Pharmacy Updates

Pharma / Med Tech / Health innovation updates

[Pharmacy Updates @PharmacyUpdates]

🧬 One infusion. One time. For life.

Eli Lilly’s VERVE-102 — a PCSK9 base-editing gene therapy — cut LDL cholesterol by up to 62% and PCSK9 protein by up to 88% from a single IV infusion, with effects sustained for up to 18 months. Published in NEJM. Presented at EAS 2026.

Approximately half of all patients prescribed lipid-lowering therapy discontinue within a year. VERVE-102 doesn’t ask patients to remember a pill. It edits the problem out of their DNA.
No treatment-related serious adverse events. No clinically significant lab abnormalities. Phase 2 is coming.

The statin era may have a sunset date. Are pharmacists ready for a world where cholesterol management is a one-time conversation? 👇
#GeneEditing #VERVE102 #Cardiology #LDL #PCSK9 #PharmacyTwitter #NEJM

https://t.co/VXATfyyiKl

[The BMJ @bmj_latest]

Over a quarter of the world’s population—2.1 billion people—lack access to safely managed drinking water and freshwater reserves are declining.

How can health systems adapt for water bankruptcy?
https://t.co/pxAHoq1n5U

[Pharmacy Updates @PharmacyUpdates]

📊 Pfizer’s monthly GLP-1 just posted Phase 2b data — and Wall Street shrugged.
Berobenatide delivered 15.9% weight reduction at 32 weeks with no plateau observed, presented at ADA’s 86th Scientific Sessions. Solid numbers. But analysts called it “relatively undifferentiated” from drugs already on market — and the stock dipped on the news.
Good data isn’t always good enough anymore. The GLP-1 space is so crowded that “effective” no longer moves the needle — you need to be better, or different.
Pharmacists, formulary committees are about to face a flood of me-too GLP-1s. Differentiation will matter more than approval. 👇
#GLP1 #PharmaBusiness #ClinicalTrials #Pfizer #PharmacyTwitter
https://t.co/4spu60K4MJ

[Medscape @Medscape]

GLP-1 agonists do not harm male fertility and may improve reproductive health, possibly through weight loss and metabolic benefits. However, more extensive studies are needed to confirm these findings and explore potential fertility enhancements. https://t.co/4ZKTHEfYV3

[Eric Topol @EricTopol]

Our immune response loses its integrity and protection as we age. If we're going to promote healthspan, we'll need to counter that loss of function and, at the same time, avoid inducing autoimmune diseases
A new @jclinicalinvest review, open-access https://t.co/7LNIwLmI1c

[Pharmacy Updates @PharmacyUpdates]

AstraZeneca’s once-daily oral GLP-1 elecoglipron just posted Phase 2 results in The Lancet — patients on the high dose lost nearly 12% of body weight at 36 weeks versus 0.3% on placebo. It’s heading straight to Phase 3. The oral GLP-1 race is heating up fast. Pharmacists — the pill formulation era is here
#GLP1 #Elecoglipron #OralGLP1 #ObesityMedicine #PharmacyTwitter
https://t.co/MDSEeyzXJD

[Pharmacy Updates @PharmacyUpdates]

The Knicks just went up 3-1 in the NBA Finals with a one-point thriller — 107-106. Won it by the slimmest of margins.
Sounds familiar, pharmacists.
How many of our interventions win by one point? One caught interaction. One deprescribing conversation. One adherence check that kept a patient out of the ED.
The championship isn’t always dramatic. Sometimes it’s just one call at the right time. 💊
New York knows clutch. So do we.
#Knicks #NBAFinals #ClinicalPharmacy #PharmacyTwitter #MedicationSafety

[Pharmacy Updates @PharmacyUpdates]

A UCSF and Imperial College London study published in Nature Communications found that a single 25mg dose of psilocybin causes likely anatomical brain changes lasting up to a month — even in healthy volunteers with no prior psychedelic use. The most significant changes were seen in pathways linking the front and middle brain — areas governing self-reflection, emotional regulation, and decision-making. Psychedelic-assisted therapy is coming. Are pharmacists ready to counsel on it? 👇
#Psilocybin #PsychedelicMedicine #ClinicalPharmacy #NeuroPharma #PharmacyTwitter
https://t.co/6B1BMs8UVC

[Eric Topol @EricTopol]

A very impressive study for how we could prevent lung cancer more than 5 years before it is diagnosed. Using machine learning, discovery of a 14-plasma protein signature of risk that predicts responsiveness to an antibody therapy to interleukin, IL-1β
Validated across 8 cohorts
@CellCellPress @CharlesSwanton
https://t.co/qpPtgs1dH0

