• Illinois: GE Healthcare has agreed to acquire Intelerad, a medical imaging software provider, for $2.3 billion. According to GE Healthcare, the deal will complement its existing inpatient footprint and help broaden customer reach while offering a more comprehensive, integrated imaging product across different care settings. "As hospital and ambulatory care providers face increased demand for imaging and rising patient volumes, they are looking to simplify and unify their workflows," said GE HealthCare CEO Peter Arduini. "Our acquisition of Intelerad will bring additional cloud-enabled and intelligent solutions in radiology and cardiology into our portfolio of products and extend our capabilities into outpatient networks, enabling care teams to be more efficient, improve outcomes, and deliver precision care for patients globally." The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2026, with GE Healthcare projecting around $270 million in revenue in its first full year of ownership of Intelerad. (Wright, Wall Street Journal, 11/20; Zipp, MedTech Dive, 11/21)
• New York: Healthcare companies outperformed all other industries on the S&P 500 during the third quarter of the year, with new and specialty drug use, demand for weight-loss drugs, and strong hospital visit trends all boosting earnings. According to Bloomberg/Modern Healthcare, this was the healthcare industry's best-performing quarter in over four years. "The specialty business in Q1 was trending above historical levels," said Cardinal Health CFO Aaron Alt. "It was a strong performer for us, particularly in our areas of strength, autoimmune, urology, oncology." Although there were several areas of success in healthcare, companies involved with Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges experienced some strain. While there is still uncertainty around Medicaid and ACA exchanges, continued growth for procedures, new product launches, and device manufacturers broadening the use of their products could help offset some difficulties in the future, according to Matt Henriksson, a medical devices analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence. (Phua, Bloomberg/Modern Healthcare, 11/26)
• West Virginia: The West Virginia Board of Education has reinstated its school vaccine mandate, which does not allow for religious exemptions, after a decision by the state's Supreme Court. According to the Associated Press, West Virginia is one of the few states that allows only medical exemptions from vaccines. However, Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R) issued an executive order in January to allow religious exemptions. In response, the board of education directed public schools to ignore the executive order, and two groups have sued over the order. Over 550 families then sued the state and local boards of education over the exclusion of religious exemptions to vaccines. Initially, Raleigh County Circuit Judge Michael Froble ruled that vaccine mandates without religious exemptions were illegal, leading the board of education to suspend its vaccine mandate. However, the state Supreme Court later decided to stay Froble's permanent injunction pending resolution of appeals in the case. The board of education has since reinstated "its directive to county boards of education not to accept religious exemptions to compulsory vaccination laws" and said that the mandate "will be in effect until the [West Virginia] Supreme Court issues further guidance." (Cochran, The Hill, 12/3; Raby, Associated Press, 12/2)

Specialty drugs now dominate the pharmaceutical pipeline. Find out how rising high-cost therapies, growth in self-administered drugs, and the expansion of biosimilars are contributing to this shift.