News from Monday, October 27, 2025
Articles
Innovent, Lilly's Mazdutide Trumps Novo's Semaglutide in Head-to-Head Diabetes, Weight Loss Study
(10/27, Zoey Becker, Fierce Pharma) reports “An experimental GLP-1/glucagon (GCP) dual receptor agonist from Eli Lilly and its Chinese partner, Innovent, has bested Novo Nordisk’s reigning GLP-1 semaglutide, in a phase 3 study across both blood sugar and weight loss metrics. The late-stage trial evaluating mazdutide, the world’s first approved GLP-1/GCG, is also the first to pit a drug from the class against semaglutide in a head-to-head comparison...” Full
Video: Comparing Head-to-Head or Real-World Evidence for Psoriasis Therapies
(10/27, Lindsay S. Ackerman, MD, FAAD, HCPLive) “Lindsay Ackerman, MD, examines how comparative and real-world data inform treatment decisions and shape confidence in long-term management strategies.” View Video
Value Viewpoint: October 24, 2025
(10/24, Kimberly Westrich, LinkedIn) comments “...On Thursday, ICER published its inaugural Launch Price and Access Report (LPAR). The LPAR paints an incomplete view of the value of medicines to patients and society, and risks misinterpretation of the misleading ‘overspending’ analysis. It also highlights potential insurance concerns that hinder patient access to new medicines...It's disappointing that this new report is another ICER effort that does more harm than good due to a host of methodological, data, and analytic shortcomings. The focus on launch pricing ignores actual market dynamics and fails to capture the full value medicines provide over their lifecycle to patients, health systems, and society.” Full
Shaping Payer Decision-Making: Inside the New AMCP Real-World Evidence Standards with Cate Lockhart
(10/27, The Evidence Base) reports “...Looking ahead, how do you see the RWE standards shaping payer–manufacturer dialogue and the broader role of RWE in US healthcare decision-making?...[Cate Lockhart, Chief Science Officer, AMCP:] Everyone who was engaged in this process with us agreed that RWE is really important in that it can add some really meaningful information beyond a clinical trial. We don’t see RWE replacing clinical trials by any means, but RWE studies can offer the practical experience in a population that is likely broader and more diverse than those in a randomized, controlled, clinical trial. RWE can also answer different questions than those answered with clinical trials.” Full
Press Releases
Unmet Need in the IRA Drug Price Negotiation Program
(10/27, National Pharmaceutical Council Press Release) “A new targeted literature review suggests that, when considering how prescription drugs selected for the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)’s Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program (DPNP) address unmet medical needs, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is taking a narrow approach. The paper is co-authored by researchers at the National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC) and published in Applied Health Economics and Health Policy. Unless CMS expands its framework to include a wider perspective of unmet need, the DPNP risks undervaluing medicines and disincentivizing future medical innovations.” Full
Innovent's Mazdutide Shows Superiority in Glycemic Control with Weight Loss Over Semaglutide in a Head-to-head Phase 3 Clinical Trial DREAMS-3
(10/26, Innovent Biologics Press Release) “...The results demonstrated that, in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and obesity, mazdutide showed superior efficacy to semaglutide on the primary endpoint—the proportion of participants achieving HbA1c < 7.0% and =10% body weight reduction from baseline at week 32 (48.0 vs. 21.0%, p<0.0001). In addition, at week 32, the mean change in HbA1c from baseline was -2.03% in the mazdutide group and -1.84% in semaglutide group, respectively, and the mean percentage weight reduction from baseline was 10.29% in the mazdutide group and 6.00% in the semaglutide group, respectively (both p<0.05).” Full
Journals
Pericapsular Nerve Group Block-Augmented Analgesia vs. Conventional Opioid Analgesia for Hip Fracture Patients in the Emergency Department: A Comparative Effectiveness Study
William Murk, et al.
August 18, 2025, The Journal of Emergency Medicine
Opportunities for CMS to Further Specify and Broaden Its Approach to Assessing Unmet Medical Need in the Context of the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program
Michael J. DiStefano, R. Brett McQueen, Hanke Zheng, Harry Gyimah Gyamfi, David Ameyaw, Jonathan D. Campbell & Antal Zemplenyi
October 10, 2025, Applied Health Economics and Health Policy
Applied Health Economics and Health Policy
Comparing Various Surgical Interventions Versus Conservative Medical Treatment in Spontaneous Supratentorial Intracerebral Hemorrhage: A Network Meta-Analysis of the Randomized Controlled Trials
Muhammad Hassan Waseem, et al.
October 24, 2025, Neurosurgical Review
Comparative Efficacy and Safety of Prothrombin Complex Concentrate Versus Fresh Frozen Plasma in Cardiac Surgery: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
Taimor Mohammed Khan, et al.
October 25, 2025, Perfusion
Comparative Effectiveness of Bevacizumab, Cetuximab, and Panitumumab for Improving Outcomes in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: A Propensity Overlap Weighting Analysis
Yi-Chia Su, et al.
October 27, 2025, Annals of Coloproctology
Real-World Evidence of Pimavanserin Utilization Among Patients with Parkinson’s Disease Psychosis: A Review of Real-World Data That Augments Data from Randomized Controlled Trials
Nazia Rashid, et al.
October 27, 2025, Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research
Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research
A Bayesian Dynamic Borrowing Framework for Improving the Efficiency of Clinical Trials
Zengyue Zheng, et al.
October 27, 2025, BMC Medical Research Methodology