• New Jersey: Novo Nordisk recently announced plans to offer its GLP-1 drug Ozempic at a lower price for self-paying patients. In March, Novo launched a $499 cash-pay for its GLP-1 weight-loss drug Wegovy through its NovoCare Pharmacy. Eligible self-paying patients can now purchase Ozempic for the same price, roughly half of the medication's list price of nearly $1,000. The medication will be available for home delivery through NovoCare or from traditional pharmacies through a GoodRx collaboration. According to Kevin Donahoe, head of Novo's diabetes marketing, the company decided to add the new Ozempic offering to reach "as many people as possible" and address any unmet needs. "Even though Ozempic has very high insurance coverage, and Type 2 diabetes is well-covered, the opportunity to reach more people and to offer Ozempic at $499—it was clear to us that's what we're pursuing," Donahoe said. "We have high consumer awareness, high consumer demand, and it's because of that awareness and because of that demand that we want to make Ozempic more available and more affordable." (Park, Fierce Pharma, 8/18)
• North Carolina: Steve Hahn, former FDA Commissioner during the first Trump administration, has been named CEO of Nucleus RadioPharma, a contract development and manufacturing company for radiopharmaceuticals, also known as radioligand therapies. Before Hahn worked at FDA, he led the radiation oncology departments at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine and MD Anderson. Most recently, Hanh worked at Flagship Pioneering and headed the firm's liquid biopsy startup Harbinger Health. Justin Butler, a partner at the venture capital firm Eclipse, which founded Nucleus in 2022 with Mayo Clinic, said he was thrilled Hahn joined Nucleus as its CEO, citing his experience as a cancer physician, startup CEO, and regulator. "This is a way to work with all of his expertise that he’s gathered over, I don’t know how many years, and then apply it to solve this gigantic challenge that is delivering radiopharmaceuticals," Butler said. (DeAngelis, STAT+ [subscription required], 8/20)
• Texas: State health authorities have officially declared an end to Texas' measles outbreak, which led to 762 cases and two deaths. Over two-thirds of the measles cases in Texas were in children, and 99 people were hospitalized. Public health officials declared the Texas outbreak over after 42 days, or double the virus' maximum incubation period, passed without any new confirmed cases. While the current outbreak is now over, public health experts said that parents and officials should still stay vigilant about the virus. "Even though we are seeing the official end of this outbreak, throughout Texas and the rest of the country we have populations that are susceptible to measles and it only just takes a traveler coming into those communities to start a new outbreak," said Katherine Wells, director of public health in Lubbock, Texas. As of early August, there have been at least 1,356 confirmed measles cases across 40 states, marking the highest number of cases since the virus was officially declared eliminated from the United States in 2000. It is also the highest number of measles cases since 1992 when officials recorded over 2,100 cases. (Sun, Washington Post, 8/18)

Our experts weigh in on the state of obesity care, including how far bariatric surgery volumes have dropped, updates on GLP-1 coverage, the rise of new competitors, and what the end of shortages means for compounding.