delete their data and have 23andMe destroy saliva samples. But Hu says that is not enough, and such guidance should be provided to all U.S. citizens.

    The potential national security implications of 23andMe’s data falling into the wrong hands are not new. In fact, the Pentagon had previously warned military personnel that these DNA kits could pose a risk to national security.

    Exposing DNA collected from consumers is not a new issue for 23andMe, either. In 2023, almost 7 million people who took the genetic test were already exposed in a major 23andMe data breach. The company signed an agreement that involved a $30 million settlement and a promise of three years’ worth of security monitoring.

    But Hu says the bankruptcy does make the company, and its data, especially vulnerable now.

    Drug research and genetic testing data

    One of the things notable about the consumer mindset in the early years of the popularization of genetic testing was that a majority of users opted into sharing their DNA for research purposes, as much as 80% in the years when 23andMe was growing rapidly. Then, as the market for consumer sale of the popular DNA test kits reached saturation sooner than many expected, 23andMe focused more on research and development partnerships with drug companies as a way to diversify its revenue.

    Currently, when 23andMe sells genetic data to other research companies, most is used at an aggregate level, as part of millions of data points being analyzed as a whole. The company also strips out identifying data from the genetic data, and no registration information (like a name or email) is included. Data researchers do need, such as date of birth, is stored separately from genetic data, and shared with randomly assigned IDs.

    Hu is among the experts concerned these practices could change under 23andMe or any new buyer. “In a time of financial vulnerability, companies such as pharmaceutical companies might see an opportunity to exploit the research benefits of the genetic data,” Hu said, adding that they might try to renegotiate prior contracts to extract more data from the company. “Will the next company that buys 23andMe do that?,” Hu said of its privacy policies.

    In recent days, 23andMe has said it will try to find a buyer who shares its privacy values.

    23andMe did not respond to a request for comment.

    Anne Wojcicki, 23andMe Co-Founder & CEO pushes the button, remotely ringing the NASDAQ opening bell at the headquarters of DNA tech company 23andMe in Sunnyvale, California, U.S., June 17, 2021.

    Peter DaSilva | Reuters

    Over the years since 23andMe’s founding in 2006, many customers were willing to send in a swab to learn more about their family history. Lansing, Michigan resident Elaine Brockhaus, 70, and her family were excited to learn more about their lineage when they submitted samples of their DNA to 23andMe. But with the company now teetering in bankruptcy and privacy experts concerned about what happens to the millions of people with DNA samples stored, Brockhaus says the whole thing has “caused a bit of a ruckus in my family.”  

    “We enjoyed some aspects of 23&Me,” Brockhaus said. “They continually refined and updated our heritage as more people joined, and they were better able to pinpoint genetically related groups,” Brockhaus said. She was able to learn more about health risk factors that were present or not present in her past.

    Now, her family has come full circle in the 23andMe experience: some members were initially reluctant to go along, and now, Brockhaus says, everyone has deleted their accounts.

    A unique company collapse, but everyday cyber risks

    But Brockhaus continues to view 23andMe within a larger consumer health market where the risks are not new, and health information is being shared in all sorts of environments where security issues could arise. “Anyone sending ColoGuard or receiving medical results through the mail is taking a risk of exposure,” Brockhaus said. “Our very identities can be stolen with a few keystrokes. Of course, this does not mean that we should throw up our hands and agree to be victims, but unless we want to dig holes out back and live in them we have to be vigilant, proactive, but not panicked,” she added.

    Jon Clay, vice president of threat intelligence at cybersecurity firm Trend Micro, says consumers of 23andMe do need to view the bankruptcy as a threat. In any sale process, if the data is not transferred and guarded in the most secure manner possible, “it is at risk of being used by malicious actors for a number of nefarious purposes,” he said.

    Clay thinks 23andMe’s data is incredibly valuable to cybercriminals — not just because it’s permanent and personally identifiable, but also because it can be exploited for identity theft, blackmail, or even medical fraud.

    “Cybercriminals can use it to target consumers with convincing scams and social engineering tactics, such as fraudulently claiming someone is a blood relative to another person or to send deceptive messages about their potential health risks,” Clay said. “Organizations who go bankrupt should ensure the security and privacy of their customer’s data is critical, and any sharing or selling of data to others should not be done,” he added.

