Eli Lilly says Verve’s gene editor lowers cholesterol levels in early study Treatment was center of $1 billion buyout

https://www.statnews.com/2026/05/25/eli-lilly-verv-102-gene-editing-cholesterol-phase-1-trial-data/?utm_campaign=the_readout&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9jih8AOmLYTNhfcako_Oakyta8q3YBhmCNx-22C4RPQCQh1ppFLeOtxiuw3u4axGqr_mvd59Ax_6XhGYoAm2Gr2_7guA&_hsmi=420539245&utm_content=420539245&utm_source=hs_email By Jason MastMay 25, 2026 General Assignment Reporter Lilly's one-time cholesterol edit shows promise Eli Lilly’s experimental gene-editing therapy lowered LDL cholesterol by 62% in an early-stage trial. The treatment, acquired through Lilly’s $1 billion buyout of Verve Therapeutics, works by permanently disabling PCSK9 in the liver through a single-letter DNA edit. It suggests that a one-time DNA edit could someday replace lifelong cholesterol medication. “The results appear durable (likely permanent),” Steven Nissen, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, said in an email. Importantly, researchers reported no treatment-related serious adverse events, STAT’s Jason Mast writes — a notable outcome after Verve abandoned an earlier candidate over safety concerns. The data, published in the NEJM, showed LDL reductions lasting up to 575 days in lower-dose cohorts. Still, major questions remain about whether patients will embrace irreversible gene editing when existing PCSK9 drugs already work well with periodic dosing

Eli Lilly to buy three small vaccine developers The companies are working on shots against pathogens that can cause long-term health issues

https://www.statnews.com/2026/05/26/eli-lilly-acquisitions-vaccine-developers/?utm_campaign=the_readout&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8ALuHnUhg-wOSdJnkpBSgzTtMBEBG8SW_G2msUBKnpeTSgTJ3rhJJUvJxIppiL2shtOjfJw4BPpXxQSB3n6vxw_53s1Q&_hsmi=420539245&utm_content=420539245&utm_source=hs_email By Andrew JosephMay 26, 2026 Europe Correspondent Lilly is also spending more of its GLP-1 cash Indeed, this morning brings another round of deal-making for Lilly. The pharma giant announced plans to acquire three early and mid-stage vaccine developers for a combined $4 billion, my colleague Andrew Joseph reports. The companies being bought are Curevo, LimmaTech Biologics, and Vaccine Company. The new acquisitions will give Lilly a much larger footprint in infectious diseases, an area that hasn’t recently been a priority for the company. Lilly framed the move as one that fit with a broader focus on preventing serious health problems.

An AI biotech CEO sets the record straight on AI drug development hype Peyton Greenside, CEO of BigHat Biosciences, gets real about what AI can and can’t do

https://www.statnews.com/2026/05/26/ai-biotech-bighat-biosciences-ceo-on-ai-drug-development-hype/?utm_campaign=the_readout&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_z0rAgkGSDVZQwtFqwfJhR1hLNostdtp2-Djy1wNPSXMLbxuluLphCOmt-26mjsC7lED2ySkg5kQex2tLqzortS3JUFA&_hsmi=420539245&utm_content=420539245&utm_source=hs_email By Brittany TrangMay 26, 2026 Health Tech Reporter An AI biotech CEO sets the record straight BigHat Biosciences CEO Peyton Greenside has a refreshingly unsentimental take on AI drug discovery hype: designing a protein in six hours — or even 20 minutes — is the easy part. The hard part, she argues, is everything that comes afterward: validating molecules, engineering them into actual drugs, testing toxicity, manufacturing them, and proving they work in humans. Speaking with STAT’s Brittany Trang, Greenside said the real opportunity with AI isn’t cranking out endless simple antibodies faster than China or flashy de novo design startups. Instead, the goal is to engineer highly sophisticated multispecific molecules capable of hitting difficult biology that conventional antibodies can’t safely target. “We’re in a business where success is really low frequency, right — most things fail. So how do you climb percentages of probability of success towards what you want?” she said.

The innovation trap: How pharma weaponizes a word to extend monopolies The patent system has become more of an exclusivity system for financial investment, not invention

