MedCity News

Close-up of unrecognizable black woman holding her chest in pain

Where Are the Biggest Opportunities in Women’s Cardiovascular Health?

Gilead to Pay $1.3B for Oral Peptide That Could Rival J&J’s New Immunology Pill

Gilead Sciences is getting global rights to an experimental PepStar Therapeutics oral peptide designed to inhibit the IL-23 receptor to treat inflammatory bowel disease. It could compete against Johnson & Johnson’s Icotyde, an oral peptide that blocks the same target and is also in development for IBD.

By Frank Vinluan

MedCity Influencers

Why an Independent NP Practice Requires an Undergraduate Business Foundation

Ultimately, while clinical training teaches nurses how to care for patients within a system, business education empowers them to design, protect, and scale the system.

By Octavia “Tavi” Schlueter

Consumer / Employer

Amazon, Google and Other Major Employers Back CMS Prior Auth Effort

Amazon, Axon Enterprise, Google, Meta and Oracle backed expanding electronic prior authorization to self-funded employer health plans.

By Marissa Plescia

Latest Video

Latest News

BioPharma, Pharma

Alcon Expands Its Cell Therapy Ambitions With $550M Neurotech Pharma Acquisition

Alcon’s Neurotech Pharmaceuticals acquisition brings the rare vision disorder cell therapy Encelto as well as the platform technology that developed it. Last year, Alcon acquired a majority stake in Aurion Biotech, a startup developing a corneal cell therapy.

By Frank Vinluan

MedCity Influencers

alzheimer's, memory loss and senile dementure

Why SDoH Programs Fall Short — and What It Takes to Make Them Work

Throwing more money at SDoH programs isn’t going to magically fix them. Instead, plans should be focusing on building out these three specific capabilities that, together, can noticeably alter the playing field.

By David Wolf

Events

INVEST Digital Health Celebrates Healthcare Innovation in Texas

In addition to a packed conference agenda and tours of the Pegasus Park healthcare and life science innovation hub in Dallas, INVEST Digital Health also includes an innovation showcase with novel health tech and medtech offerings as well as networking opportunities.

By Stephanie Baum

Health Tech

Judi Health Launches Medicare Part D Plan for Employers

Judi Health launched Judi Rx Retire, an employer-sponsored Medicare Part D plan designed to improve pricing transparency and streamline benefits administration.

By Marissa Plescia

BioPharma, Pharma

GSK Wins FDA Nod for Novel Hepatitis B Drug Offering a Potential Functional Cure

GSK’s Hibsago brings a new mechanism of action to chronic hepatitis B, targeting the genetic instructions the virus uses to make copies of itself and viral proteins. This drug was licensed from antisense oligonucleotide specialist Ionis Pharmaceuticals.

By Frank Vinluan

Artificial Intelligence, Providers

AMA Calls for Risk-Based GenAI Oversight to Protect Patients and Support Responsible Innovation

As generative AI moves toward performing increasingly consequential clinical functions, the American Medical Association (AMA) is urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to address a foundational question: Who is responsible for ensuring that these tools remain safe once they enter clinical practice?

By Jenna Congdon

MedCity Influencers

Wooden Jigsaw Puzzle About to Be Finished With a Blank Area Close-up Full Frame View.

Your Product Works — So Why Does It Still Fail in the Real World?

A patient's automated risk score was reassuringly green. Pulling from a sparse medical record and infrequent acute visits, the model flagged him as low risk and routed him to the default, low-touch outpatient pathway — so why was the patient actively deteriorating?

By Mitchell Frye

Artificial Intelligence, Devices & Diagnostics, Providers

FDA Official Believes GenAI-enabled Tools Will Need to Be Assessed Like a Physician

Rick Abramson, a radiologist by training and the director of FDA's Digital Health Center of Excellence said, "We ended up putting out this idea that maybe these devices are starting to behave a little bit more like me as a physician than a heart valve or a defibrillator."

By Arundhati Parmar

Health Tech, Payers

Readily Secures $11M for Compliance Intelligence Platform

The Series A round was led by Define Ventures, with participation from Y Combinator and the California Health Care Foundation Innovation Fund.

By Marissa Plescia

BioPharma, Pharma

GSK Immunotherapy Gets Accelerated FDA Approval for Treating Rectal Cancer

The GSK cancer immunotherapy Jemperli is now approved for treating advanced cases of rectal cancer harboring a particular genetic signature. It’s a label expansion for Jemperli, which was initially approved as a treatment for endometrial cancer.

By Frank Vinluan

MedCity Influencers

A Radical Proposal to Preserve Cell and Gene Therapy Innovation

Cell and gene therapies are amazing medical breakthroughs but if we don’t find ways to pay for them, the development pipeline will fail.

By William Shrank

Hospitals, Physicians

Report: Health System M&A Activity Remains Steady in Third Quarter

A new report on third quarter M&A activity in the healthcare sector found that this quarter’s hospital and health system transactions remained steady, with 2026 potentially set to be a top year for total annual transactions since pre-pandemic times.

By Jenna Congdon

Devices & Diagnostics, Policy

AdvaMed’s 4 Policy Priorities, According to Its CEO

AdvaMed CEO Scott Whitaker outlined four policy priorities at the MedTech Conference: tariffs, FDA user fees, payment and coverage, and cybersecurity.

By Marissa Plescia

BioPharma, Pharma

Merck KGaA’s $1.1B Silence Therapeutics Buyout Brings RNA Drug for Rare Blood Cancer

The Silence Therapeutics acquisition gives Merck KGaA a drug ready for a pivotal test in the blood disorder polycythemia vera. Silence’s RNA therapy offers a different approach and a potential dosing advantage over a Takeda Pharmaceutical product recently approved in this indication.

By Frank Vinluan

Devices & Diagnostics

With $5M, Phantom GI Plans to Develop Minimally Invasive Alternative Ostomy Surgery Device

Phantom GI, a Tel Aviv-based medical startup, is developing the PercStoma device, a minimally invasive alternative to traditional ostomy surgery. The device would target patients with bowel obstructions who might otherwise be considered ineligible for surgery.

By Jenna Congdon