Latest research based on animal model trials shows GLP-1 drugs may prevent problem of ‘no-reflow’ in recovery
Weight-loss drugs could help people who have had a heart attack avoid suffering potentially fatal complications afterwards, research has found.
Drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy reduce the risk of the tissue damage that affects up to half of the 100,000 people a year in the UK who suffer a heart attack, according to the study.
Continue reading...Shares jump on higher profits as Emma Walmsley is ‘hopeful’ standoff with NHS can be resolved
GSK’s outgoing chief executive, Emma Walmsley, has said Britain will struggle to be a “life sciences superpower” unless it overhauls drug pricing.
As ministers draw up proposals to increase the amount the NHS spends on new medicines by up to 25%, Walmsley said she was “hopeful and ambitious” that the standoff with the pharma industry could be resolved.
Continue reading...New blow to UK’s key life science sector as industry body says country is losing ground on investment and research
The US drugmaker Merck has scrapped a £1bn London research centre and is laying off 125 scientists in the capital this year, in a big blow to the UK’s important life science sector.
Keir Starmer’s government has described life sciences as “one of the crown jewels of the UK economy” and the previous Conservative government had vowed to turn the country into a “global science and technology superpower” by 2030.
Continue reading...President repeats threat to bring in levies ‘within next week or so’ in attempt to get companies to move production to US
Shares in European pharmaceutical companies have sunk to a four-month low, after Donald Trump repeated his threats to introduce tariffs on drug imports “within the next week or so”.
Europe’s Stoxx Health Care index slid by 2.8% on Wednesday, falling to its lowest level since mid-April, shortly after the US president’s initial “liberation day” tariff announcements.
Continue reading...US president talks of low tariff to give pharmaceutical firms a year or so to build, and then making it ‘very high’
Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on pharmaceutical products and semiconductors as soon as 1 August, the latest deadline for the introduction of his “reciprocal” levies on individual countries.
The US president told reporters late on Tuesday the taxes on drug imports could be announced “probably at the end of the month, and we’re going to start off with a low tariff and give the pharmaceutical companies a year or so to build, and then we’re going to make it a very high tariff”.
Continue reading...Watchdog releases nine new rulings setting clear precedents for online selling
Online pharmacies are no longer allowed to run adverts for weight loss injections, the advertising watchdog has ruled, as part of a crackdown on what has been described as a “wild west” culture of online selling.
In the UK, advertising prescription-only medications (POMs) – which includes all weight loss jabs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro – to the public is illegal. However, a Guardian investigation previously found some online pharmacies either breaking these rules outright, or exploiting grey areas to peddle the medications to the public.
Continue reading...Convicted murderer told trial she made multiple changes to Nagi Maehashi’s recipe in preparing the fatal lunch two years ago
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Nagi Maehashi, the cook behind RecipeTin Eats, says it is “upsetting” to have become “entangled in a tragic situation” after Erin Patterson told her triple murder trial she used the beef wellington recipe for the fateful lunch.
In a post to Instagram on Tuesday, Maehashi requested that journalists of Australia “please stop calling and emailing and texting and DM’ing me about the Erin Patterson case”.
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Continue reading...Regulator tells Sally Westcott to pull product that allegedly has undeclared levels of prescription-only melatonin
An NHS manager has been stopped from selling children’s gummies allegedly laced with undeclared levels of a prescription-only sleeping drug, the Guardian can reveal.
Magnesium glycinate gummies for children who have trouble sleeping have been sold since March last year by Nutrition Ignition, an Epsom-based company owned by Sally Westcott, whose other job is a clinical therapy lead at Epsom and St Helier NHS trust.
Continue reading...Demand for beauty products by gen Alpha customer base also behind retailer’s expansion after tough times
An increase in demand for weight loss drugs, including Mounjaro and Wegovy, as well as demand among its generation Alpha customer base for beauty products is driving expansion at Superdrug.
The retailer plans to add 25 more stores to its 800-plus strong chain this year as well as extending existing outlets, despite troubles across the high street that have led to the closure of hundreds of stores at its rival Boots and downsizing at chains from Poundland to River Island.
Continue reading...European pharmaceutical body says it would be ‘negative for both sides’ if Brussels hits back on threatened US levies
The European pharmaceutical industry has urged Brussels not to retaliate if Donald Trump brings in threatened tariffs on imported drugs, amid fears he could impose the levies as early as next week.
The US president said last week that the sector-specific tariffs were coming “very soon”. There is concern in Brussels that he could impose them imminently to give himself further leverage ahead of his self-imposed 9 July deadline for trade deals with the EU and about 60 countries.
