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[ad_1] Hopes are sky-high for Eli Lilly's recently launched weight loss drug Zepbound. Investors will be tuning into the company's fourth quarter earnings call on Feb. 6, eager to hear more about how that rollout is going. One key statistic will be the number of commercial health insurers providing coverage of the drug, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration on Nov. 8. Lilly also is expected to reveal its outlook for 2024 for the first time. Zepbound, a once-a-week injection, has only been available in pharmacies since early December, but the average analyst expects that the drug's sales reached $75 million in the fourth quarter, according to StreetAccount. More importantly, by the end of 2024, analysts expect sales to ramp up to $3.79 billion, then more than double to $7.83 billion by 2025. Those estimates have been creeping higher heading into Eli Lilly's report, and analysts see the potential for further upside when Lilly provides its outlook. &#

[ad_1] Zaza Cristina Robles worked as a pregnancy coach in her native Peru, so when she arrived in the U.S. at 16 weeks pregnant, the first thing she did after settling in with her in-laws was to seek medical care. "When they showed us the bill, it was so expensive, my husband and I thought, 'If this is just for the doctor's visit, imagine what the delivery will be?' It scared us," she said. Her sister-in-law put her in touch with the Hispanic Health Council, a nonprofit in Hartford, Connecticut. The organization's Comadrona — or midwife — program helps Latina immigrants and low-income pregnant women navigate the complications of the U.S. health-care system. "They really helped clear up a lot of my fears," Robles said. The program helped Robles gain health-care coverage as she and her husband seek asylum in the United States. Her comadrona helped her find a doctor who treats low-income patients and connected her with other services. "One of

[ad_1] Eli Lilly logo is shown on one of the company's offices in San Diego, California, U.S., September 17, 2020.  Mike Blake | Reuters Eli Lilly on Tuesday reported first-quarter adjusted profit that topped Wall Street's expectations and hiked its full-year guidance on strong sales of its blockbuster diabetes drug Mounjaro and newly launched weight loss treatment Zepbound. The drugmaker now expects full-year adjusted earnings of $13.50 to $14.00 per share, up from previous guidance of $12.20 to $12.70 per share. Eli Lilly also expects revenue for the year to come in between $42.4 billion and $43.6 billion, an increase of $2 billion at either end of the range. Analysts surveyed by LSEG expected full-year adjusted earnings of $12.50 per share and sales of $41.44 billion.  The company said the boosted guidance is in part due to optimism around increased production of Zepbound, Mounjaro and similar drugs for the rest of the year. "Now that we're four months into th

[ad_1] Eli Lilly headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana, US, on Wednesday, May 3, 2023. Eli Lilly & Co.'s shares climbed in early US trading after its experimental drug for Alzheimer's slowed the progress of the disease in a final-stage trial, paving the way for the company to apply for US approval. AJ Mast | Bloomberg | Getty Images Eli Lilly said Friday that the Food and Drug Administration has pushed back its approval decision deadline for the drugmaker's experimental Alzheimer's treatment donanemab in a surprise move. The agency plans to call a last-minute meeting of its outside advisors to further review the treatment's safety and efficacy in a late-stage trial, Eli Lilly said. The FDA has not disclosed the date of that meeting, so a potential approval would likely come after this month. The FDA was expected to decide whether to greenlight the medicine by the end of the first quarter. That deadline was already delayed from an expected approval last ye

[ad_1] New vaccine COMIRNATY® by Pfizer, available at CVS Pharmacy in Eagle Rock, California. Irfan Khan | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images It's déjà vu for some Americans looking for the latest Covid-19 vaccines. Certain people who were lucky enough to snag an appointment for the latest formulation are receiving cancellation notices or showing up to learn there isn't a dose available for them. Some are being told they need to pay more than $100 out of pocket because their insurance provider isn't covering the shots yet. The majority of CVS locations are able to honor scheduled appointments, but delivery delays to some stores are causing them to reschedule shots, a CVS spokesperson said in a statement. Most Walgreens stores have enough supply for existing appointments and more slots are being made available as the shots come in, a spokesperson said. Vaccine manufacturers Moderna and Pfizer said they have shipped millions of doses since the new versions were approve

