Health

Mounjaro manufactured by Eli Lilly and Company packaging is seen in this illustration photo taken in a pharmacy in Krakow, Poland on April 9, 2024.Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty ImagesEli Lilly on Thursday said it is raising the list price of its blockbuster diabetes drug Mounjaro in the U.K. starting in September, as President Donald Trump pressures drugmakers to lower U.S. drug prices and hike them abroad.In a statement, Eli Lilly said it reached an agreement with the U.K. government to increase the list price of the weekly injection, while "maintaining access" for patients covered under the publicly funded health-care system, the National Health Service, or NHS. Eli Lilly told CNBC that the price hike will not affect the drug's availability under NHS, and it wants to work with the governme...

Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple Inc., during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) at Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California, US, on Monday, June 9, 2025. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesApple on Thursday announced a redesigned blood oxygen feature for some Apple Watch users, following a years-long intellectual property dispute over the capability.Apple said the redesigned feature is coming to some Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 users on Thursday. The update was possible because of a recent U.S. Customs ruling, the company said.In 2023, the International Trade Commission found that Apple's blood oxygen sensors infringed on intellectual property from Masimo, a medical technology company. Apple paused the sale of some of its wat...

FILE PHOTO: The headquarters of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is seen in Silver Spring, Maryland November 4, 2009. Jason Reed | ReutersThe Food and Drug Administration said Monday it has appointed former biotech executive George Tidmarsh as the agency's top drug regulator.Tidmarsh, an adjunct professor of pediatrics and neonatology at Stanford University's School of Medicine, will lead one of the biggest and most crucial divisions of the FDA, which reviews the vast majority of new drug applications.The Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, or CDER, regulates over-the-counter and prescription treatments, including biologic therapies and generics. The acting head of CDER, Jacqueline Corrigan-Curay, announced in June she was retiring. Tidmarsh will step in as the FDA and its ...

Wegovy injection pens arranged in Waterbury, Vermont, US, on Monday, April 28, 2025.Shelby Knowles | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesFor well over a decade, Grace Hamilton, 27, experienced hair loss, heavy periods, infrequent menstrual cycles, mental health issues and difficulty losing weight without knowing why. It wasn't until 2023 when she was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome, or PCOS, a hormonal disorder common among women of reproductive age.After she saw limited improvements from birth control, diet and exercise, Hamilton joined a trial in 2024 examining a GLP-1 drug in PCOS patients. By October, she received her first weekly dose of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Novo Nordisk's obesity injection Wegovy and diabetes shot Ozempic.She said some results were almost immediate: aft...

U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., speaks with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS) ahead of a roundtable event as part of the "Make America Healthy Again" (MAHA) agenda, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 15, 2025. Ken Cedeno | ReutersThe Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday said it will officially remove the mercury-based preservative thimerosal from all flu shots distributed in the U.S. – even though there is no evidence of harm from the ingredient. While few jabs still contain thimerosal, the move eliminates a vaccine option for Americans and is a win for the anti-vaccine movement, which has long targeted the ingredient.HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. formally adopted a June recommenda...

Wildpixel | Istock | Getty ImagesA version of this article first appeared in CNBC's Healthy Returns newsletter, which brings the latest health-care news straight to your inbox. Subscribe here to receive future editions.A universal cancer vaccine – what once seemed like a pipe dream – may be inching closer to becoming reality. On Friday, University of Florida researchers said findings from a new study could lead to the development of a universal shot that can jumpstart the immune system to fight cancer. The study in mice, published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, showed that an experimental mRNA vaccine boosted the tumor-fighting effects of a common cancer drug called immune checkpoint inhibitors. The vaccine is not designed for a specific virus or cancer cells, but engineered to "wake up...

UnitedHealth Group revealed Thursday it is facing Department of Justice investigations over its Medicare billing practices, adding to a string of setbacks for a company that owns the nation's largest and most powerful private insurer.In a securities filing, the company said that it has started complying with formal criminal and civil requests from the DOJ, and that it reached out to the department after reports of the probes surfaced. UnitedHealth also said it has launched a third-party review of its business policies and performance metrics.The company told CNBC that it expects to complete that review toward the end of the third quarter.In the filing, UnitedHealth said it "has full confidence in its practices and is committed to working cooperatively with the Department throughout this pr...

UnitedHealth Group Chairman and CEO Stephen Hemsley will face the first real test Tuesday of his ability to regain investor confidence as the largest private U.S. insurer reports earnings.The Dow component has seen its share price cut nearly in half since mid-May, with the stock on pace for its worst year in more than a decade, after earnings in its flagship Medicare program and Optum Health physician practices plummeted. That led to the abrupt resignation of former CEO Andrew Witty, forcing the company to reinstate ex-CEO Hemsley to replace him and suspend earnings guidance. On top of that, the company is facing criminal and civil Department of Justice investigations into its Medicare billing practices.  As UnitedHealth faces challenges on multiple fronts, it sits in a "perfect storm," sa...

UnitedHealthcare signage is displayed on an office building in Phoenix, Arizona, on July 19, 2023.Patrick T. Fallon | Afp | Getty ImagesUnitedHealth Group on Tuesday issued a 2025 outlook that fell short of Wall Street's expectations, as the company's insurance unit continues to grapple with higher medical costs.Shares of UnitedHealth Group closed more than 7% lower on Tuesday.The company anticipates it will post 2025 adjusted earnings of at least $16 per share, with revenue of $445.5 billion to $448 billion. Wall Street analysts had expected 2025 adjusted profit of $20.91 per share, and full-year revenue of $449.16 billion, according to consensus estimates from LSEG.On top of higher medical costs, the updated outlook removes about $1 billion from "previously planned portfolio actions" tha...

Merck & Co. signage on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, US, on Tuesday, April 8, 2025. Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesMerck on Tuesday said it will slash $3 billion in costs by the end of 2027 to be fully reinvested to support new product launches and its drug pipeline. The multiyear effort comes as Merck prepares to offset revenue losses from the upcoming patent expiration of its blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda in 2028. It also comes as drugmakers brace for President Donald Trump's planned tariffs on pharmaceuticals imported into the U.S., which has prompted Merck and other companies to invest billions to boost their manufacturing footprints in the U.S. Shares of the pharmaceutical giant closed more than 1% lower on Tuesday."Today, we announced a ...