[Pharmacy Updates @PharmacyUpdates]

Stanford researchers have found that semaglutide reduces skeletal muscle mass alongside fat — and millions of patients losing muscle quietly alongside weight may not know it. A drug already in trials for age-related muscle loss could help GLP-1 users rebuild. Are we screening for sarcopenia risk at initiation? This is a counselling gap we need to close. 👇
#GLP1 #Sarcopenia #MedicationSafety #PharmacyTwitter

[Pharmacy Updates @PharmacyUpdates]

The FDA has approved baxdrostat (Baxfendy), a first-in-class oral aldosterone synthase inhibitor, as add-on therapy for adults whose blood pressure is not adequately controlled on existing antihypertensives.

For pharmacists managing resistant hypertension patients stuck on maxed-out triple therapy, this is a meaningful new tool.

https://t.co/VOtkxeMSUT

[Pharmacy Updates @PharmacyUpdates]

Researchers have demonstrated the first injectable in-situ cross-linked depot capable of ultra-long-term delivery of hydrophilic drugs beyond six months — far surpassing the current one-month standard for long-acting injectables. If this translates to clinic, think what it means for adherence in psychiatry, HIV, and chronic disease. Game-changing pharmacokinetics. 🔬
#DrugDelivery #LongActingInjectables #ClinicalPharmacy #MedicationAdherence #PharmacyTwitter
https://t.co/DTmjpgpkfX

[Pharmacy Updates @PharmacyUpdates]

Cleveland Clinic’s largest real-world study to date on GLP-1 discontinuation found that many patients successfully stabilised their weight at 12 months — because most restarted therapy or transitioned to another obesity treatment rather than stopping altogether. The message for counselling: discontinuation is not the end of the road. Plan the next step before they stop. 💊
#GLP1 #ObesityMedicine #MedicationAdherence #PharmacyTwitter
https://t.co/s4rW88YIGq

[Pharmacy Updates @PharmacyUpdates]

NIH-funded research just mapped a brand new mechanism: oral small-molecule GLP-1 drugs suppress hedonic feeding — eating for pleasure — by modulating a deep brain reward circuit, entirely separate from their appetite-suppressing pathway. This could explain their emerging role in addiction medicine. The pharmacology of this drug class keeps getting more fascinating. 🔬
#GLP1 #Neuropharmacology #ClinicalPharmacy #PharmacyTwitter
https://t.co/0rpzTJiLnz

[Pharmacy Updates @PharmacyUpdates]

HHS launched a MAHA Action Plan to curb psychiatric overprescribing — specifically SSRIs — calling for safer tapers, shared decision-making, and expanded non-drug care.
Pharmacists are uniquely positioned here: building individualised taper schedules, screening for discontinuation syndrome, flagging serotonin syndrome risk with concomitant agents, and catching patients who self-discontinue in the community.
#ClinicalPharmacy #Deprescribing #SSRIs #MentalHealth #PharmacyTwitter
https://t.co/JoJ8ZbPwYJ

[Stanford Medicine @StanfordMed]

Stanford Medicine researchers and their colleagues invented a new vaccine that shows potential to protect against respiratory viruses, bacteria and allergens — the closest yet to a universal vaccine.
https://t.co/ypukWUmJKv

[The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology @TheLancetEndo]

Online—A comparison of the effects of #tirzepatide and dulaglutide on major #kidney events in people with type 2 #diabetes: pre-specified exploratory analyses of the SURPASS-CVOT trial https://t.co/uPTS3px58q #T2D
#OpenAccess

[Pharmacy Updates @PharmacyUpdates]

Scientists have linked a boy’s brain tumour to the viral delivery system used in his gene therapy — a finding that underscores a theoretical cancer risk that must be weighed against potentially life-changing benefits. As cell & gene therapies multiply on formulary, pharmacists need to be across the risk-benefit conversation. This won’t be the last case. Are you ready to counsel on it? 🧬
#GeneTherapy #PatientSafety #ClinicalPharmacy #PharmacyTwitter

[Reuters Health @Reuters_Health]

Infections fuel calls for stricter health, environment rules https://t.co/D7cFm1MTh1 https://t.co/D7cFm1MTh1

[NEJM @NEJM]

Original Article: Base Editing of HBG1 and HBG2 Promoters for Sickle Cell Disease (BEACON study) https://t.co/qASUS8UOUR

#Hematology