STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re reading about weight loss drug spending, launch prices for medicines, and much more

Top of the morning to you, and a fine one it is. Clear, blue skies and mild breezes are once again enveloping the Pharmalot campus, where the official mascots are happily snoozing in their respective corners. This gives us an opportunity to fire up the coffee kettle and brew still more cups of stimulation. Our choice today is coconut hazelnut, a refreshing change of pace. As always, you are invited to join us. Meanwhile, here are a few items of interest. Hope you have a meaningful and productive day and, of course, do stay in touch. … Americans are seeing their doctors, getting hospital procedures, and filling prescriptions more frequently than economists and budget experts anticipated, STAT notes. And weight loss drugs, in particular, have morphed into their own special category of spending and are pushing budgets across the country to their limits. The country spent $5.7 trillion on health care in 2025, a 7.3% increase from 2024, according to the latest government figures published in Health Affairs. That amounted to almost $16,500 per person. Federal officials specifically called out prescription drug spending, which soared more than 11% in 2025.  Drugmakers have found promising new options for one of the most aggressive and hardest-to-treat forms of breast cancer after decades with few breakthroughs, The Wall Street Journal says. Gilead Sciences won Food and Drug Administration approval to sell its drug Trodelvy as a first treatment for newly diagnosed patients with the advanced form of a type of breast cancer known as “triple negative” because it has characteristics that render common treatments ineffective. It is the second such approval in about a month: AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo’s rival drug, Datroway, was approved for a similar group of patients in May.Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…