On May 31, at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago, an international study co-led by a UCLA research team reported that patients with pancreatic cancer who took the drug daraxonrasib lived substantially longer, for an average of 13.2 months, compared with 6.6 to 6.7 months for patients who had chemotherapy alone.
This is welcome news, and in anticipation of these results, the FDA, just a month earlier, announced it was granting early access to the drug for selected patients who had failed guideline-directed treatments for this lethal malignancy.
Widespread media coverage of this regulatory pivot in drug access highlights the intense, enduring interest among the general public, as well as in the scientific and medical communities, for identifying treatments that can move the survival needle lethal for complex, heterogeneous malignancies, thereby derailing effective treatment, especially when only single drugs are deployed to improve clinical outcomes.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Four years ago, Tennessee became the first state to allow adults to buy the antiparasitic drug ivermectin from a pharmacy without first seeing a doctor. Pharmacies can use a pre-written, blanket prescription to sell to just about anyone who walks through their doors.
The drug is now marketed and sold across the state in roadside shops and small-town strip malls with little oversight from health authorities. Highway billboards advertise ivermectin as “Available Without a Prescription in Tennessee!” while dozens of pharmacies offer highly concentrated pills, sometimes at 10 or 20 times the potency of a standard tablet.
The countdown has started. Robert Gould has 73 days before federal funding delays ruin decades of his institution’s work increasing knowledge and understanding of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“It’s sickening,” said Gould, a professor in the Department of Disability and Human Development at University of Illinois Chicago, and the director of research for the Great Lakes ADA Center. “So many people rely on and use our services. … It’s not a partisan issue, so it doesn’t make sense to me that these delays keep on happening.”
Federal officials have recalculated the quality ratings for 2026 Medicare Advantage plans, a new government memo shows. The consequential decision was prompted by yet another legal action from the health insurance industry.
Over the past few years, health insurance companies that sell Medicare Advantage plans have inundated the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services with lawsuits that challenged their lower star ratings, which jeopardized taxpayer-funded bonuses. Many insurers have lost their cases, but a handful have won. Two years ago, CMS had to redo Medicare Advantage star ratings after federal judges said the government erred with its original calculations.
Medicare Advantage plans that get at least four out of five stars get bonus payments. Those bonuses have ballooned to $16 billion this year — almost the entire budget of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and an amount that has doubled since 2020.
A panel of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration gave its endorsement Thursday to a seasonal mRNA flu vaccine that was developed by Moderna and that earlier this year became the subject of controversy when a top agency official briefly refused to even consider accepting it for review.
The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee — known as VRBPAC — voted unanimously that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks for both adults ages 50 to 64, and those 65 and older. It remains to be seen what the FDA will decide, but staff presentations during the meeting suggested the agency sees the vaccine as having cleared sufficient hurdles to be licensed via a traditional pathway for the younger group, and an accelerated pathway for the older group.
Multiple flu vaccines currently on the market were first licensed using an accelerated pathway, Wellington Sun, a former FDA employee, noted during the meeting’s public comment period. (After leaving FDA, Sun worked for Moderna, but he is no longer with the company.)
Making good on its threat, Eli Lilly has begun eliminating mandated price breaks to a few dozen hospitals that participate in a federal drug discount program after failing to receive comprehensive claims data.
The move comes after the company warned earlier this month it would take such a step as part of a policy announced in January in order to reduce what it calls duplicate discounts paid to the hospitals. Trade groups representing hospitals, however, argue the move is unlawful and want Congress to intervene.
At the time, Lilly maintained that more than 2,300 hospitals had complied with its demand, but some larger hospitals systems around the U.S. refused to do so, despite recent follow-up letters regarding the policy, which went into effect Feb. 1. Up to 1,000 had so far not complied, and Lilly indicated it was pressing about 50 larger hospitals to provide data.
On this week’s episode of “The Readout LOUD”: New hope for people living with Huntington’s disease, and a report card on RFK Jr.’s effort to remake health in America.
The Food and Drug Administration reversed its opposition to a closely watched gene therapy for Huntington’s disease, clearing a path for its maker, the biotech company UniQure, to file for U.S. approval. Joining us to discuss this new development and what it means for the Huntington’s community is Lauren Holder, a Huntington’s disease advocate who is living with the early stages of the disease.
DAKAR, Senegal — The Ebola outbreak in Congo and Uganda has claimed more than 200 lives in its first month and is the worst known outbreak at this stage, with up to 35,000 suspected potential contacts, Africa’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.
With 894 confirmed cases so far, the current outbreak is three times worse than a previous outbreak in Uganda in 2000, which had 281 cases at the same point, said Dr. Wessam Mankoula, a medical epidemiologist at Africa CDC.
