Peter Wehrwein, Managing Editor

Sham Firdausi, M.P.H., M.Sc., MBA, is deputy chief financial officer of the Santa Clara Valley Healthcare, one of the largest public health systems in the country and California’s second-largest county-owned health and hospital system.

Manjula D. Jayabalan, Pharm.D., MBA, is senior director of pharmacy at WTW, a multinational advisory and brokerage firm.

Zach Jones, Pharm.D., is senior director of clinical formulary strategy, Prime Therapeutics, a Minnesota-based pharmacy benefit manager.

How Banjo Health uses generative AI to speed prior authorizations, cut paperwork, and scale fair, transparent utilization management across plans.

HaVy Ngo-Hamilton, Pharm.D., senior pharmacy director, Buzz Health, a healthcare technology company offering prescription savings solutions that integrate with health systems to promote price transparency and cost-effectiveness.

Mike Nguyen is senior director of external affairs at AlohaCare, a community-led nonprofit health plan in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Brianna Oddi, Pharm.D. Brianna Oddi, Pharm.D., is senior clinical account manager of PANTHERx Rare Pharmacy

Carly Rodriguez, Pharm.D., is vice president and chief pharmacy officer, Moda Health and immediate past president of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy

Alyana Samai, M.P.H., is corporate vice president, neuroscience and musculoskeletal services, at LCMC Health, an eight-hospital, New Orleans-based nonprofit health system.

Lorece Shaw, Pharm.D., is director of clinical account consulting at Capital Rx, a pharmacy benefit and management company.

The second-line drug for metastatic pancreatic cancer is pan-RAS inhibitor that recruits cyclophilin A to stick to RAS proteins, explains Subham Pant, M.D., M.B.B.S., of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

The pan-RAS inhibitor met primary end points of overall survival and progression-free survival as a second-line therapy for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Treatment after treatment for second-line treatment for pancreatic cancer has failed in clinical trials. Daraxonrasib seems to have broken the losing streak, says MD Anderson's Shubman Pant, M.D., M.B.B.S.

Nubeqa (darolutamide) may have fewer negative cognitive side effects because it doesn't cross the blood-brain barrier.

Self-insured employers and other payers are the startup's customers, but Aradigm CEO and co-founder Will Shrank says the company is looking to bridge the gaps among all stakeholders in burgeoning cell and gene therapy category.

Shrank, a longtime member of the MHE editorial advisory board, discusses the mainstreaming of CAR-T therapy and still-unique aspects of gene therapy

Shrank is president and co-founder of cell and gene therapy (CGT) startup Aradigm, which is working with patients, payers, providers, and manufacturers to manage the cost and financial risk of expensive cell and gene therapy.

Kyle Diamantas, the FDA deputy commissioner for food, has been named interim FDA commissioner after Makary's resignation today.

The company says it made an upfront payment of $25 million for a global license to develop and commercialize the ARO-PHPLA3.

A compare-and-contrast list for the two FDA-approved oral GLP-1s, Foundayo (orforglipron) and oral Wegovy (semaglutide).

Will Shrank, M.D., a longtime member of the Managed Healthcare Executive editorial advisory board, is leading a startup company focused on managing the cost and delivery fo cell and gene therapy.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that President Donald Trump has signed off on Makary's dismissal.

Direct to consumer, direct to patient, direct to employer — the "direct to" channel comes in different flavors and was a hot topic at the Asembia specialty pharmacy meeting this week in Las Vegas.

HealthDyne is one of the dispensing pharmacies for the Lilly Employer Direct program that the company launched in March. HealthDyne executives expect their skyrocketing growth in its new direct-to-employer business.

HealthDyne’s Sarah Thomas and David Skomo say that direct-to-patient arrangements eliminate opacity in drug pricing and allow employers to offer drug coverage with a certainty about the budget required.

Even for high-priced specialty drugs, direct-to-patient (DTP) sales could help with access and affordability, say HealthDyne’s David Skomo and Sarah Thomas. Payers can lower out-of-pocket costs for members by funding health reimbursement arrangements, money that can be used to buy DTP drugs.