    But other experts say the lesson of 23andMe is less about the company’s collapse and the threat to privacy that created than serving as a reminder about the everyday cyber hazards related to personal information.

    “When people start talking about personal data, they forget where their data is already sitting,” says Rob Lee, chief of research and head of faculty at SANS Institute, which specializes in helping businesses with information security and cyber issues. Whether it’s sending a blood sample into a private lab or getting rid of a laptop to upgrade to a new one, “your digital footprints are being left out there for people to find,” Lee said. “People don’t understand the scope, so there is a larger discussion out there, specifically around where does data go?”

    With DNA information, there are certain basic legal factors people should weigh before swabbing themselves and sending the sample in.

    According to Lynn Sessions, an expert on healthcare privacy and digital assets and partner at the law firm BakerHostetler, the federal law that covers patient information privacy, HIPAA, does not apply to this situation, and 23andMe would not be considered a HIPAA-covered entity, or business associate of one. But there are state laws that apply to genetic information that would be in play, such as in California.

    Meredith Schnur, a managing director and cybersecurity leader at insurance company Marsh, thinks the risk from 23andMe’s bankruptcy for people who sent in their swabs is relatively low. “It doesn’t cause any additional consternation or heartburn,” Schnur said. “I just don’t think it opens up any additional risk that doesn’t already exist,” she said, adding that many people’s information is “already out there.”

    Last week, a 23andMe co-founder, Linda Avey, blasted the company’s leadership. “Without continued consumer-focused product development, and without governance, 23andMe lost its way, and society missed a key opportunity in furthering the idea of personalized health,” Avey wrote in a social media post. “There are many cautionary tales buried in the 23andMe story,” Avey said.

    The bankruptcy itself is the issue that is now hard for consumers to ignore, and until the sale process is completed, the questions will remain.

    “When you’re in bankruptcy, data privacy values are not what you’re really thinking about. You’re thinking about selling your company to the highest bidder,” Hu said. That highest bidder, Hu says might take the genetic data and consumer profile data and link them together when selling it to others.

    And that initial sale which includes the DNA of millions of people may only be the first of many transactions.

    “It might sell it off, piece by piece, indiscriminately. And the buyer of that data might be a foreign adversary,” Hu said. “That is why this is not just a data privacy disaster. It’s also a national security disaster.”



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  • Novo Nordisk’s diabetes pill slashes risk of cardiovascular complications by 14% after four years

    Novo Nordisk’s diabetes pill slashes risk of cardiovascular complications by 14% after four years


    Novo Nordisk on Saturday said its diabetes pill Rybelsus showed cardiovascular benefits in a late-stage trial, paving the way for it to become a new treatment option for people living with diabetes and heart disease. 

    The pill lowered the risk of cardiovascular-related death, heart attack and stroke by 14% compared to a placebo after four years on average in patients with diabetes and established heart disease, with or without chronic kidney disease. The Danish drugmaker presented the results on Rybelsus, which is already approved for Type 2 diabetes, at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session in Chicago.  

    Novo Nordisk has already applied in the U.S. and EU to expand the pill’s approval to include lowering the risk of serious cardiovascular complications, Stephen Gough, the company’s global chief medical officer, said in an interview.

    Rybelsus is the once-daily oral formulation of Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster diabetes injection Ozempic, which is taken once a week. Both treatments, as well as the company’s weekly weight loss injection Wegovy, contain the active ingredient semaglutide.

    Wegovy in March 2024 won U.S. approval for slashing the risk of major cardiovascular events in adults with cardiovascular disease and who are obese or overweight. But the pill data presented on Saturday suggests that patients who are hesitant to take injections, such as those who are afraid of needles, could soon access treatment in a more convenient way. 

    “We know not everybody wants an injection, whether it is painful or not, they want the option of an oral medication,” Gough told CNBC. “We provide that option, that you can have one or the other, depending on what the patients and the healthcare professional think is right in that joint discussion.”

    The data comes as a slate of other drugmakers, including Eli Lilly, work to develop oral GLP-1s for diabetes, weight loss and other conditions, such as sleep apnea.

    The phase three trial examined just over 9,600 patients 50 years and older who received either Rybelsus or placebo, both on top of their standard treatment regimen, for an average of just under four years. Nearly half of all patients received medications called SGLT2 inhibitors, which are primarily used to lower blood sugar in adults with Type 2 diabetes, at some point during the trial. 

