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Today, a brief rundown of news from Janux Therapeutics and the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as updates from Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca that you may have missed.Shares of Janux Therapeutics fell nearly 50% on Tuesday after the company reported new early-stage results for a type of masked T cell engager its developing for advanced prostate cancer. Januxs drug, JANX007, was associated with a response rate of 30% among 27 evaluable patients in its latest data cut, down from the 50% response rate disclosed last December. Janux also didnt reveal which responses were unconfirmed, or not corroborated by a subsequent scan. While acknowledging those criticisms as fair, William Blair analyst Matt Phipps countered that, in patients who were treated with the dosing regimens advancing into further testing, or who had a lower tumor burden, the data still suggest JANX007 has a possible best-in-disease profile. The selloff is an overreaction, he wrote in a client note. Ben FidlerThe U.S. Department of Health and Human Services named Martin Kulldorff the chief science officer for the in-house group, known for short as ASPE, that guides the agency on health policy. Kulldorff has been chairing the influential panel, ACIP, that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recast with vaccine skeptics. His job leading ACIP has been handed to Kirk Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist who has been critical of COVID-19 vaccines and promoted the use of unproven drugs like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin to treat the disease during the pandemic. ACIP will meet later this week to discuss the childhood immunization schedule and hepatitis B shots. Ben FidlerEli Lilly said Monday it is dropping the price of the single-dose vials of obesity drug Zepbound that it sells to cash-paying customers through its online channel. According to Lilly, those customers will now pay $299 a month for a starter dose and a maximum of $499 monthly afterwards. The announcement comes less than a month after the Indianapolis-based drugmaker reached an agreement with the Trump administration to lower Zepbound to an average of $346 a month when purchased through a U.S. government cash-pay portal. The new $299 price will apply to the 2.5 milligram weekly starter dose and is down from $349. The 5 milligram dose will now cost $399 instead of $499, while all other doses will be priced at $449. Jonathan GardnerThe Food and Drug Administration will begin reviewing baxdrostat, a blood pressure medication AstraZeneca acquired in a 2023 buyout of CinCor Pharma. The agency has also granted baxdrostat a priority review for its proposed use of treating hard-to-control hypertension, meaning a decision will likely come during the second quarter of 2026, the company said Tuesday. AstraZeneca previously said it expects baxdrostat to eventually generate billions of dollars in yearly sales. It's also being tested as a treatment for primary aldosteronism and in combination with Farxiga for chronic kidney disease and heart failure prevention. Ben Fidler '

London: U.S. Medicare price cuts of up to 85% will have a lesser impact on drugmakers than initially feared, with most of the hit already reflected in forecasts, Wall Street analysts said. Shares of Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk and Teva Pharmaceuticals rose 5% and 3% respectively after the U.S. government published negotiated prices late on Tuesday. Novo's top-selling drug semaglutide, sold as Ozempic for diabetes and Wegovy for weight loss, as well as Teva's Austedo for Hungtington disease were among the closely watched drugs on the list of prices, which will take effect in 2027. The announcement and recent White House deals offer clarity on pricing for popular GLP-1 drugs such as Wegovy and Eli Lilly's Zepbound, which have drawn scrutiny over their costs. The negotiated price for Novo's semaglutide is "the final cloud to clear on the drawn-out, but positively resolved GLP-1 pricing debate ," said Bernstein analyst Christian Moore. The price cuts through the U.S. Medicare health plan come as President Donald Trump's administration pushes the drug industry to advocate for other wealthy nations, particularly in Europe, to pay more for prescription medicines. Goldman Sachs said a key question for the first half of 2026 will be whether lower Medicare prices boost Wegovy volumes. William Blair analysts noted the $274 monthly price for Novo's semaglutide broadly aligns with recent government deals, but said uncertainty remains over insurance coverage expansion. FACTORED INTO NOVO, ASTRAZENECA AND GSK FORECASTS Bernstein analysts said that five of the 15 targeted medicines will become generic by 2027, limiting their exposure to price cuts. The lower prices could even keep patients on the branded therapies longer, boosting volumes, they said. Analysts agreed that the reductions had been factored into estimates for Novo, AstraZeneca and GSK. Earlier this month, Novo said it expected a low single-digit impact to global sales if the price cuts were implemented this year. Analysts said that would imply roughly a 6 billion Danish crown ($931 million) sales hit. AstraZeneca and GSK shares were flat on Wednesday. GSK said when reporting third-quarter results that any impact from negotiated prices was fully factored into its outlook. Shore Capital analyst Sean Conroy said the cuts would hit earnings by "low- to mid-hundreds" of millions of pounds or dollars. Bernstein estimated the impact on Abbie in the range of $100 million to $250 million to sales of its mood disorder drug Vraylar and irritable bowel syndrome medicine Linzess as well as for Amgen's psoriasis drug Otezla. ($1 = 6.4404 Danish crowns) (Reporting by Bhanvi Satija and Maggie Fick in London, Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen, Mariam Sunny and Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Jane Merriman, Jan Harvey and Alexander Smith)