Bristol Myers, Pfizer to sell blood thinner Eliquis directly to patients
Eligible patients will be able to buy the drug directly through the Eliquis 360 Support program from September 8 at a rate that is more than 40% lower than the current list price.
"Eliquis is the nation's number one prescribed oral anticoagulant that provides important benefits to patients and the healthcare system," said Bristol Myers CEO Christopher Boerner.
"This program passes more savings directly to patients."
Since its launch, Eliquis has been prescribed to over 15 million Americans and in 2024 it generated about $11.4 billion in global revenue.
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Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Kamala Harris' former advisor left flustered after being asked simple question about economy
A former senior adviser to Kamala Harris was left visibly flustered during a live television segment after he failed to accurately answer a basic question about the current U.S. inflation rate. During a Friday appearance on Fox News ' America Reports, anchor Sandra Smith pressed Mike Nellis, once a Senior Advisor to former Vice President Harris, on the latest economic data, asking, 'Do you know what the inflation rate is?' 'Yeah, it's like about three or four percent,' Nellis responded. But Smith quickly fired back, correcting him. 'No. It's below three. And it's been a long time since it's gotten there. I mean, you're looking at 2.5 percent inflation now.' According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 2.7 percent year-over-year in June. While slightly above Smith's figure, the inflation rate has remained below 3 percent for several consecutive months, reflecting a significant cooldown from its 9.1 percent peak in June 2022 - the highest in four decades, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Despite the data, Nellis insisted that inflation continues to rise. 'Inflation is still going up,' he said. 'And it's rising, according to the latest stats.' 'That's not the case,' Smith countered. 'Inflation has come down. Inflation by nature is growth in prices, but the growth has slowed.' Earlier in the segment, Nellis blamed Republicans and President Donald Trump for ongoing economic concerns. 'Right now the president of the United States is Donald Trump. Republicans are in control of Congress,' Nellis said. 'They're currently in recess rather than doing anything about inflation.' He went on to claim that beef and alcohol prices hit record highs over the July 4 weekend and criticized Trump's promises to reduce prices immediately after taking office. 'Donald Trump promised to make grocery prices go down on day one,' Nellis said. 'We're six months in and everything's more expensive.' Smith pushed back, noting that 'prices have definitely come down,' but that 'they can go down more.' Meanwhile, some economic indicators suggest relief for American consumers, according to AAA, average gas prices hit a four-year low in June. The tense exchange came just days after the Democratic Party had its own messaging blunder when its official X account posted a graphic blaming inflation from 2021 to 2024 on 'Trump's America' - even though Joe Biden and Harris were in charge the whole time. The post later deleted. The White House later shared the same graphic again, this time fixing the mistake and crediting the Biden administration. That slip-up highlights the tough spot Democrats are in as they face growing criticism over the party's handling of the economy. A new Wall Street Journal poll this week showed that 63 percent of voters view the Democratic Party unfavorably - the worst rating they've seen in 35 years. Just 33 percent said they view the party favorably, and only 8 percent said they had a 'very favorable' view, according to the poll. In contrast, Republicans, while also viewed more unfavorably than favorably, had stronger numbers - sitting at just 19 percent. President Trump's job approval stands at 46 percent, higher than the 40 percent approval rating he received at the same point in his first term, according to the WSJ. When asked which party they trusted more on major issues such as inflation, tariffs, and immigration, voters consistently favored Republicans. 'The Democratic brand is so bad that they don't have the credibility to be a critic of Trump or the Republican Party,' Democratic pollster John Anzalone, who conducted the WSJ poll with Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio, said. 'Until they reconnect with real voters and working people on who they're for and what their economic message is, they're going to have problems.' Republicans currently hold a financial edge as well, with campaign filings showing the Republican National Committee has over $80 million on hand, compared to $15 million held by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the WSJ reported.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
RFK Jr wants bright artificial dyes out of food. Are Americans ready to let go?