    By the end of the trial, 12% of people taking Rybelsus and 13.8% of those taking placebo experienced cardiovascular-related death, heart attack or stroke. That represents a 14% overall lower risk among those who took Rybelsus. 

    Researchers said that the reduced risk is in line with the cardiovascular benefits observed in eight previous trials involving injectable GLP-1s, which include semaglutide and other popular medications, according to a release from the American College of Cardiology. GLP-1s mimic certain gut hormones to tamp down appetite and regulate blood sugar, but also have other effects such as reducing inflammation. 

    Rybelsus helped lower the risk of non-fatal heart attacks by 26% compared to the placebo, which was “the primary driver” of the overall reduction of risk for cardiovascular complications in the trial, the release said. The pill also slashed the risk of non-fatal strokes by 12% and cardiovascular-related death by 7% compared to placebo. 

    There was no significant difference between the Rybelsus and placebo groups in outcomes related to kidney function, the release added. But the trial was “clearly” designed to examine the cardiovascular rather than kidney benefits of the pill, Gough said. 

    Ozempic is already approved to treat chronic kidney disease in diabetes patients. 

    The most common side effects reported in the study were gastrointestinal issues, such as nausea, diarrhea and constipation, which rarely led patients to stop taking Rybelsus, according to the release. Those symptoms are consistent with the side effects of injectable semaglutide. 

    Similar results were seen across all subgroups of patients – by age, sex and among people with different health conditions at the start of the trial, the release said. 

    Unlike its injectable counterparts, Rybelsus must be taken on an empty stomach at least 30 minutes before breakfast with a small amount of water. Despite those requirements, the study offers “reassurance that patients were able to take the drug as directed and reap cardiovascular health benefits from it,” said Dr. Darren McGuire, professor of medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center and the study’s first author. 



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  • Former Citi CEO Sandy Weill launches new cancer research hub focused on immunotherapy

    Former Citi CEO Sandy Weill launches new cancer research hub focused on immunotherapy


    Former Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill announced Thursday morning a $50 million gift through the Weill Family Foundation to establish the Weill Cancer Hub East, a partnership aimed at using research on nutrition and metabolism to develop cancer treatments.

    The partnership brings together four leading research institutions — with experts from Princeton University, The Rockefeller University, Weill Cornell Medicine and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research — to develop an immunotherapy strategy to fight cancer.

    “Good things happen when people believe in cooperation,” Weill said in an exclusive interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Thursday morning.

    Weill’s latest donation marks the foundation gifting a total of more than $1 billion to nonprofits.

    “With the best minds in the field armed with the most advanced research techniques, the Weill Cancer Hub East will seek to elevate immunotherapy and improve patient care for people battling cancer,” Weill said in a statement.

    The new partnership will focus on investigating how nutrition and the microbes that metabolize food can influence immunotherapy and other cancer treatments. The Weill Family Foundation said the hub will also examine how GLP-1 agonists and other emerging therapeutics might affect cancer treatment.

    Immunotherapy, unlike other therapies that target removing or attacking cancer cells directly, uses the patient’s immune system to fight the illness from the inside. The hub’s projects will focus on “reprogramming” the tumor microenvironment, the foundation said in a release, and will also offer clinical trials.

    “How we can increase the effectiveness of immunotherapy across all cancer types and patients is one of the scientific questions that most needs answering,” said Dr. Robert Harrington, the dean of Weill Cornell Medicine.

    The research from the new hub is meant to complement research and development out of the National Institutes of Health, Weill said, and cannot replace the work the NIH does. However, Weill added that he thinks NIH’s work may be somewhat limited.

    “I think they’re not the big risk-takers that they used to be,” he said on “Squawk Box.” “I think that it’s the job of the private sector to be more of the risk-taker.”

    The Weill Family Foundation previously founded another hub in 2019, called the Weill Neurohub, that pulled together researchers from University of California, San Francisco; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Washington; and the Allen Institute to work on developing treatments for neurological and psychiatric diseases.

    Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO



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  • Life science stocks are under pressure due to possible NIH funding cuts. What lies ahead for the sector

    Life science stocks are under pressure due to possible NIH funding cuts. What lies ahead for the sector




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  • Healthy Returns: Novo Nordisk scoops up Chinese obesity drug to compete with Eli Lilly

    Healthy Returns: Novo Nordisk scoops up Chinese obesity drug to compete with Eli Lilly


    A view of the logo of Novo Nordisk at the company’s office in Bagsvaerd, on the outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark, March 8, 2024. 

    Tom Little | Reuters

    A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Healthy Returns newsletter, which brings the latest health-care news straight to your inbox. Subscribe here to receive future editions.

    Novo Nordisk is taking aim at its rival, Eli Lilly, with a new obesity drug deal. 

    On Monday, the Danish drugmaker said it had agreed to pay up to $2 billion for the rights to an experimental drug from the Chinese pharmaceutical company United Laboratories International. The injectable treatment – UBT251 – is in early development to treat obesity, Type 2 diabetes and other conditions, so it could take several years before it enters any market. 

    Novo Nordisk will pay $200 million up front and milestone payments of up to $1.8 billion, along with tiered royalties. The deal gives the company exclusive rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize the drug globally, but not in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. 

    Novo Nordisk joins a slate of other pharmaceutical giants, such as Merck and AstraZeneca, that have recently inked relatively cheap deals with Chinese biotech companies for obesity drugs. 

    “While Trump tariffs and trade war talks continue on, we find it worthy of note that pharma continues to look to Chinese biotech names as a source for cheap early licensing agreements where large pharma can explore the potential of novel mechanisms with limited upfront investment,” BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan Seigerman said in a note on Monday. 

    So, what’s different about the new drug?

    It takes a three-pronged approach to promoting weight loss and regulating blood sugar. Most commercially available obesity treatments target only one or two gut hormones to produce those effects. 

    Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster obesity injection Wegovy and diabetes treatment Ozempic activate GLP-1. Meanwhile, Eli Lilly’s weight loss drug Zepbound and diabetes treatment Mounjaro target both GLP-1 and another gut hormone called GIP. 

    Researchers say that activating a third gut hormone, in principle, could have a more potent effect on a person’s appetite and satisfaction, leading to greater weight loss and added health benefits. 

    That’s exactly what UBT251 does, as it targets GLP-1, GIP and another gut hormone called glucagon. 

    “The addition of a candidate targeting glucagon, as well as GLP-1 and GIP, will add important optionality to our clinical pipeline, as we look to develop a broad portfolio of differentiated treatment options that cater to the diverse needs of people living with these highly prevalent diseases,” Martin Holst Lange, executive vice president for development at Novo Nordisk, said in a release on Monday. 

    Here’s what Eli Lilly has to do with all of this. 

    Novo Nordisk’s newly acquired drug is a clear potential competitor to Eli Lilly’s so-called “Triple G” obesity drug retatrutide. 

    The experimental injection targets the same gut hormones as UBT251, and has shown even greater weight loss than Eli Lilly’s existing drugs in mid-stage trials.

    Retatrutide helped patients lose 24.2% of their body weight, or 58 pounds, on average after 48 weeks in a mid-stage trial of adults who were obese or overweight. Those who took the placebo lost 2.1% of their body weight after that same time period.

    Eli Lilly expects to release results from a 68-week late-stage study in people with obesity and osteoarthritis of the knee in 2025 – one of at least nine closely watched clinical trials on retatrutide. 

    That means Eli Lilly’s drug could enter the market years ahead of Novo Nordisk’s treatment. 

    Still, Seigerman noted that UBT251’s data from a phase one trial in China on 36 patients is “impressive.” 

    The highest dose of the weekly injection helped patients lose 15.1% of their weight on average after 12 weeks, compared to average weight loss of 1.5% in patients who took a placebo, according to Novo Nordisk’s release. 

    The drug’s safety data was consistent with other gut-hormone targeting therapies. The most common side effects were gastrointestinal and the majority were mild to moderate in severity. 

    “While results are early, we view these signs of efficacy as promising and potentially competitive,” Seigerman said. 

    He added that the new deal may reflect Novo Nordisk’s efforts to reposition itself following underwhelming late-stage data on its other experimental obesity drug called CagriSema. It is a combination of cagrilintide — a nascent form of weight loss treatment known as an amylin analog — and semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic. 

    Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Annika at annikakim.constantino@nbcuni.com.

    Latest in health-care tech: Doctors seeing benefits from AI, but feel pessimistic about the future of the U.S. health-care system, survey finds

    Things are looking up for doctors in the U.S. – at least a little bit. 

    Physicians are generally feeling better about their profession than they have in recent years, according to a new survey commissioned by the health-care software vendor Athenahealth. The number of doctors who thought about leaving the profession on a weekly basis declined 22% from last year.

    That’s at least in part because artificial intelligence has helped alleviate some of their administrative responsibilities, the survey said. Only around 27% of physicians believe AI is overhyped, compared to 40% of respondents surveyed last year. 

    Even so, most doctors still have broader concerns. Only about 30% of respondents said they feel optimistic about the general direction of the U.S. health-care system. 

    Athenahealth partnered with The Harris Poll to conduct the survey, called the Physician Sentiment Survey. It polled 750 primary care physicians and 251 specialists across the U.S. between Jan. 2 and Jan. 15. Only 6% of respondents use Athenahealth’s electronic health record software. 

    Perhaps unsurprisingly, around half of the physicians who are already using AI in their practices said transcription services and capabilities are currently the most valuable use case for the technology. AI tools that can automatically generate documentation like clinical notes have exploded in popularity over the last year. 

    But doctors still aren’t completely sold on AI. 

    More than 60% of respondents said they are worried that the tech could lead to loss of human touch. Similarly, 58% of physicians surveyed said they are concerned about overreliance on AI for diagnoses, and 53% said they are worried about the risk of improper diagnosis. 

    Doctors are also concerned about demanding regulatory requirements, the lack of data-sharing between systems and the financial health of their organizations. And while 61% of respondents said they believe patient portals help improve the quality of care, 83% of physicians surveyed said they add to their administrative workload. 

    So, small steps toward progress? The survey suggests AI helped improve physician sentiment last year, but it was not a silver bullet. 

    As AI continues to mature, we’ll be watching closely to determine where it is, and is not, making a real difference in health care. 

    Read more about the survey findings here.

    Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Ashley at ashley.capoot@nbcuni.com.



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  • Watch NASA astronauts return to Earth on SpaceX capsule after months on the ISS

    Watch NASA astronauts return to Earth on SpaceX capsule after months on the ISS


    [The stream is slated to start at 4:45 p.m. ET. Please refresh the page if you do not see a player above at that time.]

    NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are set to splash down on Earth on Tuesday evening after spending more than nine months in space.

    They were originally supposed to be at the International Space Station for a little over a week, but their stay was extended after the Boeing Starliner capsule that they took in June experienced issues.

    Instead, Wilmore and Williams are returning on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft with fellow NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.

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  • Healthy Returns: What to know about the U.S. measles outbreak

    Healthy Returns: What to know about the U.S. measles outbreak


    MMR vaccine administer prep is pictured during a drive at the City of Lubbock Health Department in Lubbock, Texas, U.S. Feb. 27, 2025.

    Annie Rice | Reuters

    A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Healthy Returns newsletter, which brings the latest health-care news straight to your inbox. Subscribe here to receive future editions.

    I’m here to bring you the latest on the measles outbreak in the U.S.

    The nation declared measles eliminated 25 years ago, meaning there was no continuous transmission of the disease for more than a year thanks to a highly effective vaccine for it. But now, one of the worst outbreaks since then is centered in West Texas, with cases reaching into New Mexico and now Oklahoma. 

    Here’s where those cases are: 

    • There have been 259 confirmed cases of measles in the West Texas outbreak so far, and at least one unvaccinated child has died, according to the state’s health department. Most cases – 201 – have been in kids and teenagers.
    • New Mexico has the second-highest number of cases at 35, and the outbreak has resulted in the death of an unvaccinated adult, the state said.
    • There are so far four reported cases in Oklahoma, according to the state’s health department. 
    • There have been a few isolated cases reported in more than a dozen other states, which don’t appear to be related to the Texas outbreak. 

    The number of confirmed cases in the U.S. this year already surpasses the 285 reported nationwide in all of 2024, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows. Still, the CDC says the nationwide risk of measles remains low and that vaccination is the key to prevention. 

