pharma
Lilly's new strategy for battling compounding in court
Eli Lilly this week filed lawsuits against two telehealth companies in its latest effort to combat the practice of compounding copies of its blockbuster GLP-1 obesity and diabetes drugs. Compounding started as a response to the drugs being in short supply, but the shortages are now officially over.
Lilly and Novo Nordisk, which faces a similar challenge from compounders, have already filed dozens of lawsuits against companies involved in the production of copies of their drugs. But this time, Lilly is taking a different approach by alleging Mochi Health and Fella Health engaged in the corporate practice of medicine — a prohibited practice where unlicensed corporations influence the prescribing decisions of health care providers. In a new story, STAT's Ed Silverman and Katie Palmer unpack the evidence Lilly presents in the complaints. It's a clever argument.
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telehealth
Nutrition telehealth sees a boost — Is it health tech's MAHA moment?
As health secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. pushes forward an agenda to improve Americans' health and tackle chronic disease, including by addressing the quality of food and diet, there has been some notable nutrition-related news in the health tech world. Are entrepreneurs, investors, and lobbyists seeing an opportunity?
- This week, Nourish, a startup that offers "AI-powered, insurance-covered virtual nutrition care" announced it raised a $70 million Series B round. The company is just three years old, and it's a substantial series B for digital health from a notable cast of investors, including J.P. Morgan, Josh Kushner's Thrive Capital, Index Ventures, Maverick Ventures, Y Combinator, and more.
- Earlier in April, ATA Action, the advocacy arm of the American Telemedicine Association, announced a new Virtual Foodcare Coalition to develop policies that "align virtual care with food and nutritional support to promote health, help prevent disease, and manage chronic conditions."
policy
Records software companies plead for deregulation
Last week, a leaked document suggested the the federal health department's health IT regulator may be targeted for budget cuts or reorganization. In a letter dated the very same day, an industry group representing medical records software companies made a plea to the regulator to back off.
In the letter, addressed to Steven Posnack, the acting Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy and acting National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ASTP), the Electronic Health Record Association (EHRA) reiterated a recent call for "smart deregulation." It sent a similar set of suggestions to health secretary Kennedy a month earlier.
ASTP is critical to these companies because the office sets the requirements for medical records software that can be used by health organizations that participate in federal programs like Medicare. EHRA broadly calls for ASTP to focus its efforts on promoting interoperability rather than creating new requirements. Specifically, the organization asks ASTP to reconsider recently adopted rules requiring transparency around AI tools baked into software.