The Make America Healthy Again (Maha) movement celebrated this month after the US dairy industry voluntarily pledged to remove all artificial dyes from ice-cream by 2028. In April, US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr prevailed upon the food industry to stop using artificial dyes, and many of the nation's largest food manufacturers, including Nestle, Kraft Heinz and PepsiCo, have already promised to comply. But the ice-cream pledge made Kennedy especially happy because, he said, ice-cream is his favorite food. Prepare to say goodbye to the brilliant pink (from red dye No 40) that signifies strawberry, the cool green (yellow 5 and blue 1) of mint chocolate chip, and the heroic combination of red 40, blue 1, and yellow 5 and 6 that makes up Superman. One of the goals of the Maha movement is to prevent childhood diseases, which Kennedy argues can be accomplished by, among other things, addressing the use of additives in ultra-processed foods. A recent study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics calculated that, in 2020, 19% of food products contained artificial dyes – 'the most egregious' additive, according to Kennedy. Those dyes, he claims, are responsible for a host of health issues, including cancer, hyperactivity and possibly autism. 'The American people have made it clear – they want real food, not chemicals,' Kennedy said in a statement. Aside from jokes on social media about Donald Trump's skin tone and Kennedy's alleged use of methylene blue (an artificial dye that some claim boosts 'mitochondrial efficiency' and longevity), the initiative has faced little political opposition. In January, when Joe Biden was still president, the FDA announced a ban on red dye No 3 scheduled to go into effect in 2027. Red 3, the FDA explained, was shown to cause cancer in rats, and while it does not show up in food in large enough quantities to affect humans, it still violates a law forbidding additives that contain carcinogens. Meanwhile, states as politically varied as West Virginia, Texas and California have already established their own bans or requirements that foods containing artificial dyes carry warning labels, citing the need to protect kids. (In the UK and the EU, restrictions on artificial dyes have been in place for years.) Why the fuss over food coloring? Are natural dyes really that much better for our health? 'They're better for some people's health,' says Jamie Alan, a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Michigan State University. 'There is a very small percentage of children who are very sensitive to these dyes. And when they eat these dyes, they display behaviors that we sometimes associate with ADHD.' Alan stresses that there is no evidence that those kids actually develop ADHD. But research has found that after eating foods containing certain dyes, children, including those diagnosed with ADHD or autism, can show signs of hyperactivity, moodiness and inattentiveness. However many of these foods, particularly candy and soda, also contain sugar, which has also been connected to hyperactive behavior. Alan recommends that parents talk to a pediatrician and try an elimination diet to make sure the dye and not another ingredient is to blame. But she largely supports phasing out artificial dyes; most public health advocates think this is a good idea. 'In my opinion,' Alan says, 'because we're talking about children and because they are a vulnerable population, I do think this is a great thing to do. But I will recognize that it is not going to impact the vast majority of the population.' One group that the change in dyes will certainly affect is the food manufacturers themselves. Switching from artificial to natural dyes is a complex process, says Travis Zissu, the co-founder and innovation lead of Scale Food Labs in Golden, Colorado, which offers a program to help manufacturers with the dye conversion. Unlike artificial dyes, which are derived from petroleum, natural dyes come mostly from plants: turmeric, for example, is used for yellows; algae and butterfly pea flower for blues; lycopene from carrots and tomatoes for reds. These dyes can be less stable, so Scale's program begins with finding natural pigments that will not be affected by heat and other chemicals, followed by tests to determine which combination of dyes will produce the most reliable color. Next, Scale helps companies lock in contracts that will not force them to raise their prices too much and secure light-sensitive packaging to protect the colors. Finally, there are nine to 12 months of product testing to make sure production runs smoothly and that there are no adverse effects for consumers, such as red-dyed feces (something that has been known to happen with beet powder and extract; Alan says it's harmless, but admits it can be unnerving). But Zissu's biggest concern is that there won't be enough to go around. Natural color demand is already up between 30-50% across the industry since food companies began announcing their intentions to stop using artificial color, he says, and the earliest deadline – 2027 – is still years away. 'There is simply not enough supply to replace every single item in the market,' he says. 