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Pharma giants lift prices despite Trump deals
Drugmakers have unleashed a synchronised price hike across over 350 brands, effectively daring the White House to act on its affordability agenda, leaving millions of patients caught in the crossfire of a multi-billion-dollar tug-of-war. While the administration touts high-profile deals, manufacturers are quietly ratcheting up costs on everything from life-saving cancer therapies to essential vaccines. Reported by Reuters, pharmaceutical industry leaders such as Pfizer, GSK and Saniofi appear to be front-loading these increases to insulate margins against a looming regulatory crackdown and the onset of federal price controls. Product data from 3 Axis Advisors captures a staggering 40% jump in the volume of price escalations compared to the same period last year.Pfizer’s margin preservationNew York-based heavyweight Pfizer has emerged as the most prolific participant in this round of pricing revisions, implementing hikes on ~80 different products. Revisions cover a wide spectrum of the company’s assets, including the oncological staple Ibrance, migraine treatment Nurtec, and the antiviral Paxlovid. Notably, Pfizer has boosted the cost of its COVID-19 vaccine, Comirnaty, by 15%, even as global demand for the shot ente
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Medline shares up 41% in Nasdaq's largest IPO of 2025
Medical supplies company Medline’s shares soared 41% in their Nasdaq debut, after the largest initial public offering of 2025. Medline (NASDAQ: MDLN) closed trading at US$41.25, above its public offering price of $29.00. It said it had sold more than 216 million shares, raising around $6.26 billion. “Historically, we’ve done very little advertising, very little marketing, and this gives us a way to amplify our voice and actually expand really the receptivity of who we are,” Medline CEO Jim Boyle told CNBC. Medline is among the world’s largest manufacturers of medical supplies, including surgical gloves and other personal protective equipment. It had initially expected to raise $5.4 billion, the Financial Times reported, before upsizing its share sale. The company’s lead bookrunners for the offering were Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, BofA Securities, and JPMorgan. Medline first went public in 1972, but was taken private again soon after. It was purchased by a group of private equity firms, including Blackstone and Carlyle, in 2021. It posted $977 million in net income in the nine months to 27 September, rising from $911 million the previous year. This is the largest United States IPO in over four years. Chines
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Pfizer to make huge commitment to weight loss R&D
Pfizer has reaffirmed its 2025 earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $3 to $3.15 as it looks to continue its strategy to capture a bigger slice of the global obesity market. For 2026, the forecast is more tempered, with Pfizer anticipating revenues in the range of US$59.5-$62.5 billion, with adjusted diluted EPS expected to fall between $2.80 and $3.00. The company attributes this projection to several factors, including a predicted drop in COVID-19 product revenue of about $1.5 billion relative to 2025. There's also the expiration of patents for key legacy medicines, which is expected to result in another $1.5 billion hit due to loss of exclusivity. Pfizer says the upcoming period is a transition, with 2026 acting as a potential trough year before the new portfolio assets begin to scale.Going large on obesityThe company expects to return to revenue growth by 2029, relying on the commercialisation of its newly acquired assets to offset the declining sales of its COVID-19 portfolio and older medicines. Adjusted R&D expenses for 2026 are projected to be between $10.5 billion and $11.5 billion as the company invests in its late-stage pipeline. Despite these near-term financial pressures, Pfizer is aggressively pursui
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Bupa ordered to pay $35m for ripping off sick Australians
The Federal Court has ordered Bupa to pay A$35 million in penalties for unconscionable conduct and making misleading representations to members regarding their health coverage entitlements. The insurer admitted that between May 2018 and August 2023, it engaged in conduct that resulted in thousands of Australians being wrongly denied benefits for medical treatments. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) brought the action, establishing that Bupa misled members, hospitals, and medical providers. The company incorrectly advised that members were not entitled to benefits for any part of a claim when, in fact, they were covered for portions of the treatment.The breakdownThe core of the issue centred on "Mixed Coverage Claims" - situations where a patient received hospital treatment involving multiple procedures, some covered by their policy and others not. Instead of paying out for the covered segment, Bupa rejected the entire claim. The "all-or-nothing" approach meant that members paying premiums for specific coverage were told they had none, often leaving them with out-of-pocket expenses. Key rulings:Admission: Bupa cooperated with the ACCC, admitting it engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct and, in
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Obesity 'holy grail': Pfizer bets US$2bn on Chinese drug