[ad_1] President Joe Biden delivers remarks about the Build Back Better legislation's new rules around prescription drug prices in the East Room of the White House on December 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images Five of Pfizer's drugs will cost less for Medicare recipients starting next month as part of President Joe Biden's plan to lower prescription drug costs, the Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday.  Pfizer's drugs are among the first set of 27 Part B prescription drugs that will be subject to Medicare inflation rebates starting April 1, according to the department. That requires Pfizer and other prescription drug companies to refund Medicare through rebates because the prices for those drugs rose faster than the rate of inflation.  Pfizer's drugs include the blood thinner Fragmin , which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1994. It also includes Atgam , a medicine used to treat symptoms of Renal

[ad_1] Syringe with Covid-19 vaccine against the XBB Variant. Fight against virus Covid-19 Coronavirus, Vaccination and immunization. Undefined Undefined | Istock | Getty Images U.S. Food and Drug Administration staff on Monday said updated Covid boosters should target XBB omicron subvariants for the upcoming fall and winter vaccination campaign.  The U.S. should use a monovalent vaccine targeting either XBB.1.5, XBB.1.16, or XBB.2.3, collectively the dominant strains nationwide, the staff said in a briefing document .  related investing news The FDA staff made the conclusion ahead of a meeting on Thursday, when a panel of external advisors to the agency will recommend a strain for new Covid shots to target later this year. There is no set date for when the vaccination campaign will begin. Vaccine manufacturers will be expected to update their shots once that strain is selected. Pfizer , Moderna and Novavax are already developing versions of their respective vaccines targeti

[ad_1] A United Auto Workers member on a picket line outside the Ford Motor Co. Michigan Assembly plant in Wayne, Michigan, on Sept. 15, 2023. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images The Biden administration is no longer sending two key officials to Detroit this week to potentially help broker a deal between striking autoworkers and the Big Three car companies, a White House official told NBC News. President Joe Biden last week said he would dispatch White House senior advisor Gene Sperling and acting Labor Secretary Julie Su to support discussions between the companies and the United Auto Workers union. But the White House and the UAW mutually agreed it would be better to speak virtually via Zoom, the official said Tuesday. Sperling and Su could still go to Detroit next week but there are no firm plans for them to do so, the official added. "We'll continue to assess travel timing based on the active state of negotiations," the White House official said. Biden large

[ad_1] A panel of independent advisors to the Food and Drug Administration unanimously recommended Thursday that the antibody nirsevimab be approved for use to protect infants from respiratory syncytial virus , the leading cause of hospitalization among newborns. If the FDA approves nirsevimab, the antibody would become the first medical intervention available in the U.S. that can protect all infants from RSV . The FDA, which is not obligated to follow the recommendation of its advisory panel, is expected to make a final decision on nirsevimab in the third quarter. Nirsevimab is a monoclonal antibody made by AstraZeneca . The medication would be marketed by Sanofi . The advisory panel voted 21-0 to recommend its approval. In a separate vote, the advisors also recommended nirsevimab's use in children up to 2 years old who remain vulnerable to the virus in their second RSV season. That vote was 19-2. RSV kills nearly 100 babies in the United States every year, according to sci

[ad_1] A vial labelled "Novavax V COVID-19 Vaccine" is seen in this illustration taken January 16, 2022.  Dado Ruvic | Reuters Novavax 's updated Covid vaccine won the backing of U.S. regulators on Tuesday, putting the shot on track to roll out weeks after new jabs from Pfizer and Moderna reached Americans. The Food and Drug Administration authorized Novavax's single-strain vaccine, which targets omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 , for emergency use in people ages 12 and up. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now including Novavax's shot in the same recommendation it issued last month for updated vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. That recommendation says all Americans ages six months and older can receive an updated Covid jab. Novavax said in a statement that doses of the shot will likely be available within the next few days. "Novavax's authorization today means people will now have the choice of a protein-based non-MRNA option to help

