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Ivermectin Becomes Accessible Without Prescription in Arkansas Under New State Legislation
Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has officially signed Senate Bill 189 into law, granting approval for the sale and purchase of ivermectin for human use without a prescription. The new legislation, signed into law on Tuesday, allows ivermectin suitable for human consumption to be sold over-the-counter in Arkansas, making it accessible to individuals without the need for a prescription or consultation with a healthcare professional.
The legislation explicitly states that “ivermectin suitable for human use may be sold or purchased as an over-the-counter medication in this state without a prescription or consultation with a healthcare professional.” This development marks a notable shift in the state’s stance on the drug, which has traditionally been available only through a doctor’s prescription.
Ivermectin, a medication primarily used to treat intestinal parasitic worms in both animals and humans, gained national attention during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued warnings against using ivermectin as an unapproved treatment for COVID-19, it gained traction among vaccine opponents as an alternative remedy during the height of the pandemic.
FDA Approves First New Antibiotic for UTIs in Nearly 30 Years
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved the first drug in a new class of antibiotics for treating urinary tract infections — the first time that’s happened in nearly 30 years.
The drug, a pill called Blujepa from drugmaker GSK, was approved for women and girls 12 and up with uncomplicated UTIs — the most common type of the infection in women, often caused by bacteria including E. coli.
Most UTIs are easy to treat, usually clearing up within a few days or weeks after a short course of antibiotics. But the bacteria that commonly cause them are increasingly becoming resistant to the standard antibiotics, making treatment more difficult, said Dr. Sovrin Shah, an associate professor of urology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.
More than 2.8 million antimicrobial-resistant infections occur in the U.S. each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A 2019 study found resistance to at least one drug in more than 92% of bacteria that can cause UTIs. Around 80% showed resistance to at least two.
Merck Will Pay up to $2 Billion for Chinese Heart Drug
Merck & Co. will pay as much as $2 billion for the rights to Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals Co.’s experimental heart drug, the U.S. drugmaker’s second recent foray into China for a novel medicine.
Under the agreement, Merck will pay $200 million up front to develop and commercialize Hengrui Pharma’s pill, now in mid-stage human trials, according to a statement Tuesday. Merck has promised another $1.77 billion tied to regulatory and commercial goals, along with sales royalties. Hengrui will retain ownership of the drug for the Chinese market.
The deal follows Merck’s $2 billion agreement announced in December to license a potential obesity treatment from Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group Co. Global pharma firms are increasingly looking to China to refill their pipelines, as the nation’s burgeoning biotech scene has created a hotbed of novel medicines at attractive prices.
GLP-1s Are Driving Returns on R&D Investments for Big Pharma, Report Says
Big Pharma is expected to see big returns from its investment in a class of drugs made famous by Novo Nordisk’s popular diabetes drug Ozempic. Deloitte’s annual report, Measuring the Return from Pharmaceutical Innovation, found that GLP-1 drugs could fuel significant returns on research and development investments made last year by major drugmakers.
The consulting firm analyzed the projected internal rate of return for late-stage pipeline assets across the 20 leading pharma companies. On average, these companies forecast peak sales of $510 million per asset. But when GLP-1s are excluded, that figure drops sharply to $370 million.
The internal rate of return for late-stage pipeline assets climbed from 5.9% in 2024, from 4.1% in 2023 — again driven in large part by GLP-1 drugs. Without them, returns would have declined, dipping to 3.8% in 2024 and 3.4% in 2023.
Big Pharma Fears Best-Selling Drugs in Crosshairs of US-EU Tariff Spat
Drugmakers are urging the Trump administration and EU officials to exclude medical goods from expanding tariff wars, hoping to avert price spikes on top-selling medicines made in Europe from Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy for weight loss to Merck’s cancer immunotherapy Keytruda.
In conversations with U.S. officials, the pharmaceutical industry argued that tariffs on the EU would increase drug costs and create access barriers for patients, endangering priorities outlined in President Donald Trump’s health-related executive orders on drug pricing and increasing life expectancy of Americans, according to more than a half dozen pharma industry sources with direct knowledge of the discussions.
