Cigna's Evernorth division announced it will move away from the rebate model for pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts, shifting instead to a pass-through model that gives patients upfront discounts on medications. The company says this change, rolling out in 2027 for Cigna Healthcare and 2028 for all Express Scripts clients, will simplify drug pricing and help patients save about 30% on brand-name prescriptions each month.

Colorado will become the first state to cap the price of Enbrel, Amgen's arthritis drug, setting a $30,000 annual limit that matches the new Medicare-negotiated rate starting in January. Enbrel's list price has climbed from about $11,000 in 1998 to $106,000 today, even though less expensive versions have been available in Europe for years, they have been blocked in the US by Amgen's patents. The state's new rule is part of a broader effort to lower drug costs, but Amgen says the move is unlawful and might not reduce patients' out-of-pocket spending.

Cigna's Evernorth will offer fertility treatments on the as-yet unlaunched TrumpRx.gov, a federal initiative to reduce drug prices. Through the program, EMD Serono will offer significant discounts on fertility drugs, including Gonal-F, which will be available through CVS and Evernorth pharmacies.

Walgreens' plan to close 1,200 stores by 2027 threatens to create more pharmacy deserts, particularly in rural areas, with nearly 45 million Americans now living more than 10 miles from a pharmacy. The trend, driven by a broken reimbursement model, workforce burnout and limited scope of practice for pharmacists, poses a significant public health risk, writes Guadalupe Hayes-Mota, director of bioethics at Santa Clara University. Addressing the issue will require government incentives, enforceable staffing ratios, telepharmacy expansion and expanding pharmacists' scope of practice, Hayes-Mota writes.

A once-monthly injection of Eli Lilly and Co.'s mirikizumab-mrkz or Omvoh was approved by the FDA for maintenance therapy in adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis, replacing a two-injection regimen. The new dosage form is expected to be available in the US next year.

Over 140,000 bottles of the generic version of Lipitor, or atorvastatin calcium, have been recalled nationwide after the FDA said the pills failed dissolution tests. The Class II recall, issued by Ascend Laboratories and affecting multiple lot numbers of 10 mg to 80 mg tablets made by India's Alkem Laboratories, carries a low risk of serious harm, but patients are advised to check lot numbers, contact their pharmacy or prescriber and safely dispose of affected medication.

The New England Journal of Medicine and the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy are collaborating to launch "public health alerts" as an alternative to the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Announced by CIDRAP Director Michael Osterholm at the IDWeek conference, these alerts aim to provide timely public health information, and they are seeking submissions on outbreaks and relevant data.

HHS and the FDA are targeting potentially misleading direct-to-consumer drug advertising, requiring full safety warnings and issuing cease-and-desist letters to companies including Hims & Hers and Novartis. Legal challenges are likely, as similar efforts have faced First Amendment issues in the past.

A global study of more than 17,000 adults found that semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy, reduced the risk of heart attack or stroke by 20%, even among those who lost little or no weight. The findings, published in The Lancet, showed that smaller waistlines were linked to heart benefits, but about two-thirds of the drug's cardiovascular protection appeared to come from mechanisms beyond weight loss alone.

Two US health systems say artificial intelligence is helping ease prior authorization bottlenecks and improve patient access to medications. Yale New Haven Health uses AI software to automate prior authorization paperwork, cutting turnaround times and boosting revenue. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center developed an AI chatbot to flag patient cost or side effect issues and an algorithm that reduced prior authorization denials by more than 30%.