CVS Ousts CEO Amid Company’s Struggles To Drive Up Profits, Stocks
CVS announced Friday that CEO Karen Lynch will be replaced by David Joyner, as consumer spending drops at the company's retail pharmacies and Aetna, its insurance unit, faces higher medical costs.
CNBC:
CVS Replaces CEO Karen Lynch With Exec David Joyner As Profits, Share Price Suffer
Longtime CVS Health executive David Joyner has replaced Karen Lynch as CEO, as the company struggles to drive higher profits and stock performance, CVS announced Friday. The move, effective Thursday, the day before the announcement, comes as CVS shares have fallen nearly 20% this year. ... CVS has faced challenges as higher medical costs weigh on its insurance unit, Aetna, and consumer spending drops at its retail pharmacies. In August, the company slashed its full-year profit guidance and said it would cut $2 billion in costs over the next several years. (Salinas, 10/18)
In other pharma and tech news —
Reuters:
Families Of Fentanyl Victims Ask US For China Tariffs Over Opioid Crisis
A group of families whose loved ones died of fentanyl overdoses filed a petition with the office of U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Thursday, requesting a probe into China's alleged role in fueling the U.S. synthetic opioid crisis. The petition was filed under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, a statute that allows the U.S. to impose sanctions on foreign countries that violate trade agreements or hurt U.S. commerce. The families are seeking trade countermeasures that include tariffs of at least $50 billion on Chinese merchandise. (Gottesdiener and Martina, 10/17)
Stat:
Consumer, Labor Groups Urge FTC To Block Catalent Sale To Novo Holdings
A coalition of unions, consumer groups and public interest organizations urged the Federal Trade Commission to challenge a $16.5 billion deal in which Novo Nordisk’s parent foundation would acquire Catalent, a leading contract drug manufacturer, over concerns the acquisition will harm competition and reduce patient access to popular diabetes and weight loss medicines. (Silverman, 10/17)
CNBC:
Merck Says Experimental RSV Treatment Protected Infants In Trial
Merck on Thursday said its experimental treatment designed to protect infants from respiratory syncytial virus showed positive results in a mid- to late-stage trial, bringing the company one step closer to filing for approval of the shot. (Constantino, 10/17)
NBC News:
New Heart Stents For Infants Mean Kids Could Avoid Series Of Surgeries
The Food and Drug Administration recently approved a heart stent made specifically for infants and young children, a device that could help kids born with certain congenital heart defects avoid a series of open heart operations over their childhoods. About 40,000 babies are born with congenital heart defects in the U.S. each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In some cases, those defects are treated with stents, which prop open blood vessels, ensuring that blood can properly flow through them. (Syal and Herzberg, 10/17)
CBS News:
Boston Doctor Builds Tool To Identify Patients At Risk For Intimate Partner Violence
Dr. Khurana was already extolling the virtues of artificial intelligence, specifically in detecting fractures. ... she was eager to build a tool that would create an annotation for fractures even before radiologists looked at the images. Six years later, she and her team have done it. ... "On average," she explains looking at an X-ray, "we can detect four years before the patient self-reports intimate partner violence." She explains that because domestic violence tends to escalate over time, knowing earlier can protect patients against more severe injuries. Its accuracy is now roughly 80%. (Hughes, 10/17)