    But the problem is immunization rates for the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine – called MMR – have been declining in nearly every U.S. state since the Covid pandemic. 

    Health policy and public health experts have told CNBC that the lower uptake of that shot and other routine childhood vaccinations could be due to several factors. That includes greater vaccine hesitancy due to misinformation and controversy around the Covid vaccine and more distrust of public health officials and their requirements, among other issues. 

    In all four full school years since the pandemic began, the MMR vaccination rate has fallen below the “Healthy People 2030” target rate of 95%, according to CDC data. That refers to the level needed to prevent community transmission of measles, a highly contagious and deadly virus. 

    Roughly 280,000 school children were unvaccinated and unprotected against measles during the 2023-2024 school year alone, the CDC said. 

    Clusters of unvaccinated people within a specific community increase the risk of disease outbreak, health experts have told CNBC. For example, the childhood vaccination rate for measles in Gaines County, the epicenter of the current outbreak in Texas, is just below 82%.

    Sherry Andrews, right, holds 13-month-old Jaqi Herrera’s hand after administering the first MMR vaccine dose to Herrera at the City of Lubbock Health Department in Lubbock, Texas, U.S. Feb. 27, 2025. 

    Annie Rice | Reuters

    A group of physicians believe that the national recommendation for the MMR vaccine should be updated, according to an article published in medical journal JAMA on Friday. 

    The group, which includes former CDC director Rochelle Walensky, said the recommendations should include a third dose for infants 6 months to 11 months old who are traveling to any region with a higher probability of measles exposure. Notably, some local and state jurisdictions have already started to do that. 

    The physicians wrote that “multiple recent US measles outbreaks, coupled with low vaccination rates, signal a growing domestic hazard.” 

    “Modernizing vaccination recommendations… will better protect at-risk communities and the most vulnerable US population – infants – against measles,” they added. 

    Infants younger than 1 year old face an increased risk of severe measles-related complications such as pneumonia, swelling of the brain and death, according to the group of physicians. 

    Currently, the CDC recommends all children get two doses of the MMR vaccine. That starts with a first dose at 12 through 15 months of age, and a second dose at 4 through 6 years of age. 

    One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective, the CDC says. There are only a few special cases for a third dose. 

    Meanwhile, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who leads the Department of Health and Human Services, has been spreading false information about the MMR vaccine. 

    Kennedy, a prominent vaccine skeptic, told Fox News last week that the MMR shot causes deaths every year and “illnesses that measles itself causes,” such as blindness and inflammation of the brain. 

    But the Infectious Disease Society of America has said there have been “no deaths related to the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine in healthy individuals.” The organization said there have only been rare cases of deaths in immunocompromised children. 

    Kennedy has also pushed unconventional treatment regimens for measles, including cod liver oil, which is rich in vitamin A. Health experts have said that those are not intended to treat measles. 

    We will continue to follow the measles outbreak, so stay tuned for our updates. 

    Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Annika at annikakim.constantino@nbcuni.com.

    Latest in health-care tech: Google shares health-care product updates at The Check Up

    This is Ashley, reporting live from New York City! 

    I’m at Google‘s offices today for the company’s annual health-care event called The Check Up. A number of Google executives, including its Chief Health Officer Dr. Karen DeSalvo, took the stage to talk about the company’s work in the sector over the last year. 

    The biggest news for consumers like myself was around updates to Google Search. The company unveiled a new feature called “What People Suggest,” which uses artificial intelligence to pull together online commentary from patients with similar diagnoses. If a patient with arthritis wants to learn more about how other people with the condition exercise, for instance, they’d be able to check with that feature. It’s available on mobile devices in the U.S. starting Tuesday. 

    Google said it has also expanded its knowledge panels, or the information boxes that appear next to search results, to cover “thousands” more health topics. The panels are coming to new countries and in additional languages, including Spanish, Japanese and Portuguese, starting on mobile devices.

    The company launched Medical Records APIs within its Health Connect platform, which allows Android users to share data across different apps and devices. An API, which stands for application programming interface, allows different apps to communicate with one another. Google’s new APIs will allow apps to read and write medical record data like a user’s medications, immunizations, allergies, and lab results in a secure format. 