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.
The search for dark matter has been blown wide open
For decades, physicists have hunted for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), a leading candidate for dark matter. But their search has run into a new problem: neutrinos.
These tiny particles from the sun and other stars can create a “neutrino fog” that drowns out any signal of dark matter. Hitting the neutrino fog does not, however, mean an end to the search. Researchers just have to shift the focus of their hunt.
They’re now casting a much wider net. New proposals include quantum sensors, liquid-helium detectors, and even searches in Jupiter’s atmosphere.
This story is from the next edition of our magazine, which is all about engineering. Subscribe now to get a copy when it lands!
Entrepreneurs in Nairobi are making the case for going solar
Shops with diesel-powered grain mills are common in Nairobi. Milcah Wanjiru’s is different: it runs on either solar energy or the grid.
About a quarter of Kenya’s population still lacks centralized electricity, and off-grid solar is being promoted as a route to universal access by 2030. In Wanjiru’s case, it cuts operating costs and can improve profits once the upfront investment is recovered.
Geoengineering still faces major practical challenges
—Casey Crownhart
Solar geoengineering is often portrayed as a sort of emergency brake. Something along the lines of “Pull in case of climate emergency to scatter light-reflecting particles to bounce sunlight out of the atmosphere and cool the planet.”
But it might be less like a simple brake the more like a complicated, entirely unsolved puzzle. My colleague James Temple dug into these engineering challenges in his latest feature story. My biggest takeaway? This all looks a lot harder than I thought.
This article is from The Spark, our weekly newsletter giving you the inside track on all things climate. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 The Pentagon says it used Grok in strikes on Iran Its AI chief said it helped fire over 2,000 munitions. (Le Monde) + He spoke in defense of xAI in a data center pollution lawsuit. (NYT $) + Officials claim the company is essential to national security. (AP News) + Conversational AI has entered the war room. (MIT Technology Review)
2 Apple will raise prices due to the memory chip shortage Tim Cook said price increases are “unavoidable.” (WSJ $) + AI’s demand for data centers has led to dwindling supplies. (Reuters $) + iPhone prices could rise by $200 or more. (WSJ $)
3 Strikes beyond battlefields are pumping demand for counter-drone tech The market for airport and infrastructure defenses is booming. (Reuters $) + Worried by China, Taiwan is teaching its citizens to fly drones. (Guardian) + Europe has a drone-filled vision for future war. (MIT Technology Review)
4 Anthropic and DeepMind’s CEOs have called for a US-led AI coalition They want the alliance to shape AI rules and standards. (CNBC) + Anthropic’s CEO told G7 leaders to “resist the temptation to splinter.” (FT $)
5 American developers are turning to cheaper Chinese AI They say DeepSeek is good enough for a fraction of the cost. (Rest of World) + What’s next for Chinese open-source AI? (MIT Technology Review)
6 Two-thirds of Americans think AI is advancing too quickly Pew Research found increasing use but negative views. (The Verge) + AI is sprinting, and we’re struggling to keep up. (MIT Technology Review)
7 Elon Musk’s next move may be a megamerger of SpaceX and Tesla Shareholders might object, but there’s little they could do. (NYT $)
8 White House aims for Anthropic to block jailbreaks may be impossible Security experts say it simply isn’t technically feasible. (Wired $)
9 Ancient DNA is rewriting the history of plague Genomic data suggests it emerged thousands of years earlier. (Economist $)
10 AI image generator Midjourney is shifting to full-body ultrasound scans It also plans to build a spa in San Francisco. (The Verge)
Quote of the day
“We had a great meeting with AI.”
—President Trump says negotiations with Anthropic over restoring access to the company’s latest AI models are going well, the Wall Street Journal reports.
One More Thing
GETTY IMAGES
Why can’t tech fix its gender problem?
Women remain grossly underrepresented in the technology industry. At the core of the problem is money: tech has generated enormous personal fortunes, and most of that wealth has gone to men.
White and Asian men manage 93% of venture dollars. In 2021, only 2% of venture capital funding went to startups founded solely by women.
The lack of investor and founder diversity doesn’t only determine who gets rich. It also shapes the kinds of problems technology companies set out to solve.
A place for comfort, fun, and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line.)
+ Meet one of the world’s most wonderfully weird animals: the aardwolf. + Escape into this dreamy, minimalist photo collection about the Pacific surf. + Admire the casual football skills of this Venetian gondolier executing a stylish backheel while on the job. + Explore an interactive prehistoric globe simulation and browse an endless timeline at The Dinosaur Database.
