Author: healthadmin

Universal Health Services, a for-profit acute and behavioral hospital operator, will acquire virtual behavioral care provider Talkspace, the companies announced Monday. Under the final agreement, Talkspace will be acquired for $5.25 per share. According to the announcement, this translates into an enterprise value of approximately $835 million. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter. UHS will finance the purchase with debt consistent with its existing revolving credit facility. The companies say the ultimate goal is to create a national end-to-end platform for behavioral health while expanding access to commercially insured patient populations. “This acquisition is consistent with…

Omada Health reached a key profitability milestone at the end of 2025, delivering $5 million in net income in its first profitable fourth quarter. The virtual chronic care provider also reported strong revenue growth in 2025 and in the fourth quarter, supported by steady increases in hypertension and diabetes support and GLP-1 program adoption. Omada Health’s membership increased 55% year over year to 886,000. Fourth quarter revenue increased 58% to $76 million, and full year revenue was $260 million, an increase of 53% compared to 2024. The company’s fourth-quarter net income compared to a net loss of $8 million in…

In a whirlwind seven-month period in 2022, Bristol-Myers Squibb received FDA approval for three new products, each touting the potential for peak sales of $4 billion. Opdualag, a treatment for multiple myeloma, and Camjos, a treatment for cardiomyopathy, were big hits last year, but Sotiktu, a treatment for psoriasis, was not as successful. But the new FDA approval for Sotiktu allows BMS to bring the oral drug it acquired in its $74 billion acquisition of Celgene in 2019 to more patients. U.S. regulators have approved Sotiktu as a treatment for adults with active psoriatic arthritis. This is the first drug…

A study of misophonia patients found that about 65% had a diagnosis of at least one other mental illness. The most common additional diagnoses were depression (49%) and anxiety disorders (47%). The paper is psychiatric research. Misophonia is a condition characterized by intense emotional and physiological reactions to certain everyday sounds. Common trigger sounds include chewing, breathing, tapping, or repetitive clicking sounds. When people with misophonia are exposed to these triggers, they experience anger, disgust, anxiety, or the urge to flee. The reaction is usually immediate and disproportionate to the actual loudness or objective intensity of the sound. Research suggests…

Important points: A major German manufacturer has sent lawyers and lobbyists in and around Washington, D.C., to seek protection for the herbicide Roundup. The company’s actions clearly demonstrate its power and influence in protecting its best-selling pesticide. The opposition retaliates in court, on social media and in street protests. Let’s talk about America’s two-tier operating system and its impact on water and health. At the top are corporate executives who deploy teams of lawyers and lobbyists to influence government decisions in their favor. At the root of this are citizens relying on social media, noisy protests, and courts to carry…

WASHINGTON (AP) – A Virginia boater is suing a Washington water utility company for negligence over a leaking pipe that collapsed. Millions of gallons of untreated sewage Enter the Potomac River.The class action lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland, comes weeks after a sewer pipe collapsed in an area just north of Washington, D.C., in January, sending sewage from the ground into a river. The spill was considered a serious environmental disaster and resulted in extensive litigation. focus of political controversy The breach occurred between President Donald Trump and the Democratic-led state of Maryland. Plaintiff Dr.…

Issues at the former Catalent plant, now owned by Novo Nordisk, derailed another FDA application, Incyte announced Friday that the FDA has submitted a complete response letter (CRL) for its PD-1 inhibitor Zynyz as a first-line treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The failure (PDF) was not due to efficacy or safety concerns, but was related to test results at a fill-finish facility, specifically the former Catalent plant in Bloomington, Indiana, which is now owned by Novo as part of Novo Holdings’ $16.5 billion acquisition of CDMO in 2024. This setback comes more than a year after Incyte detailed…

In a study of adults with advanced prostate cancer taking androgen receptor pathway inhibitors and various types of anticoagulants, researchers found no evidence that the patients were at increased risk of bleeding or clotting, despite previous test results raising alarms. The findings are published on Wiley Online. cancera peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. Thromboembolism, caused when a circulating blood clot becomes blocked and causes an occlusion, is the second leading cause of death in cancer patients, surpassed only by progression of the cancer itself. Anticoagulants (blood thinners) are standard therapy for the treatment or prevention of thromboembolism. Thromboembolism…

Ipsen is halting sales of its cancer drug Tazveric, which it acquired through its acquisition of Epizyme less than four years ago, after an independent data monitoring board flagged its safety in clinical trials. The move may not have a major impact on Ibsen’s financial performance, but it could shake confidence in the company’s business development acumen, at least one analyst group argues. Specifically, the Paris-based drugmaker is voluntarily withdrawing tazveric, also known as tazemetostat, from all indications and all markets, including the United States, where the company holds commercial rights to the EZH2 inhibitor, according to a March 9…

As the days begin to get longer again, Dr. Christine Bloom’s phone rings frequently. That’s because journalists want to ask sleep researchers what spring fatigue is. Up until now, she has always responded that no studies have investigated this phenomenon. “But I always felt that this was not enough,” says Bloom, a researcher at the University Psychiatric Clinic (UPK) and the Center for Chronobiology at the University of Basel. So she teamed up with Dr. Albrecht Forster, a sleep researcher at the University of Bern’s Inselspital, to conduct a study to find out whether people are actually more tired in…