*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)
The capacity to burn coal for power went up in 2022 despite global promises to phase down the fuel that’s the biggest source of planet-warming gases in the atmosphere, a report Wednesday found.
Dr. Sandra Lee (aka Dr. Pimple Popper) visited Cheddar News to give viewers a sneak peak of season nine of her TV show, which features the dermatologist popping — you guessed it — pimples.
According to a Washington Post article, 82 percent of people get their weather updates on their phones, and there are more than 10,000 weather apps to choose from. The article breaks down the pros and cons of each app.
Some 9.2 million lead pipes carry water into homes across the U.S., with more in Florida than any other state, according to a new Environmental Protection Agency survey that will dictate how billions of dollars to find and replace those pipes are spent.
