Greetings from London, with STAT reporter Andrew Joseph here filling in for Ed for the day. We’ve shifted to our afternoon version of a cup of stimulation (a nice glass of iced tea — it is summer after all), which is tasting extra delicious given that we just read a Wall Street Journal story on the Olympic triathlon that featured this review on the Seine swim: “It didn’t taste great.” C’est magnifique! Now, a few tidbits to keep your day informed. …
Eli Lilly’s obesity drug Zepbound cut the risk of complications and improved symptoms in patients with a common type of heart failure, making it the second GLP-1 drug to show positive results in the disease area after Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy, STAT tells us. The Phase 3 trial studied patients who had heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (or HFpEF) and obesity. Some participants also had type 2 diabetes. Over two years, Zepbound cut the risk of major problems — including heart failure-related urgent visits or hospitalizations, intensification of diuretic treatment, or cardiovascular-related deaths — by 38% compared to placebo.
A trust controlled by 23andMe co-founder Anne Wojcicki has formally filed to take the genetic testing firm private, offering to purchase all shares of the firm for 40 cents per share, STAT writes. The deal, which Wojcicki had previously telegraphed, was made public in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday; the proposal was made to a special committee of 23andMe’s board on Monday. The filing said the deal would need to be approved by the committee and 23andMe’s shareholders.
