• Florida: Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has filed a lawsuit against Planned Parenthood, arguing that the organization is "mispresenting the safety" of abortion pills. "Planned Parenthood and its Florida operations mislead women about the critical and undeniable risks of a chemical abortion by deceptively claiming these powerful drugs are less risky than everyday pain medication," Uthmeier said. The lawsuit is seeking an estimated $350 million in damages and asks the court to consider implementing several different sanctions against Planned Parenthood, including barring it from providing abortions or ordering it to be dissolved. In a statement, Planned Parenthood said the lawsuit was a "politically motivated attack" to further limit access to abortion care in the state. "Anti-abortion lawmakers and officials are relentless in their effort to end access to all abortion care, and to stop patients from getting accurate medical information," said Susan Baker Manning, general counsel for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. "We will continue to be just as relentless in our effort to defend access to this safe, effective care." (Associated Press/MedPage Today, 11/10)
• New York: Pfizer last week sold part of its stake in BioNTech, a German drugmaker that it partnered with to develop a COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic. According to Reuters, Pfizer cut its BioNTech stake by 54.7%, leaving it with 1.66 million sponsored American Depositary Shares of the company. The remaining shares were valued at roughly $163.5 million as of Sept. 30. Pfizer and BioNTech first partnered together in 2018 to work on the development of mRNA-based flu vaccines. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the companies partnered to develop the first authorized mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. When asked to comment on Pfizer selling its stake in the company, a BioNTech spokesperson said the companies "continue to have a close and strong collaboration." Since the pandemic, Pfizer has acquired several new companies, including cancer drug specialist Seagen, sickle cell disease drugmaker Global Blood Therapeutics, and most recently, obesity drug startup Metsera. Meanwhile, BioNTech has moved on to different areas of research, such as cancer. (Reuters, 11/13 [1]; Reuters, 11/13 [2])
• New York: Teladoc Health is expanding insurance coverage for its direct-to-consumer mental health unit BetterHelp, aiming to be "largely national" by the end of 2026. So far, the insurance option has launched in seven states and Washington, D.C. "We are seeing heavy competition on that one from other participants in the market who offer insurance," said Teladoc CFO Mala Murthy. "It validates and reinforces the pivots that we are making in BetterHelp in offering insurance as an option." According to Michael Cherny, an analyst at Leerink Partners, the coverage expansion is "likely a positive, but it will take some time for meaningful contributions to materialize" since most BetterHelp patients are currently cash pay. Teladoc's acquisition of the virtual health firm Uplift earlier this year will likely help its ability to accept insurance through BetterHelp. (Olsen, Healthcare Dive, 10/30)

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