
Here’s what you missed this week on Managed Healthcare Executive.

Today’s approval means that FluMist is the first pharmacy-prescribed influenza vaccine that does not need to be given by a healthcare professional.

Participants cite the recent, ongoing popularity of GLP-1 drugs prescribed for weight loss.

A news release about the complaint says the "big 3 " pharmacy benefit managers — CVS Caremark, Optum Rx and Express Scripts — have kept hundreds of millions of dollars of rebates while excluding insulin products with lower list prices from their formularies.

“Cure” is not an immutable term, the authors of a new study write, and its meaning depends on the context in which it is used. Sometimes, it shouldn’t be.

Study of 29 children treated with Zolgensma (onasemnogene abeparvovec) shows mixed results.

Three different doses of Niktimvo all had high rates of response among patients with recurrent or refractory graft-versus-host disease (GVHD).

Independence Blue Cross has increased local provider options by 47% since 2022, and now offers additional mental health and substance abuse services.

Results of a survey show that Black/Indigenous/People of Color or Hispanic patients with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis were more likely to report poor symptom control and greater difficulty accessing care from specialists and twice as likely to have an IBD-related emergency department visit compared with White non-Hispanic patients.

More than half (60%) of patients in latest trial reached active remission and 41% stopped taking corticosteroid entirely.

Insulin resistance reduction was seen in trials using both estrogen and estrogen plus progesterone, a meta-analysis of 17 studies reveal.

This new, first-line biologic treatment provided symptom relief for patients for up to one year.

Kristi Funk, M.D., FACS, discusses the current outlook for breast cancer cases worldwide, underscoring its seriousness. “I think we have to understand everything is getting worse,” she said.

The FDA rejected an application to approve MDMA, also known as ecstasy, as a treatment for PTSD. Next up among the psychedelics vying for FDA approval: psilocybin for treatment resistant depression.

This is the first study to investigate the effectiveness of this combination to treat vitiligo.

Express Scripts alleges in its suit that the FTC followed “prejudice and politics, not evidence or sound economics,” and that there is no support for the assertion that the power of PBMs has increased over time.

The company said that it will submit a new drug application for the IPF drug, called nerandomilast, based on the positive results.

Segesterone acetate is a laboratory-made derivative of progesterone, a sex hormone used in many hormonal contraceptives

An Ohio State University survey found that many adults are hesitant about getting flu, COVID-19, pneumococcal and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccines.

The advantage of the glucago-like peptide 1s did not include people who had already developed cirrhosis,

The Minnesota-based PBM is also officially folding Magellan Rx Management into its name. Prime acquired Magellan in 2022.

Libtayo monotherapy nearly doubled the median overall survival and lowered the risks of death and disease progression.

Researchers are studying how leukocyte telomere length may be associated with the progression of Friedreich's ataxia.

Here’s what you missed this week on Managed Healthcare Executive.

“Immunity debt” may be the explanation

Out of the three stages of menopause, perimenopausal women living with HIV experience the worst COVID-19 symptoms, possibly due to increased inflammation.

Study eases some of the concern about Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis creating undue infection risk.

Investigators say more research is warranted to optimize management of patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) who become pregnant.

The retrospective analysis found Black patients were more likely to develop severe graft versus host disease (GVHD) and have a higher risk of nonrelapse mortality than White patients after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

When taken in combination with an ART regimen, metformin reduced the amount of HIV production and reduced inflammation by hindering production of the molecule that helps HIV multiply.