Trump pitches broad health plan, though details are scarce

President Trump yesterday unveiled a broad, loosely defined "Great Healthcare Plan" that promises tougher price controls on drugmakers and more transparency across the health system, while largely leaving Medicare, Medicaid, employer coverage, hospitals, and physicians untouched.

Among other things, the proposal includes extending international drug prices to all Americans, expanding over-the-counter access to some medicines, and routing insurance subsidies directly to individuals rather than insurers, STAT's Daniel Payne, Bob Herman, and John Wilkerson write.

However, these ideas would largely require congressional approval, and lack legislative text or cost estimates, administration officials said. Democrats are already dismissing the plan as bluster.

regulation

FDA delays reviews for two drugs in new voucher program

The FDA has delayed reviews of two drugs selected for the Trump administration's new National Priority Voucher Program, Reuters reports, after agency scientists raised safety and efficacy concerns.

Reviewers pushed back Disc Medicine's experimental blood-disorder drug bitopertin by two weeks over questions about trial endpoints and potential abuse risk. They also stalled review of Sanofi's diabetes drug Tzield by more than a month following adverse event reports like seizures, a blood-clotting episode, and one patient death under review.

The setbacks — previously unreported — undercut the program's promise of one- to two-month decisions, though the delays are a signal that perhaps the FDA is not sacrificing rigor for speed.

"It is a very good sign the FDA in this program is willing to say: 'Hold on, we're not actually sure this product should be allowed on the market,'" said Holly Fernandez Lynch, a health policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

Other drugs in the program, including a weight loss pill from Eli Lilly and a lung cancer drug from Boehringer Ingelheim have also slipped beyond initial target dates.

glp-1 drugs

What's Lilly going to call its next blockbuster?

From former Readout superguy Damian Garde: The coming FDA approval of orforglipron, Eli Lilly's oral weight loss medicine, is poised to answer some big questions in medicine. Will patients prefer a daily pill over a weekly injection? Just how big can the market for novel obesity drugs get? And can Lilly live up to its trillion-dollar valuation?

Here's another one: What's it going to be called?

Brand names for drugs are famously inscrutable and debatably important. But in the world of GLP-1s, where "Ozempic" often seems as widely known as "Advil," they get more attention than normal. That makes naming orforglipron, sure to be the star of exhaustive advertising in the near future, a matter of some importance.

Lilly didn't respond to our admittedly absurd request to spill the beans. But a look at the company's recent trademark filings might offer some clues. Among linguistic confections including "Xoyagi" and "Kepmery," you'll find "Nexvound," which not only shares a suffix with Lilly's top-selling obesity treatment Zepbound but, unlike most of the fellow potential names on the list, has a trademarked logo, as well.

rebranding

Compounder files antitrust suit against GLP-1 giants

The compounding pharmacy Strive Specialties has sued Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk in Texas, STAT's Ed Silverman writes — accusing the drug giants of using anticompetitive tactics to choke off competition in the obesity space. It's alleging that these companies are locking up telehealth providers, interfering with payment processors and social platforms, and disparaging compounded versions of their drugs as unsafe or illegal.

The lawsuit is the first of its kind from a compounder, and lands amid a booming GLP-1 market dominated by Lilly's Zepbound and Novo's Wegovy. Strive argues that even after FDA shortages ended, personalized compounded versions still serve patients who can't tolerate or access brand-name products.

Lilly and Novo reject the claims as meritless, framing the case as a distraction from what they say are Strive's own misleading marketing practices. But the lawsuit represents a new front in a growing legal war over who gets to participate in the multibillion-dollar gold rush over weight loss drugs.