breakthroughs
The scientist behind an obesity drug
It took decades for scientists to understand how a gene discovered in anglerfish in the 1980s could be harnessed for insulin. But once they did, it unleashed a storm of conversation about how it should be used, and how it should be paid for, because the product at the end of that quest was obesity drug Wegovy.
Danish scientist Lotte Knudsen was at the center of that discovery, chipping away in a Novo Nordisk lab at how GLP-1 could be maintained in the body long enough to be used at treatment. What her team developed is ultimately on track to be a blockbuster drug that the government is already grappling with paying for. Today, more than 9 million Americans are being prescribed these weekly treatments that curb appetite, tame food craving, and melt pounds.
My colleague Megan Molteni talked extensively with Knudsen about her work and where it began, and no, it wasn’t anywhere near obesity treatment. Read more from Megan.
Post-covid
NextGen’s next move
The Biden successor to Project Warp Speed late last week dispatched another $500 million of its $5 billion budget to outpace Covid-19. The latest investments include three potential new vaccines aimed at different delivery methods (intranasal) or broadening the way mRNA can catch threats.
One of the recipients is Gritstone Bio, which my colleague Matt Herper wrote about last month. The small New York biotech could receive up to $433 million from the federal government to pursue a sweeping study about whether its broad mRNA vaccine is more effective than approved options. It’s starting with $10 million in a midstage trial.
Other projects include Codagenix, which is developing an intranasal vaccine with one of the world’s largest producers, the Serum Institute of India. Biden officials have said their $5 billion budget is enough to see these next-generation shots and treatments through. The latest dispatch comes amid a Covid-19 case surge and persistently low booster rates.
alzheimer's care
Medicare expands PET scans
The agency on Friday officially expanded its coverage policy for brain scans that detect a brain plaque associated with Alzheimer’s disease, a long-awaited decision from patients and drugmakers who argued that narrow coverage of the scans limited early detection.
Amyloid PET scans are important tools to help determine whether patients with mild cognitive impairment are good candidates for new Alzheimer’s drugs, including Eisai and Biogen’s drug Leqembi, which means there will likely be an increase in demand for the scans as uptake increases, my colleague Rachel Cohrs writes.
Previously, Medicare limited coverage for the drug to patients enrolled in clinical studies, and only covered one scan in a patient’s lifetime. The new coverage policy removes those restrictions and delegates decisions about how many scans to cover to regional Medicare administrators. More from Rachel.
