Wells Fargo kicks off our bank earnings Friday. Rate cuts and dealmaking will be in focus this season

What a difference a year makes. Club holding Wells Fargo will post quarterly results on Friday, followed by our other financial holding, Morgan Stanley, on Tuesday. The industry’s first-quarter results will come against a more pleasant backdrop than last year, when the March 2023 collapse of Silicon Valley Bank sent shockwaves throughout the sector. The … Read more

Sickle cell disease gene therapies Casgevy Lyfgenia insurance cost issues

Blood sample of patient positive tested for sickle cell. Kitsawet Saethao | Istock | Getty Images The approval of two gene therapies to treat sickle cell disease has given hope to patients who suffer from the debilitating disease, which overwhelmingly affects Black people and people of color. Health officials now face a challenge in finding … Read more

Vertex non-opioid painkiller shows positive late-stage trial results

A sign hangs in front of the world headquarters of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in Boston on Oct. 23, 2019. Brian Snyder | Reuters Vertex Pharmaceuticals on Tuesday said its experimental painkiller, which is being tested as an alternative to addictive opioids, significantly decreased post-surgery pain in late-stage trials The drug, known as VX-548, did not work … Read more

U.S. poised to approve breakthrough treatment

At age 19, Joe Tsogbe underwent his first hip replacement. In his 20s, he averaged about nine hospitalizations a year. By his 30s, that rose to more than a dozen.  All the result of sickle cell disease, an inherited blood disorder where a genetic mutation causes normally full-moon shaped red blood cells to form into … Read more

First CRISPR gene-editing treatment approved in U.S.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the country’s first gene-editing treatment, Casgevy, for use in patients with sickle cell disease. The approval comes about a decade after the discovery of CRISPR technology for editing human DNA, representing a significant scientific advancement. Yet reaching the tens of thousands of people who could benefit … Read more

Vertex nonopioid painkiller posts positive midstage trial results

A sign hangs in front of the world headquarters of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in Boston on Oct. 23, 2019. Brian Snyder | Reuters Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals jumped Wednesday after the company’s painkiller, which is being tested as an alternative to opioids, significantly decreased pain in a midstage trial. Those positive results for diabetes patients suffering … Read more