American pharmaceutifcal giant Pfizer has locked in exclusive global rights to a new oral treatment from China’s YaoPharma in a deal worth almost US$2 billion. Pfizer says it will pay $150 million upfront to license YP05002, a small-molecule glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist currently running through Phase 1 trials in Australia. The deal structure could see the total payout swell to $1.935 billion if development milestones are hit, plus royalties on future sales. The play comes just weeks after Pfizer closed its monster $10 billion acquisition of Metsera as it looks to play catch-up on weight-loss market leaders Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. “We look forward to contributing our expertise and resources to continue the development of this investigational GLP-1 small molecule which complements and strengthens our growing portfolio of novel candidates for treating obesity and its adjacent diseases,” Pfizer Chief Scientific Officer Dr Chris Boshoff said. “Cardiometabolic research is a strategic priority for Pfizer that has the potential to be a key driver of growth for our business.” Under the agreement, YaoPharma - a subsidiary of the Shanghai-listed Fosun Pharmaceutical - will wrap up the current Phase

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P&G shares sink as consumer spending slows
Procter & Gamble (P&G) shares continued their year-long slide after an executive reportedly told investors that its United States sales were down “significantly” in October and probably through November. Sales were “down both in volume and in value significantly in October,” P&G Chief Financial Officer Andre Schulten was quoted as saying at the Morgan Stanley Global Consumer & Retail Conference on Tuesday. Bloomberg reported in this story that Schulten painted a worrying picture, describing the U.S. market as “the most volatile we’ve seen in a long time” as consumers became more cautious about spending and competition intensified. The comparison period a year ago was also tough with consumer loading during port strikes elevating baseline numbers and the government shutdown and changes to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits affecting consumer behaviour. “Our most recent reading has the category down both in volume and in value, significantly, in October,” Schulten said. “I don’t expect November to be materially different.” P&G shares (NYSE: PG) closed $1.58 (1.07%) lower at US$145.86, capitalising the company at $340.84 billion (A$520.39 billion), after falling to $142.51 in intra-day trading, the lowe
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UnitedHealth wraps up South America exit
Following talks that have been underway for nearly a year, UnitedHealth Group - the largest health insurance provider in the United States - has reportedly reached a deal to sell its last remaining business in South America, Banmedica, to Brazilian private equity firm Patria Investments in a transaction valued at about US$1 billion. The agreement is understood to have been finalised on Saturday, and an official announcement is expected from the Minnesota-based company on Monday. The sale flags yet another step in UnitedHealth’s plans to fully exit Latin America, a process the company began in 2022 when it sold its operations in Brazil and Peru. As of June, Banmedica - which operates in Colombia and Chile - served 1.7 million health plan members and ran seven hospitals and 47 medical centres, following its earlier divestment from Peru. UnitedHealth’s departure from the region removes another distraction as CEO Stephen Hemsley works to stabilise the company, which has been in the public eye for all the wrong reasons over the last two years. Since resuming the CEO role in May—after previously serving as CEO from 2006 to 2017—Hemsley has been focused on rebuilding trust with investors and customers following a string o
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US Medicare negotiates lower prices for 15 new drugs
The United States’ Medicare health insurance program has negotiated lower prices for 15 prescription drugs from 2027, which could save 36% in annual spending. These medications include weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, as well as treatments for asthma, leukemia, and prostate and breast cancer. The new prices are the amount the Medicare program will pay drugmakers, with costs for individual Medicare recipients depending on their coverage. “The Maximum Fair Prices (MFPs) for these 15 drugs will become effective January 1, 2027, bringing the total number of negotiated drugs to 25 when combined with the 10 previously negotiated drugs with MFPs taking effect January 1, 2026,” wrote the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). “The MFPs offer substantial savings for both beneficiaries and the Medicare program.” Medicare health insurance is available to Americans aged at least 65 and those with disabilities, with over 66 million people currently covered. Around 5.3 million people in the U.S. under Medicare Part D healthcare coverage used these 15 drugs during 2024, according to CMS. These price reductions will save around US$8.5 billion in Medicare spending, the agency estimated, and will save individuals about
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Drug trial failure sends Novo Nordisk shares plunging
The Novo Nordisk share price dived to a four-year-low after the failure of Alzheimer’s disease drug trials. The Danish-based pharmaceutical company said the two years of trials showed semaglutide did not help slow the progression of the brain-wasting disease in the 3,808 adults aged 55 to 85 who were enrolled. Novo Nordisk (CPH: NOVO-B) shares closed 17.65 Danish kroner (5.79%) lower at 287.00 kroner, capitalising the company at 1.03 trillion kroner (US$154 billion), after earlier dropping to a four-year low of $266.90. The company said the evoke and evoke+ trials did not confirm the superiority of semaglutide versus placebo in the reduction of progression of Alzheimer’s disease. “While treatment with semaglutide resulted in improvement of Alzheimer’s disease-related biomarkers in both trials, this did not translate into a delay of disease progression,” Novo Nordisk said in a company announcement. Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President of Research and Development Martin Holst Lange said the company felt a responsibility to explore semaglutide’s potential, based on the significant unmet need in Alzheimer’s disease as well as a number of indicative data points, and despite a low likelihood of success.