Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
European Drug Regulators Find No Suicide Links To Wegovy, Ozempic
Drug regulators in Europe have found no evidence that popular diabetes and weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are linked to a higher risk of suicidal thoughts or actions. The European Medicines Agency regulatory committee announced the results of its review on Friday. It鈥檚 the latest group to conclude there鈥檚 no known tie between a new class of obesity drugs and suicide. (Aleccia, 4/12)
The first drug shown to slow Alzheimer鈥檚 disease hit the U.S. market over a year ago, but sales have lagged, major hospital systems have taken months to start using it and some insurers have rejected coverage. Doctors also expect some patients will hesitate to take Leqembi due to its limited impact and potential side effects. They say it will take years to learn how best to deploy the drug and that work must be done to improve diagnosis. (Murphy, 4/13)
An approach called functional precision medicine, based on testing a patient鈥檚 cancer genomic profile and drug response, promises better outcomes for children with cancer. (Azzam, 4/12)
Biotech giants Genentech and Sanofi are set to lay off hundreds of Bay Area workers in the coming months.聽Genentech disclosed in regulatory filings this week that it will lay off 436 employees at its South San Francisco headquarters at 1 DNA Way. The layoffs are expected to begin June 5. (Vaziri, 4/12)