Articles written by STAT - Benzinga

STAT+: Four digital health unicorns on what they expect in 2025

For many of the biggest fish in digital health, 2024 went swimmingly. As the year comes to a close, STAT caught up with leaders from four of the most significant privately-held digital health companies: Omada Health,

STAT+: 3 key issues to watch at the FDA as Trump takes office

The Food and Drug Administration’s leadership and agenda is about to change, making 2025 a critical year for the agency. With Donald Trump taking office and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. poised to assume the

Opinion: The most read First Opinion essays of 2024

I think it’s fair to say that everyone expected 2024 to be a little wild, given the U.S. presidential election. But what ended up transpiring this year — particularly when it comes to health, medicine, and

STAT+: Pfizer kills hemophilia gene therapy deal, imperiling Sangamo

Pfizer has abandoned development of a Hemophilia A gene therapy it licensed from Sangamo Therapeutics, a move that could imperil Sangamo’s future. It’s a sudden turnabout for Pfizer, which had indicated

Aletha Maybank to step down as AMA's chief health equity officer

Aletha Maybank, who became the American Medical Association’s first chief equity officer five and half years ago, is leaving the organization. Maybank, a widely respected health equity advocate, led the

The biggest medical advances of 2024

It’s easy to forget that we live in an age of medical wonders. Cancer tumors can be slowed or shrunk in ways previous generations couldn’t imagine, with everything from pills to genetically engineered white

Fixing pulse oximeters requires federal might and possible legal action, researchers say

Work by device manufacturers to improve the performance of pulse oximeters on people with darker skin has progressed little since the Food and Drug Administration asked manufacturers in 2013 to voluntarily test the

STAT+: Axsome to send Alzheimer's disease drug to FDA, despite mixed Phase 3 results

Axsome Therapeutics is moving ahead with plans to submit its Alzheimer’s disease treatment for Food and Drug Administration approval despite mixed results from two new clinical trial readouts. Axsome,

Opinion: Extending Medicare coverage to obesity medications is imperative

Although bipartisan legislation to provide Medicare coverage for obesity treatments has circulated in Congress for more than a decade, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) ventured to estimate the budgetary

STAT+: GOP works to square making America healthy with taking away health insurance

WASHINGTON — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make American Healthy Again movement calls for many things — avoiding chronic disease, making our food healthier, eliminating environmental risks, and rooting out

3 addiction and drug policy issues to watch in 2025

The new year and new presidential administration could mark a significant shift in the U.S. response to the opioid crisis. While drug deaths trended steadily upward under President Donald Trump, they skyrocketed

How Jimmy Carter's global health efforts elevated 'the art of the possible'

Former President Jimmy Carter’s oft-stated desire was to see the last Guinea worm die before he did. Though America’s 39th president, who died Sunday at age 100, did not quite achieve that dream, he left a

STAT+: Aetna lawsuit alleges radiology group of fraudulent billing and abuse of federal arbitration

Aetna, the health insurance giant owned by CVS Health, is suing one of the country’s largest networks of radiology practices, alleging a scheme in which radiologists in Florida jacked up prices and abused the new

Most Americans blame insurance profits and denials alongside the killer in UHC CEO death, poll finds

WASHINGTON — Most Americans believe health insurance profits and coverage denials share responsibility for the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO — although not as much as the person who pulled the

STAT+: 'There is a lot more anxiety here': Scientists brace for shake-ups to health funding under Trump

In April 2017, three months after Donald Trump was inaugurated president, tens of thousands of scientists and their supporters gathered on Boston Common in the damp, chilly air to protest the new

STAT stories you might have missed in 2024

This year, STAT published a cornucopia of stories on health and medicine, bringing our signature analysis, insight, and investigative skills to readers. Here’s a sampling of some of the important coverage you may

Opinion: The DEA's 2025 quotas for opioids will leave seriously ill patients in pain

A woman sat in our emergency department in agonizing pain, feeling shaky, nauseous, and weak — drug withdrawal was setting in. But she wasn’t a “junkie” or even a recreational drug user. She

People from India remember life before the polio vaccine. They don't want to go back

Vijay Yeldandia was an energetic and rambunctious toddler when he was growing up in India. But at the age of two, he came down with polio and became paralyzed from the neck down.Over time, “I learned how to walk

Opinion: Long Covid, AI 'obsession,' trust: What STAT readers thought went overlooked in 2024

When it comes to what’s happening in the life sciences, STAT readers are the experts. So earlier this month, I asked readers of the First Opinion newsletter to answer two questions: What story do you think went

3 trends that worry disability advocates as they look ahead to 2025

Brace yourself, people with disabilities. 2025 could be a wild one. Donald Trump’s second term in office is shaping up to be even more consequential than the former president’s first term. Longtime