[ad_1] CNBC's Jim Cramer called out General Electric as a winner in the industrial sector for the strides it's making in nuclear power. GE's Verona Nuclear Fuel business said Wednesday it received approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to manufacture, ship, and analyze the performance of higher enrichment fuel. These "regulatory milestones" will help the company "innovate to help our customers run their plants even more efficiently and be ready to support the next generation of reactor technology," according to the press release . GE shares were trading about 2% higher on the news. GE YTD mountain GE stock performance year to date. "[General Electric] just keeps going higher," Cramer said Wednesday. While that's mainly due to demand for its aircraft engines, Cramer added that investors "love any way to be able to make nuclear fuel work." In November 2021, GE announced plans to split and form three publicly trade

[ad_1] People gather outside the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore on January 17, 2023. (Photo by Roslan RAHMAN / AFP) (Photo by ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP via Getty Images) Roslan Rahman | Afp | Getty Images SINGAPORE — Singapore is set to allow non-fully vaccinated travelers to enter the country without a negative pre-departure test from next week, health authorities announced Thursday. The country is set to remove mask-wearing on public transport from Monday, as it seeks to exit the "acute phase" of the pandemic, said the Ministry of Health. The country's Covid task force, created in January 2020, will be deactivated. "Our Covid situation has remained stable over the recent months, despite increased travel over the year and holidays and China's shift from zero Covid," said Singapore's deputy prime minister Lawrence Wong, who is also co-chair of the Covid task force. "Our population has developed a high level of hybrid immunity. The r

[ad_1] Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen on Friday said the company's experimental weight loss pill , amycretin, could eventually become a best-in-class treatment for obesity.  The Danish drugmaker is racing to capitalize on the runaway success of its blockbuster weight loss drug Wegovy by developing a new generation of treatments for obesity, including more convenient and potentially cheaper pills.  His remarks came one day after Novo Nordisk impressed investors with early-stage trial data on amycretin. Patients on the pill lost about 13.1% of their weight after 12 weeks, Jørgensen said on CNBC's "Money Movers."  That surpasses the 6% weight loss seen in those who took Wegovy after the same time period. It also adds to the growing enthusiasm around the potential of weight loss pills.  Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, CEO of Novo Nordisk, speaks during an interview in New York on Aug. 10, 2022. Christopher Goodney | Bloomberg | Getty Images Along with conv

[ad_1] Thibaut Mongon, CEO of Kenvue Inc. a Johnson & Johnson consumer-health business, speaks during an interview with CNBC during his company's IPO at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), May 4, 2023. Brendan McDermid | Reuters Kenvue CEO Thibaut Mongon is betting on brand and product innovation to drive growth at the newly spun-out company after its solid debut on the public market Thursday.  "In the next quarter and frankly, in the years to come, we are going to continue to do what we do best, which is innovating to find new ways to serve consumers and help them take better care of their health," Mongon told CNBC in an interview shortly after shares of Kenvue started trading on the New York Stock Exchange.   related investing news Shares of the company gained 22% Thursday to close at $26.90 per share. The stock hovered around that level in early trading Friday, giving the company a market value of roughly $50 billion.  Kenvue, spun out of Johnson & Joh

[ad_1] There's a global investing opportunity in a corner of health care that is both "significant and underappreciated," according to Barclays. The segment is clinical nutrition, which the bank defined as an area focused on patients who need specific supplemental nutrition because of chronic health care conditions or because they are unable to eat. Barclays pointed to several growth drivers: "Rising chronic conditions, ageing populations and continued pressure on healthcare spending should continue to support the growth of this industry." "Clinical nutrition provides supplemental nutrition for those who are malnourished and is a significant and underappreciated opportunity worth c.$19bn today, driven by strong underlying themes such as ageing population, malnutrition and an increasing focus on self-care," the bank said in an April 12 note. It expects the market will grow to $28 billion by 2030, with China's share of the market rising from 20%