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Morning Briefing

Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

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Tuesday, May 19 2026 UPDATED 9:30 AM

Full Issue

Supreme Court Declines To Hear Drugmakers' Bid To End Medicare Bargaining

Lower courts have ruled against the pharmaceutical companies that challenged a law that lets Medicare negotiate for reduced prices on some prescription medications. Other cases are still pending. Also: More than 600 generic drugs have been added to the TrumpRx website.

The Supreme Court on Monday dealt a major blow to the brand drug industry’s legal campaign against the Medicare drug price negotiation program. The court declined to take up lawsuits against the program by AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Janssen, Novartis, and Novo Nordisk. The justices did not give a reason for their decision. (Wilkerson, 5/18)

More on the high cost of prescription drugs —

The White House announced an expansion of its prescription drug discount platform, TrumpRx, on Monday, adding more than 600 generic drugs to the website. The expansion comes via a partnership with entrepreneur Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drug Company, as well as Amazon Pharmacy and GoodRx, which both also provide drug savings or low-cost prescription medicines. (Cirruzzo and Payne, 5/18)

The Maryland Prescription Drug Affordability Board agreed to set an upper payment limit for the Ozempic diabetes treatment, marking the second time that the state panel has taken such a step in recent weeks. (Silverman, 5/18)

In other pharmaceutical news —

A new drug for pancreatic cancer is showing promise in early testing. Daraxonrasib is a daily pill designed to block cancer signals linked to the RAS gene. It has now finished an early-stage clinical trial — the first time it was tested in people — to evaluate both its safety and effectiveness. (Stabile, 5/18)

Prescriptions for leucovorin for children with autism rose sharply after widespread media attention early in 2025, and again after a White House briefing last fall promoted unproven claims about the drug, an analysis of national electronic health record data showed. (George, 5/18)

A pair of new observational studies by the same research group links early oral antiviral drug use to both a 14% lower risk of long COVID in nonhospitalized patients with Omicron infections and better patient-reported and functional outcomes after infection. (Van Beusekom, 5/18)

This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
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