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The United States will prioritize frontline health supplies, staff, and working directly with countries under a new global health strategy released by the Trump administration on Thursday after months of uncertainty following sweeping aid cuts. The plan also requires recipient countries to co-invest in global health goals around diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and polio, and outlines plans to transition away from aid to self-reliance over the next few years. The strategy, named "America First Global Health Strategy", also covers the U.S. response to pandemic threats and outbreaks, but does not mention a host of areas that have been prioritized under past administrations, including maternal and child health, cholera, and vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles. "We must keep what is good about our health foreign assistance programs while rapidly fixing what is broken," Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in the introduction to the strategy. STRATEGY COMES AFTER TRUMP'S DISMANTLING OF USAID The strategy is the clearest sign yet on what the U.S., previously the world's biggest global health funder, now aims to prioritize, although it provided no budget details. It follows the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development earlier this year, which has been brought into the State Department as...

Apple Watch Series 11 models that go on sale on Friday can notify users that they may have high blood pressure, in a feature the company has powered using artificial intelligence rather than a blood pressure monitor. The notification feature, which will work with models back to the Apple Watch Series 9, came about from applying AI models to existing sensor data, said Sumbul Ahmad Desai, Apple's vice president of health. Apple had been interested for years in trying to identify high blood pressure, she told Reuters. The condition affects more than 1 billion people globally, but half of the adults with it go undiagnosed, in part because the standard for measuring blood pressure - a cuff called a sphygmomanometer - is something many people encounter only at a doctor's office. Apple used AI to sort through the data from 100,000 people enrolled in a heart and movement study it originally launched in 2019 to see whether it could find features in the signal data from the watch's main heart-related sensor that it could then match up with traditional blood pressure measurements, Desai said. After multiple layers of machine learning, Apple came up with an algorithm that it then validated with a specific study...

A year after Novo Nordisk surrendered its pursuit of an approval in the U.S. for IcoSema as a treatment for Type 2 diabetes, the Danish company has scored a recommendation for the combination drug in Europe. The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has given a thumbs up to once-weekly Kyinsu, as it is known in Europe, to treat patients with Type 2 diabetes who can’t get sufficient control of their blood sugar with basal insulin or glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists. Kyinsu combines once-weekly insulin Awiqli (icodec) with GLP-1 Type 2 diabetes treatment Ozempic (semaglutide). In July of last year, the FDA rejected icodec as a treatment for Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, citing its “manufacturing process.” The U.S. regulator also was swayed by a panel of experts who voted 7-4 against recommending it for approval in its Type 1 diabetes indication because of concerns about its potential to trigger episodes of low blood sugar. The FDA’s complete response letter came three months after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) granted marketing authorization to Awiqli as a treatment for Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, following a positive opinion from CHMP.

The Global Hepatitis C Treatment Market is expected to reach at a CAGR of 13.5% during the forecast period (2024-2031). The Global Hepatitis C treatment market is expanding rapidly, driven by innovative therapies, rising prevalence, and increasing healthcare investments worldwide.” The Hepatitis C Treatment Market has witnessed significant evolution in recent years due to rapid advancements in antiviral therapies, increasing awareness, and the growing prevalence of hepatitis C infection worldwide. Hepatitis C is a viral infection primarily affecting the liver, and if left untreated, it can lead to severe complications such as cirrhosis and liver cancer. With the development of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs), treatment success rates have surged, transforming the disease from a life-threatening condition into a manageable and often curable illness. Pharmaceutical companies continue to focus on innovation to provide safer, more effective, and shorter treatment regimens. The Market is primarily driven by the increasing incidence of hepatitis C infections, favorable reimbursement policies in developed nations, and rising healthcare expenditure in emerging economies. Among treatment types, direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) dominate the market due to their high efficacy, minimal side effects, and shorter treatment cycles. Geographically, North America leads the market owing to advanced healthcare infrastructure, high diagnosis rates, and government-supported awareness...

After reaching the summit in a yearslong mission of introducing Takeda’s plasma-derived therapies (PDTs) to the market in its home country of Japan, Takeda team members started mapping out their next uphill climb—literally. In late August, several Takeda employees from around the world successfully climbed Mount Fuji, a challenge that was meant not only to represent and celebrate the recent rollout of several of the company’s PDTs in Japan but also to raise awareness of PDTs and the need for the plasma donations that make them possible, according to Chi Onyebuchi, Ph.D., global program lead for PDT R&D at Takeda. Onyebuchi helped organize the initiative and was among the 13 Takeda colleagues who made the trek. She told Fierce Pharma Marketing in an interview that climbing the 12,388-foot volcano was “one of the most meaningful experiences that I've been part of” in her eight years with the drugmaker, not least because of the “wonderful” way the hikers supported each other throughout the entire process, from early preparations and training to the moment they reached the summit as one group. “It was, for me, really a rewarding experience,” Onyebuchi said, framing the difficult hike against the backdrop of the experiences of patients who...

