Pfizer and Trump strike drug-pricing deal

President Trump yesterday announced that Pfizer has agreed to offer lower prices on its drugs to the Medicaid program, among other steps, and will also price new drugs "at parity" with those in other countries. In addition, Trump announced that the administration would launch a TrumpRx.gov drug purchasing platform. You can read all about the agreement here.

As STAT's Matthew Herper writes, the jubilation in the Oval Office included Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, who seemed to have not only eased investor concerns but also secured the "friendship" of Trump.

What did experts make of the deal? There was great skepticism, STAT's Elaine Chen explains, given a number of unknowns and caveats built into the agreement.

This is likely only the start of the deals between the administration and drugmakers on the prices of prescription medicines."They're all coming in over the next week," Trump said of the companies, naming Eli Lilly specifically. "We're making deals with all of them."

autism

Leucovorin researcher tamps down parent expectations

President Trump recently announced plans to expand access to leucovorin for people with autism with cerebral folate deficiency, formalizing a treatment long circulated in parent networks. The Food and Drug Administration also re-approved GSK's Wellcovorin for that purpose, even though the company had not sought approval.

Small studies, including one led by UCSF's Robert Hendren, suggest modest improvements in speech and communication for a subset of children, but most research shows limited benefit.

STAT's O. Rose Broderick spoke with Hendren, who underscored that leucovorin is not a cure for autism, even as Trump and health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promoted the drug alongside unproven theories linking Tylenol use by pregnant women to the condition.

"I have worked with him before," Hendren said of RFK Jr. "I was impressed. He was bright, he can be charming, and he's passionate about what he believes in. But he's not a scientist. He doesn't think like a scientist. He doesn't do science, he doesn't do medicine."

addiction

Indivior retreats from Opvee amid criticism

Indivior has stopped promoting its overdose-reversal drug Opvee after poor sales, backlash from harm reduction groups, and a settlement with New York Attorney General Letitia James requiring refunds for state purchases.

The concern for a long while has been that Opvee's active ingredient, nalmefene, poses greater risks than standard naloxone, STAT's Lev Facher writes, including triggering painful withdrawal without added benefit.

The move marks a major setback for Indivior, already dogged by opioid-related scandals and legal settlements. It underscores a growing resistance to costly, high-dose overdose products that are now believed to be expensive and harmful and don't necessarily improve survival rates.

fertility

Scientists struggle to create human eggs in the lab

Oregon Health & Science University researchers reported some setbacks in efforts to create human eggs from skin cells, a project that could one day transform fertility treatment.

In a Nature Communications paper, Shoukhrat Mitalipov's team described a process they call "mitomeiosis." But so far the engineered human eggs failed to shed chromosomes properly or recombine DNA, leaving none viable, STAT's Megan Molteni writes.

While the approach has produced healthy mouse pups, experts stress the human technology is far from ready, raising fresh ethical and legal questions even as U.S. and Japanese regulators debate the boundaries of in-vitro gametogenesis.

"It kind of partially works, and partially doesn't," Mitalipov told STAT. "We will figure it out … We know it can be done."