Drugmakers have been rushing to develop obesity pills (to rival obesity shots like Wegovy), angling for a piece of a market that some estimate will one day be worth as much as $100 billion.

The recommendation is a huge win for the pharmaceutical company, likely paving the way for the company's first-of-its-kind gene therapy for treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a deadly disease.

Attention has focused on price hikes for existing prescription drugs, but soaring launch prices also contribute to rising costs.

For drugmakers, the pandemic has squeezed demand for everything from childhood vaccines to smoking-cessation drugs.

That's the government price--the list price for private insurers will be $3,120 for a five-day course.

Senators wrote to Quest Diagnostics asking about its recent breach, one of a growing number of such incidents in the health care sector.

Quest, which operates medical testing centers around the U.S., is working with law enforcement and UnitedHealth on the effects of the breach.

The scrutiny is part of a wider inquiry by lawmakers into U.S. drug costs that has involved several Senate hearings.