Novo Grilled by Senate, PhRMA’s IRA Win and BMS’ KarXT Awaits Approval

New revelations from the showdown between Novo Nordisk’s CEO and Bernie Sanders’ Senate health committee Tuesday; PhRMA’s legal victory in IRA case; the federal interest rate cut and anticipated approval for schizophrenia.

> Listen on Spotify
> Listen on Apple Podcasts
> Listen on Amazon Music
> Listen on iHeart

Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen ⁠testified⁠ Tuesday in front of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Senate health committee regarding the prices of Ozempic and Wegovy—with some interesting takeaways. Meanwhile, PhRMA scored a rare win as the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ⁠ruled⁠ in the trade group’s favor, sending its complaint against the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) back to a lower Texas court. Looking ahead, 15 more drugs are expected to be negotiated under the IRA next year, including Novo’s Ozempic.

Last week, the Federal Reserve cut the ⁠federal interest rate⁠ by half a percentage point—a move that was expected and met with a collective shrug from the biotech market, with experts skeptical of its impact.

Elsewhere, the ⁠schizophrenia space⁠ is ⁠gearing up⁠ for an FDA decision on BMS’ KarXT. If approved, KarXT would be the first novel drug for the neuropsychiatric disease in decades. And on the obesity front, Novo’s ⁠oral cannabinoid receptor 1 drug⁠ elicited impressive weight loss in a Phase IIa trial, with some adverse events, and young startup Metsera ⁠touted⁠ robust Phase I data for its injectable GLP-1 candidate.

Heather McKenzie is senior editor at BioSpace. You can reach her at heather.mckenzie@biospace.com. Also follow her on LinkedIn.
Greg Slabodkin is news editor at BioSpace. You can reach him at  greg.slabodkin@biospace.com. Follow him on LinkedIn.
Jef Akst is managing editor of BioSpace. You can reach her at jef.akst@biospace.com. Follow her on LinkedIn and Twitter @JefAkst.
Annalee Armstrong is senior editor at BioSpace.
MORE ON THIS TOPIC