*By Bridgette Webb*
Drugmaker Merck announced earlier this month it will slash prices on several drugs by 10 percent or more.
But there is a catch: the price rollback will only affect some of the smaller products in its portfolioーlike Hepatitis C drug, Zepatier, which accounts for about 4 percent of the company's salesーand not top sellers like cancer treatment Keytruda.
"Their scope is relatively limited," said Peter Loftus, a Reporter for the Wall Street Journal, during an interview on Cheddar Monday. "If you think about the total sales that Merck generatesーit's a relatively small percentage."
Merck's announcement was met with praise from the Trump administration. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar claimed the drop in prices was spurred by Trump's latest crackdown on pharmaceutical companies.
Other big pharma names are following suit: Pfizer and Novartis announced they will freeze price increases for the rest of the year, earning them congratulatory tweets from the president.
Despite all of the price freezes and drops, Loftus says that patients may not actually see any real savings.
"I don't think you can say on a widespread basis, and really for the average drug or patient, that prices are coming down, there are still price increases."
For the full segment, [click here.]
(https://cheddar.com/videos/drugmakers-tout-lower-prices)
OceanGate Expeditions on Thursday said pilot and chief executive Stockton Rush, along with passengers Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet “have sadly been lost.”
A new study on loneliness is showing it may not only affect mental health, but it may also be bad for the bones. However, the study found it impacts one group in particular: men. Amid concerns about the rising epidemic of loneliness, researchers wanted to take a closer look at its effects.
Be Well: 2-Minute Morning Stretch Routine
Be Well: Celebrity Trainer Bob Harper Talks Heart Health
A new study from Finland found that "night owls," or people who tend to stay up late, don't live as long as those who go to bed early and wake up early as well.
Confidence in the scientific community declined among U.S. adults in 2022, a major survey shows, driven by a partisan divide in views of both science and medicine that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The American Cancer Society estimates that over 20,000 new cancer cases in Connecticut this year alone. But there's a concerning shortage of chemotherapy drugs in the state and across the country. News 12 reporter Mark Sudol tells us why and what can be done.
A jury in Oregon says the electric utility PacifiCorp must pay punitive damages for causing devastating wildfires in 2020 — on top of an earlier verdict already expected to amount to billions of dollars.
Pfizer is warning that an antibiotic used to treat syphilis and other bacterial infections in young people are likely to run out by the end of this quarter.
Be Well: Alex Rodriguez on the Importance of Dental Hygiene Following Gum Disease Diagnosis
