MedCity News

Willow Acquires 2 Women’s Health Companies

Patient Deaths and Data Shortfall Spell the End for Cell Therapy Biotech Artiva

Artiva Biotherapeutics attributed one of the fatalities to a drug used to prepare patients for cell therapy and not to the cell therapy itself. But Artiva’s setbacks follow safety signals reported for autoimmune disease cell therapy programs from Novartis and Bristol Myers Squibb.

By Frank Vinluan

Payers, Health Tech, Providers

ClarityCare Raises $16.5M to Speed Up Prior Authorizations

As health plans grapple with new federal deadlines for prior authorization decisions, healthcare AI startup ClarityCare has raised $16.5 million to automate the administrative workload that can keep patients waiting for the care they need.

By Jenna Congdon

MedCity Influencers

A Market, Not a Mandate, Is the Fastest Way to Bring AI Into Hospitals

The cost of waiting is not evenly distributed. Rural and critical access hospitals report under 50 percent adoption of even basic predictive tools, compared with 86 percent among top-tier system-affiliated hospitals. Every year without a bridge widens that gap, and it widens it fastest for the hospitals with the least room to absorb it.

By Dr. Andrew M. Ibrahim

Latest Video

Latest News

Policy

How Experts Are Reacting to Trump’s Women’s Health Executive Order

Women’s health experts had mixed reactions to the Trump administration's executive order on women's health.

By Marissa Plescia

BioPharma, Pharma

Obesity Biotech Corxel Is Going Public in a Merger as Oral GLP-1 Heads to Phase 3

Corxel Pharmaceuticals is catching up to others with oral GLP-1 obesity drugs, but the biotech claims its small molecule could offer better tolerability compared to the rest of its class. The SPAC merger taking Corxel public is expected to close in the first half of 2027, which is when the biotech plans to start a Phase 3 trial.

By Frank Vinluan

The Power Behind Enterprise EHR Software for Large Healthcare Systems

Enterprise EHR boosts scalability, interoperability, and governance for large healthcare systems.

By Malvika Tarnekar, Director of Product Strategy, PrognoCIS by Bizmatics Inc

Hospitals, Devices & Diagnostics

Sutter Health Expands Remote Monitoring Program to Patients with Heart Failure

Sutter Health, a nonprofit healthcare system based in Sacramento, California, is expanding its digital chronic disease management program, Sutter Sync, to include patients with heart failure. The expansion adds a remote monitoring technology from San Francisco-based medical tech company Bodyport. The program expansion comes as health systems look for ways to identify deterioration in a low acuity environment before patients reach the point of needing emergency hospitalization.

By Jenna Congdon

MedCity Influencers

In a Maternity Care Crisis, CMS Undermines Efforts To Modernize Care

CMS has introduced uncertainty about whether Medicare will participate in that modernization or preserve the old system under a different name. The consequences extend far beyond billing

By Mark N. Simon

FDA Alignment Is a Starting Point, Not a Rare Disease Strategy for the European Market

For US biotech companies developing rare disease therapies, decisions about clinical evidence, patient populations and regulatory advice can have consequences in Europe long before a marketing application is submitted.

By Stephanie Baum

The Hidden Administrative Tasks Draining Small Practices

Small practices play a critical role in healthcare delivery, but they cannot continue to absorb ever-increasing administrative demands without consequences.

By Michael Blackman, MD, MBA Chief Medical Officer, Greenway Health®

Health Tech

CareValidate Launches Expanded HRT Offering

CareValidate expanded its HRT offering for telehealth companies, combining hormone therapy with provider access, pharmacy services and AI-powered care coordination.

By Marissa Plescia

BioPharma, Pharma

Lycia Lands a $317M IPO for Inflammation Drugs Based on Nobel Prize-Winning Science

Lycia Therapeutics’ protein-degrading drugs are based on the research of Carolyn Bertozzi, a Stanford chemistry professor and Nobel laureate. Lycia’s lead drug candidate is in development for food allergy, where it could compete against the blockbuster Roche drug Xolair.

By Frank Vinluan

MedCity Influencers, Hospitals

Congress’s Patient Matching Fix Won’t Work — Here’s What Would

The MATCH IT Act aims to reduce patient matching errors. But a model used by vital records systems could provide a better solution.

By Nidhi Singh

MedCity Influencers

Physician Mental Health and Health System Privacy: Why Doctors Avoid Their Own EHR

In most organizations the default access model was built for patient care, not for protecting colleagues. A nurse on another unit, a resident who rotated with them, a department administrator: any of them may technically be able to open the record, even when policy says they should not.

By Elijah Fernandez

Devices & Diagnostics

Fractyl’s Weight Maintenance Device Meets Clinical Goal, but Shares Nosedive, Layoffs Follow

Fractyl Health reported positive six-month trial results from an investigation of its Revita procedure last week, but shares of Fractyl stock dropped steeply on October 16 immediately following the announcement. Despite the positive findings, the stock’s sharp decline highlighted a contrast between the clinical findings and the market’s response.

By Jenna Congdon

Health Tech

Close-up of unrecognizable black woman holding her chest in pain

Where Are the Biggest Opportunities in Women’s Cardiovascular Health?

MedTech Conference panelists cited inflammation research, listening to women, clinical trial representation and investment as priorities for women’s cardiovascular health.

By Marissa Plescia

BioPharma, Pharma

Gilead to Pay $1.3B for Oral Peptide That Could Rival J&J’s New Immunology Pill

Gilead Sciences is getting global rights to an experimental PepStar Therapeutics oral peptide designed to inhibit the IL-23 receptor to treat inflammatory bowel disease. It could compete against Johnson & Johnson’s Icotyde, an oral peptide that blocks the same target and is also in development for IBD.

By Frank Vinluan

MedCity Influencers

Why an Independent NP Practice Requires an Undergraduate Business Foundation

Ultimately, while clinical training teaches nurses how to care for patients within a system, business education empowers them to design, protect, and scale the system.

By Octavia “Tavi” Schlueter

Consumer / Employer

Amazon, Google and Other Major Employers Back CMS Prior Auth Effort

Amazon, Axon Enterprise, Google, Meta and Oracle backed expanding electronic prior authorization to self-funded employer health plans.

By Marissa Plescia

BioPharma, Pharma

Alcon Expands Its Cell Therapy Ambitions With $550M Neurotech Pharma Acquisition

Alcon’s Neurotech Pharmaceuticals acquisition brings the rare vision disorder cell therapy Encelto as well as the platform technology that developed it. Last year, Alcon acquired a majority stake in Aurion Biotech, a startup developing a corneal cell therapy.

By Frank Vinluan