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Congress created the 340B Drug Pricing Program in 1992 to help safety-net providers care for low-income patients by allowing qualified hospitals, clinics, and other health care organizations to purchase medicines at discounted prices. These providers often serve communities facing the greatest barriers to care, including communities with high proportions of Black patients. The idea is simple and worth defending: a hospital serving patients with the greatest needs buys medicin

The Maryland Department of Commerce has approved $8.5 million in matching grants to help establish seven endowed research professorships at four higher education institutions, supporting a combined $17.7 million investment aimed at accelerating scientific research, technology commercialization and workforce development across the state... Read more at City Biz.

For more than three decades, my work has been rooted in West Baltimore, where the gap between scientific progress and community benefit is not theoretical; it is something families experience every day. That is why a recent announcement about a new treatment for metastatic pancreatic cancer demanded my attention. New clinical data shows that daraxonrasib doubled survival rate for patients with previously treated metastatic pancreatic cancer, reducing the risk of death by 60 p

Maryland and Virginia lost nearly the same number of federal workers during the Trump administration’s cuts to the federal workforce last year. But one state’s economy appears to be responding very differently... Read more at the Baltimore Sun.

American voters desperately want relief from rising prices — especially the increasingly unaffordable cost of healthcare. Democrats have a plan for that. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren recently introduced the Break Up Big Medicine Act with Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., a bill that would split up the huge conglomerates that have made the current healthcare system so expensive and frustrating to navigate. Businessman Mark Cuban recently quipped that breaking up these near-monop

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich joined Maryland Secretary of State Susan Lee, Maryland Commerce Secretary Harry Coker Jr., County Council President Natali Fani-González and other local leaders to celebrate the opening of Bora Biologics’ new drug substance manufacturing facility in Rockville... Read more at MocoShow.

Healthcare insurance customers in Maryland’s state-run exchange are likely to see significant rate increases next year despite efforts by the state to shield residents. Insurance companies selling Affordable Care Act plans, also known as Obamacare, are requesting an average increase of 13.7% for individuals and 13.1% for small businesses... Read more at the Baltimore Banner.

U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin worries about proposed rule handing federal grantmaking power to the administration’s political appointees Since President Donald Trump took office, his administration has throttled billions in grants for health and science research through orders and foot dragging. There may soon be a rule to set this approach in stone... Read more at the Baltimore Banner.

Only a few months after Congress enacted some of the most significant federal reforms to date of the business practices oft pharmacy benefit managers, the PBM industry’s chief lobbying group says it has launched the biggest advertising campaign in its history... Read more at Health Care un-covered.

Some of the forces that shape biopharma cluster development are constants year after year, such as the emergence of startups from university and research institute labs to develop new treatments, thanks to ideas backed by the brains of researchers and executives, and the bucks of serial entrepreneurs and other investors... Read more at GenEng News.

Maryland is seeing more people than usual drop out of ACA health care plans after the first quarter after federal subsidies were allowed to sunset by Congress. The state saw an 8% disenrollment rate from people unable to pay for their ACA health care plans from January to the end of March, which translates to about 18,000 residents. Read more at WYPR.

State officials determined that Ozempic, a popular diabetes treatment and weight-loss drug, is unaffordable for Marylanders and voted Monday to limit how much state and local governments will pay for it on state health plans... Read more at Maryland Matters.

Gov. Abigail Spanberger on Tuesday vetoed legislation that would have created a state board to review prescription drug costs, saying that evidence from other states shows that such boards do not achieve the goal of lower prices... Read more from Cardinal News.

Maryland regulators moved to cap the cost of diabetes and weight-loss drug Ozempic on Monday, after taking similar action on Jardiance in April. The move limits the cost paid for Ozempic to $274 per month for local government insurers, based on the Medicare Fair Price negotiated by the federal government insurer. That amount will be adjusted for inflation beginning in 2028, but it does not limit patient out-of-pocket costs set by either public sector or private, employer-prov

Legislation signed by Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) would de-couple the state from following the recommendations of a federal vaccine advisory panel that was remade by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The Vax Act, signed by Gov. Wes Moore (D) Tuesday, directs the state’s health secretary to issue official recommendations for immunizations, screening and preventive services, rather than relying on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immu

AbbVie Inc., Novartis AG, AstraZeneca Plc, and drug industry group PhRMA notched a victory Tuesday after a federal appeals court vacated an order rejecting their request to block a Maryland drug discount law, remanding the decision for review. The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled a lower court “erred” when it denied the drugmakers and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America’s motion for a preliminary injunction against Maryland’s H.B. 1056.

Medical breakthroughs are often measured in lives saved and diseases prevented. That is only part of the story. They are also a powerful driver of economic growth, workforce strength, and long-term public revenue. For communities like Frederick County, that connection is not theoretical. It is visible in our local economy every day... Read more from Rick Weldon, CEO of the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce, at The Frederick News Post .

Maryland’s small businesses and independent pharmacies are the backbone of our communities, yet they are being squeezed by a prescription-drug system that rewards powerful middlemen over the very people it is meant to serve. Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) and the insurance giants that own them dictate prices, reimbursement and access with almost no transparency, driving up costs for employers and threatening the survival of local pharmacies... Read more from Liz League, CEO

Right now, the U.S. is drifting toward a dangerous dependency. America relies on China for a significant share of the raw ingredients used to manufacture medicines — sometimes as much as 80 to 90 percent of active pharmaceutical ingredients. Meanwhile, 477 FDA-registered drug manufacturing facilities operate in China, yet the FDA inspected only 204 foreign drug and device establishments in fiscal 2024... Read more from The Hill .

Last year, America’s pharmacy benefit managers and insurers pocketed a whopping $7 billion in co-pay assistance meant for patients. Through deceptive policies and regulatory loopholes, they have turned patient co-pay assistance into a growing profit center for themselves... Read more at the Washington Times .