    Last month, Google announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its Loss of Pulse Detection feature for its Pixel Watch 3, which can call emergency services when a person’s heart stops beating. During the event on Tuesday, Google said the feature will be available to users in the U.S. by the end of the month. 

    The big theme of the keynote was AI, which is where Google has focused much of its health-care innovation efforts in recent years. 

    The company’s work within the medical sector has evolved over time, especially as it struggled to nail down an enduring health-care business strategy. Google built out a formal health unit starting around 2018, but it was dissolved in 2021.

    “With extraordinary advances in AI, we have an opportunity to reimagine the entire health experience,” DeSalvo said at the event.

    Google announced TxGemma on Tuesday, which is a suite of models that could help speed up the drug discovery process. The company also highlighted its work on the protein-predicting model called AlphaFold, which earned Google Deepmind researchers Demis Hassabis and John Jumper the Nobel Prize in Chemistry last year.

    Read more about everything Google announced at The Check Up here

    Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Ashley at ashley.capoot@nbcuni.com.



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  • Boeing Starliner astronauts who were supposed to be in space for nine days returning to Earth after nine months on ISS

    Boeing Starliner astronauts who were supposed to be in space for nine days returning to Earth after nine months on ISS


    NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams pose inside the hatch connecting Boeing’s Starliner to the International Space Station on

    NASA

    The two U.S. astronauts who had been at the International Space Station for nine months after their faulty Boeing Starliner capsule returned without them are finally heading home.

    NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams left Earth in June on a test flight that was originally intended to last about nine days.

    But their stay was extended after thrusters on Boeing’s Starliner capsule “Calypso” failed during docking, raising concerns about the ship’s ability to carry them home. The agency ultimately sent the capsule back empty after it was docked for about three months at the space station, saying it wanted to “further understand the root causes” of the spacecraft’s issues.

    NASA also announced that Wilmore and Williams, who are both veteran astronauts and retired Navy test pilots, would return on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft instead. The agency adjusted its rotation of astronauts as a result, removing two people from SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission — which is returning to Earth this week — to make room for Wilmore and Williams.

    That capsule carrying the two people on Crew-9 arrived at the ISS back in September. Crews rotate on the ISS, which means that each group of astronauts works until the next arrives at the space station, when a ceremonial “handover” occurs.

    SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifts off, carrying NASA’s Crew-10 astronauts to the International Space Station at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., March 14, 2025. 

    Joe Skipper | Reuters

    NASA had originally planned for SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission — which needed to arrive before the Crew-9 members could come back down — to launch in February, but it was delayed by about a month.

    The rocket carrying the four new crew members launched on Friday evening, and its capsule docked at the space station about 29 hours later.

    Wilmore, Williams, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are set to splash down Tuesday evening, about 19 hours after closing the hatch on the SpaceX capsule, according to NASA’s estimated schedule.

    The Starliner crew flight test was supposed to check a final box for Boeing and deliver a key asset for NASA. The agency was hoping to fulfill its dream of having two competing companies — Boeing and Elon Musk‘s SpaceX — flying alternating missions to the ISS.

    Instead, it’s unclear what Boeing’s future crewed space plans are. The company has lost more than $2 billion on its Starliner spacecraft.

    This image taken from video posted by NASA shows, from left, Butch Wilmore, Nick Hague and Suni Williams speaking during a news conference, Tuesday, March 4, 2025.

    NASA | AP

    Wilmore and Williams’ journey became entangled in politics once President Donald Trump took office. Trump and Musk, who has become a close advisor to the president, urged a quicker Crew-10 launch and said without evidence that the two astronauts were “stranded” on the space station and that the Biden administration had kept them up there for political reasons. NASA had delayed the Crew-10 launch in December to allow more time to process a new Dragon capsule, but decided to use a reusable capsule to cut down on wait time.

    NASA’s plans for returning the two astronauts have remained consistent since the agency announced them in August.

    During their extended stay, Wilmore and Williams became part of a normal rotation, conducting scientific experiments and routine maintenance as any other astronaut on rotation at the ISS would. Williams also conducted a spacewalk.

    Williams has said repeatedly that the pair doesn’t feel “abandoned” at the ISS, but that she was looking forward to returning home to see her family and her two dogs.

    “It’s been a roller coaster for them, probably a little bit more so than for us,” she told reporters earlier this month.



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