Expert Interviews

Eric Levine, M.P.H., principal at Avalere Health, explains why a diagnosis alone won't exempt someone from the Medicaid work requirements that go into effect in 2027.

CMS's new interim rule sets an 80-hour monthly work requirement for many Medicaid enrollees but leaves states some latitude on setting medical exemptions and verification processes.

Behind sparsentan's approval sits a trial built on stringent inclusion criteria and evolving endpoint science, raising hard questions about which real-world FSGS patients the data actually represents.

As sparsentan enters practice, corticosteroids and RAS inhibitors retain a role for select patients, while clinicians weigh how and when to transition existing therapy toward the newly approved option.

Melody Chang, RPh, BCOP, MBA, of the American Oncology Network, discusses building outpatient infrastructure for bispecific antibody and CAR-T therapy.

Tufts researcher James Chambers, Ph.D., says IRA’s Medicare price negotiation program should target drugs that are unlikely to face biosimilar competition.

The Great 340B Debate

AVAC's Mitchell Warren argues PEPFAR and the Global Fund’s goal to reach 3 million people with lenacapavir PrEP by 2028 is far too small and too slow.

The move toward integrating HIV services with other healthcare services was already underway before the PEPFAR cuts, says Warren, executive director of AVAC.

Zambia's Lloyd Mulenga, M.B.Ch.B., Ph.D., says U.S. funding cuts pushed African governments toward domestic financing, but he fears for HIV prevention.

Zambia's infectious disease director says data and specimen sharing, not mineral rights, are what's holding up its still-unsigned U.S. health memorandum of understanding.

Health care leaders warn that payer variability, not clinical readiness, is the biggest obstacle to scaling cell and gene therapy, and that current reimbursement models may not hold.

A four-category classification and a growing list of implicated genes still leave real gaps in understanding FSGS, but sparsentan's approval marks the first therapy built specifically around its dual-injury mechanism.

FSGS is not a single disease but a shared pattern of podocyte injury that spans every age group, from pediatric to adult nephrology, demanding equal attention regardless of a patient's age or underlying cause.

Raphael J. Landovitz, M.D., of UCLA, says HIV prevention science has surged ahead of the world's ability to deliver it.

Raphael J. Landovitz, M.D., says rare lenacapavir breakthrough infections raise new questions about how often patients need testing between PrEP doses.

Raphael J. Landovitz, M.D., of UCLA says surveillance gaps, Medicaid nonexpansion states and injectable pricing are stalling U.S. PrEP uptake.

Zambia's director of infectious disease spoke about the pared-down "basic minimum package" now adopted in Malawi, Mozambique and Kenya as U.S. funding for HIV response tightened.

Metformin, topiramate and three GLP-1 receptor agonists ranked as the most effective options for managing antipsychotic-induced weight gain, according to a new study published in JAMA Psychiatry.

A once-weekly oral HIV treatment could make a major difference in resource-constrained settings, says the executive director of AVAC.

People are beginning to fall out of treatment because of the PEPFAR funding cuts but the infrastructure of the programs has survived, says the executive director off AVAC, a U.S. organization that advocates for HIV prevention.

AVAC Executive Director Mitchell Warren says HIV prevention science has never been stronger, even as funding cuts have left program infrastructure badly weakened.

Renee Heffron, Ph.D., M.P.H., of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, says the HIV field has found new collaborations and funders after major disruptions in U.S. funding and cannot afford to lose ground on prevention.

Zambia has received just 13,000 of the tens of thousands of lenacapavir doses it hopes to get for PrEP, forcing rationing, says Lloyd Mulenga, M.B.Ch.B., Ph.D., a top health official in Zambia.

Zambia's Lloyd Mulenga, M.B.Ch.B., Ph.D., says U.S. funding cuts have imperiled HIV prevention programs in his country even as treatment and lab support continue.

Mulenga, a top health official in Zambia, says the country cut new HIV infections from 58,000 to 28,000 a year, but U.S. funding cuts and disruption threaten those gains, especially among young women.

A monthly pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) pill would be less burdensome than daily pills and would be an important addition to the choices for HIV prevention, says Heffron, an HIV/AIDS researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who is co-chairing a preconference meeting on HIV prevention today before the official start of the International AIDS Society meeting tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Renee Heffron, Ph.D., M.P.H., of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, discusses PrEP choice and alternative ways of delivery HIV prevention as she previews a preconference meeting, "HIV prevention, science and access" scheduled for today that she is co-chairing.

Semaglutide cut body weight by more than 24 lbs versus placebo in antipsychotic-treated patients with schizophrenia, according to a recent study published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Edward Machtinger, M.D., of UCSF says most mental illness and substance use trace back to trauma, and clinics that ignore this can retraumatize patients.