Saudi Pharmaceutical Industries and Medical Appliances Corp. (SPIMACO) has secured a short-term SAR 200 million ($53.3 million) loan from Saudi National Bank. The nine-month Shariah-compliant credit facility will help the pharmaceuticals firm fund its operations, including the purchase of raw materials, it said on Monday. The company had nearly doubled its net profit for the second quarter of the year to SAR 36 million from SAR 18.1 million. Revenues also went up by 7.3% to SAR 400.8 million over the same period.

U.S. officials are considering a website, possibly named after President Donald Trump, to help patients buy discounted prescription drugs directly from pharmaceutical firms, Bloomberg News reported Friday, citing people familiar with the talks. The initiative aligns with Trump's push for drugmakers to lower prices and match costs seen in other developed nations, the Bloomberg report said, citing people who requested anonymity to discuss non-public plans. The proposed website would enable patients to search for specific medicines and connect them with platforms selling the drugs, Bloomberg added, noting that "TrumpRx" is among the names being considered for the project. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services asked Reuters to reach out to the White House for comment. The White House, as well as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comments.

More than half of U.S. healthcare workers are actively looking to leave their current jobs, according to a new survey, underscoring mounting pressure on an already strained system. The Harris Poll, commissioned by education services company Strategic Education, surveyed 1,504 frontline healthcare employees and 304 employers between June 26 and July 21 this year and found widespread burnout, dissatisfaction and a high attrition risk. The findings are illuminating as hospitals grapple with pervasive labor shortages and mounting costs since the pandemic. The study found 55% of workers intended to search for, interview for, or switch jobs in 2026, while 84% said they felt underappreciated at their current employer. Only one in five believed their employer was invested in their long-term career growth. The U.S. forecasts a shortage of nearly 700,000 physicians, registered nurses and licensed practical nurses by 2037, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration. "Given the unprecedented need for care driven by the aging Baby Boomer population, these findings offer critical insights into how to better retain, support and prepare the people at the heart of our nation's healthcare system," said Jennifer Musil, global president of research at The Harris Poll. Experts said while burnout and staffing shortages were not new, the scale...

Marking its 90th anniversary, Cooper Pharma says its transformation from a Moroccan pioneer into a diversified international group is aimed at cutting costs, creating jobs and strengthening health security while widening patient access to affordable and innovative treatments. Cooper Pharma is stepping up its expansion in Africa and the Middle East with a programme of new plants and partnerships aimed at cutting costs, securing supply and bringing essential medicines within reach of millions more patients, The European can reveal. Its CEO Ayman Cheikh-Lahlou said the company was investing in new manufacturing plants in Côte d’Ivoire and Rwanda, acquiring a major facility in Saudi Arabia, and expanding its Moroccan base to deliver cheaper medicines more reliably to fast-growing markets. Additional plants in Spain and the Czech Republic extend its reach into Europe. By producing medicines closer to the patients who need them most, Cooper aims to reduce reliance on imports, shield countries from currency swings and duties, and stabilise supply chains that were badly exposed during the pandemic. Its expansion combines a push to keep everyday treatments affordable with branded generics, while also opening the door to advanced therapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases in markets that have long lacked access, Cheikh-Lahlou said. To underpin that...

Jamjoom Pharmaceuticals Factory Company (Jamjoom Pharma), one of the fastest-growing pharmaceutical companies in the Middle East and Africa, announced the signing of a strategic commercialization agreement with Bio-Thera Solutions, Ltd. (688177:SH), a global biopharmaceutical company specializing in innovative therapies and biosimilars. Under the agreement, Jamjoom Pharma will obtain the exclusive rights to commercialize BAT2306 - a proposed biosimilar to Novartis’ Cosentyx® (secukinumab) - across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Jamjoom Pharma will manage regulatory submissions, market access, and commercialization in MENA, while Bio-Thera will oversee product development and global manufacturing from its state-of-the-art facilities in Guangzhou, China. “This collaboration is a strategic milestone for Jamjoom Pharma and a testament to our mission of broadening access to advanced biologics in the MENA region,” said Tarek Hosni, Chief Executive Officer of Jamjoom Pharma. “By joining forces with Bio-Thera, we are combining world-class biosimilar development with Jamjoom’s deep regional expertise, strong commercial capabilities, and commitment to delivering high-quality, affordable therapies. This agreement strengthens our leadership in the biopharmaceutical sector and reinforces our role as a trusted partner in improving patient outcomes.” “Bio-Thera is committed to bringing affordable medicines to patients in need around the world, “ said Bert Thomas, Senior Vice President...