https://www.statnews.com/2026/05/26/humira-patents-abbvie-innovation-pharma-monopoly-excerpt/?utm_campaign=the_readout&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--NqIYrTSeyL_QWImwocq__kMwvu4Uqd-XBN-0WjHYurxeY8CGB8KyAoDdbQSPtt3xGkIPaEqH3CAMQPbQubsqSKwyMnA&_hsmi=420539245&utm_content=420539245&utm_source=hs_email By Tahir Amin and Rohit MalpaniMay 26, 2026 Amin and Malpani are the authors of “Pharma Monopoly: The Battle for the Future of Medicines,” out now from Polity, from which this essay is adapted Humira became pharma's masterclass in monopoly Rather than using it to protect innovation, biopharma has transformed the patent system into a machine designed to maximize profits and delay competition, opine patent policy experts Tahir Amin and Rohit Malpani. To them, Humira is the clearest example: After the blockbuster drug’s original patent expired in 2016, AbbVie built a thicket of 136 patents around dosing tweaks, manufacturing methods, and additional disease uses. This extended its monopoly for years, generating $114 billion in extra revenue — and the drug’s price climbed 470%. Congressional investigations later revealed McKinsey consultants actively helped devise strategies to block biosimilar competition. Much of what pharma calls “innovation” today, Amin and Malpani write, consists of legally repackaging existing science into incremental changes that offer little therapeutic benefit. “For policy-makers and anyone else affected by the pharmaceutical medicines system, a 50-year fealty to the god of innovation should force some serious questioning of the system,” they write in this essay, adapted from their book, "Pharma Monopoly: The Battle for the Future of Medicines."

8 former CDC directors: Reform PEPFAR, don’t dismantle it A State Department plan scheduled to be implemented June 1 would strip the U.S. of decades of disease defense

https://www.statnews.com/2026/05/26/pepfar-state-department-plan-dismantling-hiv-cdc/ By William Roper, Jeffrey Koplan, Richard Besser, Tom Frieden, Anne Schuchat, Robert Redfield, Rochelle Walensky, and Mandy CohenMay 26, 2026 The authors are former directors or acting directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

How Kyle Diamantas defied expectations as he rose to lead the FDA Unlike many leaders at Marty Makary’s FDA, new acting commissioner earned trust of career staff

https://www.statnews.com/2026/05/26/kyle-diamantas-acting-fda-commissioner-wins-trust-exceeds-expectations/?utm_campaign=the_readout&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9UONnCkcAe00w4vX8ZujHHfhjcWEmT1HoVsFNs1Z-pu2sLIodO8brwKxMr1vuC8QTOMSwg2Ee2_xH5AoDndMRTVBqBQw&_hsmi=420539245&utm_content=420539245&utm_source=hs_email By Lizzy LawrenceMay 26, 2026 FDA Reporter The unexpected rise of Acting FDA chief Diamantas When the Trump administration last year appointed Florida attorney Kyle Diamantas as the FDA’s top food official, the broader public health world expected a politically connected industry lawyer with little scientific credibility. Instead, food industry groups, consumer advocates, and FDA staffers are describing him as unusually competent, prepared, and willing to listen, STAT’s Lizzy Lawrence writes. He has presented a sharp contrast with some other recent FDA leaders who alienated career staff by steamrolling scientific expertise. “Kyle is someone who listens to everyone,” said Scott Faber, senior vice president of the Environmental Working Group. “He’s earned the respect of career staff and the FDA stakeholder community. He’s a natural leader, but he isn’t going to rush to the cameras.” Diamantas, a former Jones Day attorney who represented food and tobacco clients and apparently hunts wild turkeys with Donald Trump Jr., has built credibility by doing something shockingly rare in Washington: reading briefing materials before meetings and treating stakeholders seriously.

HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY +++ +++ +

HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY Modern Healthcare: Travel Nursing Market Steadies As Profitability Issues Persist https://www.modernhealthcare.com/providers/staffing/mh-travel-nursing-market-profitability-survey/?utm_campaign=KHN%3A%20First%20Edition&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--U-V1V5vBzmca8VdRzfR7wL2zgMLcgi2gPpwVQPUuYlxduyFHt5bH_cPEKxfxUCN1yK9X3EZe_klUkUK0m9QGCHTKsdQ&_hsmi=420530587&utm_content=420530587&utm_source=hs_email The travel nurse market is normalizing and several key performance metrics appear to be stabilizing above pre-Covid pandemic levels, according to the annual SIA NATHO Travel Nurse Benchmarking Survey. At the same time, profitability remains under pressure even as bill rates hold relatively steady. Overall, the data suggests the market is no longer in sharp decline but is instead moving into a more stable and operationally disciplined environment. (Fullilove, 5/22) AP: State Asylums' Psychiatric Records Are Often Hard To Get https://apnews.com/article/state-asylum-psychiatric-records-df3ae6af27ca1d51df9a98fdb34185a7?utm_campaign=KHN%3A%20First%20Edition&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--O254e2OWTsYyWPA4krE0tQCnLplKKmTpR-Z03-4C1nUrhV5lPnpWNmcy3JgHF0NTmwh3IQfn1tBOa_8q2hdsOFIeY9A&_hsmi=420530587&utm_content=420530587&utm_source=hs_email Breta Meria Conole was in a state psychiatric hospital for more than two decades. But the reason why is a family mystery. Debby Hannigan, her great grandniece, tried for years to access Conole’s medical records, because she thought they might hold clues to mental health issues in her family, including her oldest daughter’s depression. Hannigan twice wrote to the state of New York for the records. The second time she included a supporting note from her daughter’s therapist, who said the details would help “to know their family medical history better.” Both times she was turned away. (Stobbe, 5/24) NPR: Mental Health Therapists Who Use AI To Take Notes Face Questions About Trust https://www.npr.org/2026/05/26/nx-s1-5826943/talk-therapy-mental-health-ai-artificial-intelligence-privacy-trust?utm_campaign=KHN%3A%20First%20Edition&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_NpT7xegl8Bpuit16O461WCI3lc3X5mqrdNmikfzmR5aYuCE8kcw4SXVzw8ruEUTpFeAZD5F8GJSTknJ3YNhrv2i0Ucg&_hsmi=420530587&utm_content=420530587&utm_source=hs_email For two years, Molly Quinn trusted her therapist with things she hadn't told anyone else. So when her therapist mentioned trying an artificial intelligence tool to take notes, Quinn didn't immediately refuse. The 31-year-old librarian from Fayetteville, Ark., asked to research it first. She wanted to understand where her words would go — whether they would stay local or be processed somewhere in the cloud. (Johnston, 5/26) The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer: Ohio Therapists See Clawbacks Paused, Pay Reduced https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2026/05/caresource-halts-medicaid-clawbacks-but-cuts-pay-for-ohio-therapists.html?utm_campaign=KHN%3A%20First%20Edition&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9LwMBjjbO8-qubVEQWrvDhkf827lUsSy4AvOf-xZqFtf2rX1e3B6Ca3pjXAyEsUBf20dnhpznFpZkOqs3XNX0trNqJyQ&_hsmi=420530587&utm_content=420530587&utm_source=hs_email The first thing Ohio therapists saw was the bill. It came from CareSource, Ohio’s largest Medicaid managed care plan, which covers more than 1.4 million members. In April, the Dayton-based organization told some behavioral health providers that it had been paying them too much for treating Medicaid patients — and that the therapists would have to pay the money back. (Washington, 5/25) The Baltimore Sun: Eastern Shore Receives $3.1 Million Federal Healthcare Funding https://www.baltimoresun.com/2026/05/24/eastern-shore-health-funding/?utm_campaign=KHN%3A%20First%20Edition&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--SNZwxxDXUiPoJa3QNfp9GEGqqWAdr4odExWCaXDtGIU88_QNAQoVXdbnpqVKJv5-OgZ6jur4a0vG8cl3KFRCHK1A8Ow&_hsmi=420530587&utm_content=420530587&utm_source=hs_email Communities on Maryland’s Eastern Shore have received more than $3 million in federal funding to assist with clinic staffing and other health care needs. The $3,139,017 in funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, announced Sunday by U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, will go to Somerset, Wicomico and Worcester counties. (Hubbard, 5/24) Carolina Public Press: UNCW Gets UNC System Blessing To Continue Medical School Planning https://www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2026/05/24/uncw-gets-unc-system-blessing-to-continue-medical-school-planning/?utm_campaign=KHN%3A%20First%20Edition&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8GYkSW0xg7Ubqj3wm4D7T2zsfvP-8vVRwwNznQFo2R_D3fagxYe4PtSWtVqVdS5y8ujnKCKLuPfWXGyhfu8smn2XfQ6w&_hsmi=420530587&utm_content=420530587&utm_source=hs_email The University of North Carolina System Board of Governors voted Thursday to let UNC-Wilmington move forward with the planning process for its proposed medical school. It’s the next step — though an unusual one — in the university’s effort to mend healthcare inequity by increasing access in Southeastern North Carolina. (Denning, 5/24) The Washington Post: Weight-Loss Compounder Hims & Hers Is Shifting To Wellness And Longevity https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/05/24/weight-loss-compounder-hims-hers-is-shifting-wellness-longevity/?utm_campaign=KHN%3A%20First%20Edition&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-867zLRuiEkfxeIoLc1k4prGCkiEhDiZLpwrRWHAUG3GyB_Iqv61y6yQIhApuaUKVVPxO6UlQOmlXRddxOxjPplUPFOAg&_hsmi=420530587&utm_content=420530587&utm_source=hs_email The next phase of Andrew Dudum’s quest to change how Americans get their health care is taking shape behind the walls of a nondescript factory, tucked off a side street in Silicon Valley. As co-founder and CEO of telehealth company Hims & Hers, Dudum has helped lead the tech industry’s encroachment on traditional medicine, using social media to sell popular prescription drugs over the internet. (Rowland, 5/24)