Continue reading...European court of justice says no ‘plausible explanation’ given for denying New York Times access to texts from pandemic
The EU’s highest court has cancelled a decision to withhold Ursula von der Leyen’s text messages with a pharmaceutical executive during the pandemic, in a significant defeat for the commission president.
The European court of justice on Wednesday annulled a decision taken by the European Commission in November 2022 to deny the New York Times access to the messages, after a freedom of information request by the paper.
Continue reading...Faced with lower US profits, pharmaceutical companies could demand higher prices elsewhere in the world, or even withdraw products entirely
Donald Trump’s pressure on medicine companies could drive up the cost of Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) or see companies withdraw some medicines from Australian shelves , experts have warned.
The US president on Monday threatened to force medicine companies to lower their prices in the US, giving them 30 days to cut costs or face more severe action in an executive order.
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Continue reading...Providing semaglutide for all those eligible may bring productivity gains as people are able to work more
Giving weight loss jabs to everyone eligible for them could boost the UK economy by £4.5bn, according to research.
Worldwide, about 3.8 billion people over 25 and just under 750 million children and young people are forecast to be overweight or obese by 2050. In England, 26.5% of adults are obese, while across the UK 4.6 million are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
Continue reading...UK and rest of Europe risk losing out to US and China unless they ramp up spending on new medicines, says CEO Pascal Soriot
AstraZeneca said it was shifting the production of some medicines sold in the US from Europe to the US, to counter the impact of Donald Trump’s trade tariffs.
Speaking as the company reported higher sales and profits for the first quarter, the FTSE 100 pharma company reiterated that the UK, and the rest of Europe, risked losing out to the US and China unless they ramped up spending on new medicines. Pascal Soriot, AstraZeneca’s chief executive, warned that well-paid advanced manufacturing and research jobs could move to the US in the long run.
Continue reading...Spravato, derived from a popular club drug and also known as esketamine, offers hope to tens of thousands of Australians living with chronic mental illness
A medication chemically similar to ketamine will be made cheaper to improve the lives of Australians suffering from treatment-resistant depression.
The drug, which comes in the form of a nasal spray, is a chemical cousin of ketamine, used for decades as a powerful anaesthetic before it was adopted as a party drug in underground rave culture.
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Continue reading...Government seeks ways to shield industry from possible US levies amid concern over effect on medicine supply
Ministers are having an “active conversation” with UK pharmaceutical firms about the potential impact of US tariffs, amid calls for an emergency taskforce to make sure the supply of medicines is not disrupted.
The UK government has been trying to head off the threat of tariffs to the pharmaceuticals industry, which exports about £7bn of goods to the US – just behind the £8.3bn of car exports.
Continue reading...Notices show Trump administration setting stage for levies on both sectors on national security grounds
The Trump administration is kicking off investigations into imports of pharmaceuticals and semiconductors as part of a bid to impose tariffs on both sectors on national security grounds, notices posted to the Federal Register on Monday showed.
The filings scheduled to be published on Wednesday set a 21-day deadline from that date for the submission of public comment on the issue and indicate the administration intends to pursue the levies under authority granted by the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. Such inquiries need to be completed within 270 days after being announced.
Continue reading...Von der Leyen urged to take ‘rapid and radical action’ as president says tariffs on pharmaceuticals coming ‘shortly’
Pharmaceutical companies in the EU have warned of a “risk of exodus” to the US as stocks in the sector slid around the world on the back of Donald Trump’s renewed threat to impose tariffs on US drugs imports.
Drugmakers’ shares across Europe and India, another foreign drugs hub, slipped on Wednesday after Trump indicated further carnage was on the way in addition to the 20% “reciprocal tariffs” on imports that kicked in overnight.
Continue reading...Co-founder Anne Wojcicki to pursue independent bid as California attorney general tells users to delete data
The genetic testing company 23andMe has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US to help sell itself, as its chief executive quit to pursue a bid for the business after several aborted attempts.
23andMe said late on Sunday that it had started voluntary Chapter 11 proceedings in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri to “facilitate a sale process to maximise the value of its business”. It added that it is operating as usual throughout the sale process.
Continue reading...Report co-authored by Irish government also finds tariffs could cause job losses and relocation of US multinationals
A trade war between the US and the EU could cost Ireland more than €18bn (£15bn), trigger waves of job losses and cause US multinationals to relocate, according to a report co-authored by the Irish government.
Ireland’s GDP could shrink by 3.7% over the next five to seven years under the worst-case scenario, in which Donald Trump imposed 25% tariffs on all exports on the EU and the EU retaliated with counter-tariffs, the study carried by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) found.
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