
Something is bugging me this week. Okay, lots of things are bugging me this week, but the one that is relevant to this newsletter is the STAT News headline that implied it is awesome to be a pharmaceutical executive in 2026. This week, there were reports of more than 25,000 layoffs in pharma last year.…

You won’t be surprised when I tell you that my favorite Halloween costume was when I wore a pair of scrubs with vinyl records attached (Spin Doctor). Yep. Right up there with Freudian slips. This year I will stick to my usual costume: the nice lady who hands out full-size bars to 200+ neighborhood kids.…

Caught my Eye Cool Idea, But. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) puts announced a new pilot prioritization program for the review of Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDAs) to support generic manufacturing in the U.S. I mean it sounds good, except… there are three criteria for applicants: Only 9% of API manufacturers are in the…

Round ’em up. The Presidential priorities that have everything and nothing to do with each other. This week has been a healthcare whirlwind. Here’s what I think you need to know * Most favored nation policy is still kicking around and the company announcements are interesting, but I want to poke around under the hood…

A Monday off is always a double win, longer weekend and shorter week. Caught My Eye Made me Laugh. 340B can be funny. Go PhRMA. Zebras, Not Unicorns. The Food and Drug Administration announced a new rare disease approval framework. While it acknowledges the challenge of rare disease, it is unclear if the new framework…

It’s the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, let’s blow this pop (pup?) stand. I’m playing with the format of these posts so let me know what you think. The aim is to be more of a newsletter than a blog, but still give you everything you need to know in just a few minutes a…

Let’s wrap up my musings on the President’s Executive Order (EO). Medicaid. Section 6 of the EO directs the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director, the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, and the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, in coordination with the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), to…

Tuesday morning, I spent the first half of the day convinced it was Wednesday, and yet, despite that mental setback, the rest of the week has flown by. Feels like a win. Killing me softly. Overall, glad to see the stories recognizing how the uncertainty of federal research dollars is impacting NIH summer internships, graduate…

Is anybody out there? It seems like everyone has disappeared for the rest of the year. And who can blame them? A few odds and ends caught my eye as I got ready to wrap up this year… Rebatable: 2025 should be interesting with now 4 companies pursuing the rebate model and suing the government.…

It’s an Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) hangover kind of week. Last week the first Medicare negotiated prices for 2026 were announced and this week is the “what does this mean?” week with everyone catching up and chiming in. What I wrote last week stands but if you want another review, Health Affairs/KFF has you covered.…