Novo Nordisk is paying Valo Health $60 million up front to gain three preclinical cardiovascular disease programs. Milestone payments for those programs and others covered under the artificial intelligence drug discovery pact could reach up to $2.7 billion.

Novo Nordisk is expanding its cardiometabolic drug pipeline with the acquisition of Embark Biotech, a startup developing drugs for a novel target that can suppress appetite and boost calorie burning in cells. Embark’s science comes University of Copenhagen research on a novel fat cell target.

Novo Nordisk isn’t putting all of its weight loss drug hopes in the same basket. Its acquisition of Inversago Pharma for up to $1 billion will bring a biotech whose lead drug candidate has early clinical trial data showing significant weight loss.

Novo Nordisk weight-loss drug Wegovy reduced the risk of major cardiovascular events by 20% in a large clinical trial. The company said the results support expanding the drug’s label, but the looming question is whether the data will persuade payers to cover the pricey chronic therapy.

Employers should be looking at obesity as a chronic condition and focus on weight management solutions over weight loss solutions, said Parin Chikani, medical account director for managed markets at Novo Nordisk. He made these comments Tuesday at the Midwest Business Group on Health conference in Chicago.

Novo Nordisk can afford the price cuts prices to several branded and non-branded insulins. Flattening revenue for the pharmaceutical giant’s insulin products is offset by demand for diabetes and obesity drugs from its semaglutide franchise, which continues to grow by leaps and bounds.

High prices have drawn other critics, as well, including President Joe Biden. He renewed his call for a broad price cap during his annual State of the Union address. Pharma companies insist they have been part of the solution.

The FDA approved a change in Rybelsus’s label, allowing the drug to be used as an initial therapy for type 2 diabetes patients. The once-daily pill has already become a blockbuster product for Novo Nordisk.

Novo Nordisk is acquiring global rights to a Ventus Therapeutics drug candidate with potential applications in cardiometabolic disorders such as NASH and chronic kidney disease. The small molecule blocks a protein that has become an attractive target for big pharmaceutical companies, such as Roche and Novartis.

Novo Nordisk announced that it will buy Forma Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech focused on rare hematologic diseases, in an deal valued at $1.1 billion. The deal is the second billion-dollar sickle cell disease deal the pharmaceutical industry has seen in the last 30 days — Pfizer forked over $5.4 billion in August to buy Global Blood Therapeutics.

Obese patients are more at risk for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, certain cancers and mortality than patients who maintain a healthy weight, and obese patient who develop these chronic conditions usually have more complications. That is why providers and payers must integrate more weight loss strategies in chronic condition care, panelists argued at a Tuesday panel hosted by the Chamber of Commerce.

The acquisition agreement comes exactly two years after the two companies began a wide-ranging alliance focused on developing RNA interference drug for metabolic disorders. The most advanced therapy from that alliance is on track to reach the clinic in 2022.

Novo Nordisk is paying $100 million up front to acquire an experimental Prothena drug being developed to treat heart problems stemming from a misfolded protein. The deal is part of a broader strategy to expand into drugs for cardiovascular disease.

Walmart struck a deal with Novo Nordisk to offer a heavily discounted, private-label version of its fast-acting analog insulin. But it still doesn’t solve the pricing problems patients have faced, with insulin costs skyrocketing in recent years.

Covid-19 showed how technology can upend the old ways of clinical trials. Panelists at MedCity’s INVEST conference said it’s highlighting the importance of improving clinical trial diversity so that tests of new therapies and vaccines reflect the population of patients that they will treat in the real world.

Clinical tests of drugs from Gilead Sciences and Novo Nordisk have yielded encouraging results in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and the partners now want to see if the drug combinations help patients in a larger mid-stage study. The planned Phase 2b study expands on a 2019 R&D alliance.

Prominent drug companies have said they want to curb waste and abuse in the 340B Drug Pricing Program. But the top lawyer at HHS is echoing the criticism hospitals have been leveling against the drug companies over access to the program.

The lawsuit follows action by at least a half-dozen drug companies to rein in what they see as waste and abuse in the program, overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services. Meanwhile, the Hospital plaintiffs have a potentially powerful ally in the person picked to head the department under the incoming Biden administration.

The company plans to start clinical development next year. Its focus is on bispecific antibodies – a form of cancer immunotherapy – that use gamma-delta “surveillance” T cells.

More than 1,750 Medicare part D plans and Medicare Advantage plans will limit out-of-pocket insulin costs to a $35 copay next year. The change would make patients’ out-of-pocket costs more consistent than the current system, where payments fluctuate in different stages of their Part D plan.

While many sellers were found to express altruistic motives, the researchers wrote that improperly stored insulin creates risks of lost potency and contamination. The findings highlight the need for substantive policy reform, according to the study’s lead author.

The companies will use Novo Nordisk’s experience with hemophilia and bluebird’s TALENs-based genome editing technology, megaTAL, with a particular focus on hemophilia A.

The drug, Rybelsus, is the first oral medication in the GLP-1 receptor agonist class. The approval was based on data from 10 trials that enrolled more than 9,500 patients.

Through the deal Health2Sync will work with Novo Nordisk to market and localize the company’s patient management tool and SyncHealth app, which nudges users towards timely healthy behaviors around exercise, diet and blood glucose management.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, was also among four signatories to a letter to FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb calling on the agency to speed up approvals of generic versions of insulin products.

The Basel, Switzerland-based biotech company plans to trial the drug in achondroplasia patients next year.

Interviews with Glooko’s previous CEO, new CEO and a Novo Nordisk executive show that the two company’s messaging around the development of a smart insulin pen is not aligned.

The pharma industry as a whole has cranked up political contributions and lobbying. Meanwhile, despite much talk about change, Congress and the Trump administration have done little to control drug prices or threaten drug-company profits.

The medication adherence collaboration with Novo Nordisk and Sempre Health will focus on incentivizing diabetes patients.

The United States is one of the few developed countries without regulations on prescription drug pricing.