'You'll see the largest companies locking down colors soon, but there will not be enough until 2030.' There is also the worry that American consumers will reject the new colors altogether. While their counterparts in Europe, Canada and Japan have peacefully accepted the duller hues of natural dyes, Americans remain stubbornly attached to neon-bright candy and cereal. Case in point: in 2015, General Mills pledged to remove all artificial colors and flavorings from its products. The following year, it rolled out a natural version of Trix, the kid-friendly fruity breakfast cereal. But the muted Trix, colored by radishes, purple carrots and turmeric, was a flop. Customers missed the vibrant colors and complained that the new version didn't taste right. By 2017, 'classic Trix' had returned to grocery stores. On the other hand, when Kraft reformulated the powder for its macaroni and cheese and quietly began selling the all-natural version in December 2015, there was much less protest. As an Eater headline at the time put it: 'Kraft Changed Its Mac and Cheese and Nobody Noticed.' Perhaps it was the marketing strategy – Kraft did not bother to make a big announcement until after it had sold 50m boxes – or maybe it was because the natural dyes were just as orange as the original. (Alan recalls that her young nieces and nephews were slightly worried about the change but accepted the new mac and cheese without much fuss.) As the adage goes, we eat with our eyes. The appearance of food should not change our perceptions of how it tastes, but, as anyone who has ever bought produce knows, it definitely does. In nature, brighter colors indicate that foods are ripe and will taste good. This principle also applies to human-made food. As far back as the middle ages, according to Ai Hisano, a professor of business history at the University of Tokyo and author of Visualizing Taste: How Business Changed the Look of What You Eat, dairy farmers would mix carrot juice and annatto from achiote trees into their butter to make it a more appetizing yellow. When scientists discovered petroleum-based dyes in the mid-19th century, the dairy industry was one of the earliest adopters: the artificial dyes were cheaper, and they helped create uniform yellows for butter and cheese that appealed to shoppers. Other food producers quickly followed suit. Meat would be red! Sandwich bread would be white! Oranges – which sometimes stayed green, even when they were ripe – would be orange! By the early 20th century, the US government had started regulating food coloring to make sure it didn't kill anyone. This was also the beginning of the golden age of industrial food such as candy, breakfast cereal and, most notoriously, Jell-O, which came in colors never seen in nature. Food dye became vital for branding, Hisano writes. Even if brighter color didn't really affect flavor because the food was entirely manufactured, people perceived that it did, and that was what mattered. Would a beige Flamin' Hot Cheeto taste as spicy? 'I assume many consumers in the early 20th century were frightened by those bright-red foods,' Hisano told the Atlantic in 2017. 'But one reason consumers liked them is because they were excited about these colors they had never seen before.' And the knowledge that they were regulated by the FDA made them feel they were safe to eat. Because the identity of their products depends on color, the most resistance to Kennedy's initiative has come from America's candy manufacturers. A spokesman for the National Confectioners Association said that candy makers will not adopt natural dyes until federal regulations compel them to. Of all the biggest US food companies, only Mars, maker of M&Ms, Skittles and Starburst (incidentally, Trump's favorite candy), has not yet pledged to give up artificial dye, except for the already banned red 3. However, FDA commissioner Marty Makary told Fox News that he thinks Mars will come around sooner than later. Zissu, the food dye consultant, foresees 'an R&D sprint' to develop natural dyes before the 2027 deadline. And indeed, since May, the FDA has approved four new natural colors – three blues and one white – for a wide range of food, including juices, milk-based meal replacements, cereal, chips, sugar and ready-to-eat chicken products. But Zissu does not think that a transition to natural dyes means that the color of food will revert to a pre-industrial dullness. 'I believe we will always see the bright colors in candy and other items that consumers come to expect,' he says. 'There will just be a lot more research dedicated to getting those colors if artificial [dye] is banned.' It may also help if America's food manufacturers act en masse, as they appear to be doing: the change will be so overwhelming that, as Zissu puts it, 'neon synthetics will look as dated as trans fats.' Perhaps in a few years, we will look back at green mint chip ice-cream in wonder. (Some people already do: many ice-cream producers, including Ben & Jerry's and Häagen-Dazs, don't use green as the signifier for mint.) It seems Maha is poised to help shake America of its affair with artificial colors. But it celebrates this victory at the same time as the Trump administration guts public health infrastructure. The ice-cream industry's pledge came just 11 days after Congress passed a spending bill that will cut Medicaid spending, and therefore healthcare for millions of children, and slash Snap food assistance for US families. It came the same day that the Department of Health laid off thousands of employees. Under Trump, the government has also cut research grants to scientists studying, among other things, disease prevention and vaccines (of which Kennedy is a notorious skeptic). Underlying issues such as food and housing insecurity and child poverty that devastate children's wellbeing are likely to worsen. Alan thinks that if Kennedy is serious about improving the health of America's kids, there are much more pressing issues than food dye to work on. 'I just can't believe that someone would be given a chance to make such an impact,' she says, 'and this is what they choose to do.'
Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Skincare fans race to Sephora as sell-out US cream that 'visibly reduces sagging' hits shelves
INNBEAUTY Project Extreme Cream has become a cult buy in the US - and it has now finally arrived in the UK at Sephora. The cream has been hailed as 'extremely effective' by shoppers As a beauty fan there is nothing more frustrating than discovering a new and exciting brand, only to find out that it's only available in the UK. For a long time, one of those brands has been US-born sell-out favourite INNBEAUTY Project, famed for their iconic Extreme Cream - but it's just launched in the UK, with fans hailing it as 'extremely effective'. Known for its high-performance formulas and bold claims backed by clinical results, the brand has found an exclusive UK retail home with Sephora, making it the only stockist on this side of the pond. As part of its highly anticipated debut on British soil, there are initially 18 products and sets to shop, including eye creams, retinol serums and lip oils. One of the hero products from the range is the Extreme Cream Refillable Moisturiser. Coming in at £49, it's a rich, peptide-packed treatment that has gained a loyal following for its visibly lifting and firming results. The cream contains 7% lifting peptides promising to ' visibly reduce sagging and improve the contours' of the face for a more youthful appearance. It works alongside 2% bio-retinol, designed to reduce wrinkles and boost elasticity for smoother skim, while a blend of ceramides strengthen the skin's natural moisture barrier. Formulated for those with dry and combination skin, it's said to have an 'addictive, luxurious' texture. However, some shoppers with oily skin have found it to be a little too rich for their complexions. One said: 'I don't like the thickness. It's oily and greasy. I don't see a tremendous difference. I have fine forehead wrinkles. I have sagging skin on my face. I see marginal improvement. I feel Clarin's Double serum is a better firming and hydrating product.' For an anti–ageing powerhouse said to be suitable for all skin types, the Medik8 Liquid Peptides serum is a popular choice. Costing £59, the 30% Complex Multi-Peptide Age-Defying Serum visibly reduces fine lines as the lightweight serum plumps, firms and refines the look of uneven skin texture. Shoppers also seem to like The Inkey List Peptide Moisturiser which is £16 at Space NK. It seeks to balance the skin's natural oils and aims to minimise the look of fine lines and wrinkles. However, many have left five star ratings for the INNBEAUTY Project cream. 'It's extremely effective as the name suggests,' says one reviewer. 'As someone creeping on 42, my face remains youthful. I love the refillable option for the bottle. Just a pump on my laugh lines, forehead etc and my skin looks so good.' Another added: 'Rich, hydrating, and leaves my skin feeling plump and smooth. I noticed a big difference in how soft and firm my skin felt after a few uses. Great for dry or mature skin - definitely a luxurious anti-aging cream that works.' 'I'm on my second bottle of this moisturiser,' said a third. 'I have noticed that my skin is firmer, my fine lines (especially my 11's) are less noticeable. I have combination skin and it doesn't leave my T-zone oily.' The cream has even earned the stamp of approval from Sephora, entering the clean beauty hall of fame. The stamp is awarded to those with formulas that go 'beyond regulatory standards to avoid controversial ingredients without sacrificing on effectiveness. As well as being fragrance-free, hypoallergenic and safe for sensitive skin, it also comes in a refillable bottle, meaning when beauty buffs run out of the cream, they can save £5 on their next bottle by buying the refill and inserting it into their original 'forever bottle'. Shoppers can try out the INNBEAUTY Project Extreme Cream for under £50 here at Sephora.
