The world's richest man, Elon Musk ($929 billion), claimed on Sunday that election fraud is "mandatory" in New York and California.
"In New York and California, they have made it illegal for officials to ask for or for you to show your voter ID! They made election fraud mandatory," he wrote in a post on his social media platform X, responding to his mother Maye Musk's claim that "the woman was angry" when she showed her ID to vote in New York.
Musk has been one of the most vocal supporters of the mandatory voting ID, a measure that United States President Donald Trump is constantly trying to implement through the SAVE America Act.
The FDA approved the oral fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) inhibitor lirafugratinib (Lyrfigtu) for adults with previously treated cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) with FGFR2 fusion or other rearrangements, the agency announced Wednesday.
The approval stipulates use for unresectable, locally advanced, or metastatic CCA (also called bile duct cancer). About 8,000 new cases are diagnosed in the United States each year.
"Lyrfigtu's unique, irreversible, covalent-binding mechanism enables potent and sustained inhibition of FGFR2, including many resistance mutations that can emerge with earlier FGFR inhibitors," said Lipika Goyal, MD, of Stanford Cancer Center in California, in a news release from Elevar Therapeutics. "Unlike earlier pan-FGFR inhibitors, it selectively targets FGFR2 while minimizing off-isoform toxicities."
Principal support for the approval came from the phase I/II ReFocus trial. Data analysis included 116 patients with previously treated FGFR2-positive CCA and no prior exposure to an FGFR inhibitor. Treatment led to an objective response rate of 46%, median progression-free survival (PFS) of 11.3 months (49.2% 12-month PFS), median overall survival (OS) of 22.8 months (12-month OS of 74.6%), and disease control rate of 96.5%.
"These results represent a meaningful step forward for patients with FGFR2-fusion-positive CCA, a disease where treatment options have historically been limited and outcomes poor," said Alison Schram, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. "Lyrfigtu demonstrated durable responses and a manageable safety profile, providing a much-needed treatment option for patients. The results also reinforce the importance of molecular testing at diagnosis so that patients can be matched to therapies most likely to benefit them."
The most common grade ≥3 treatment-related adverse events were palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia (32.8%) and stomatitis (12.1%). According to the FDA, prescribing information includes warnings and precautions for ocular toxicity, hyperphosphatemia, soft tissue mineralization, and embryo-fetal toxicity.
According to Elevar, lirafugratinib will be available in the U.S. before the end of the year.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s slimmer appearance has been the subject of speculation for more than a year.
This past February, during an interview with Vox, he was asked a pointed and personal question: Had he tried a GLP-1 drug for weight loss?
Pritzker, a Democrat in his second term who has been public about his lifelong weight struggles, declined to answer, saying he didn’t believe people should have to reveal that information. He called it “a hyper-personal question” and said he didn’t want to normalize that line of questioning.
But since that day, things have changed for the 61-year-old married father of two. In addition to losing 80 lbs. over the past two years, the billionaire heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune has decided that it’s time to be more candid about his personal journey.
“I came to the conclusion that it would be helpful to others to hear why I went on a GLP-1 and what the effect has been for me,” Pritzker tells PEOPLE. “It’s been tremendously beneficial.”
And while he admits his weight loss alone has been life-changing, it was actually a serious medical condition that caused his doctors to suggest he consider a GLP-1.
His story starts with his father, Donald, who, according to Pritzker, struggled with high triglycerides, high cholesterol and high blood pressure — all major risk factors for heart disease. When his dad died of a heart attack in 1972, at age 39, Pritzker was just 7 years old.
Pritzker knew from a young age that he needed to monitor his blood pressure, blood lipid levels and other vital signs — and for the past 20 years, he’s taken a statin to keep his cholesterol low.
But about three years ago, at age 58, Pritzker’s bloodwork results suddenly showed an alarming change. His glucose levels were surprisingly high and he was diagnosed as prediabetic. To bring down his levels, he was told he had to adjust his diet and start exercising regularly — changes he had attempted in the past.
“Those are things I’ve been trying to do my whole life,” he says, “but I said, ‘Okay, I’m going to give it an extra old college try.’ ”
“There isn’t a well-recognized diet that I haven’t tried,” he adds, including keto, the Atkins diet and being a vegetarian.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker in 2023.
Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty
Despite his best efforts, Pritzker still wound up falling back into his old ways. And when he was officially diagnosed with type 2 diabetes about two years ago, his doctor told him he’d need to start taking insulin, a medication that helps control glucose levels in people with various types of diabetes.
That was a true wake-up call for Pritzker. “I immediately said, ‘I don’t want to be on insulin,’ ” he recalls. “‘If I have to go on insulin, I want to come off of it as soon as possible.’ ”
Pritzker’s doctor said he would likely have to take insulin forever but suggested that, in addition to the medication, and the ongoing changes in his diet and exercise, he begin taking a GLP-1.
“So I did all that and I was seeing success,” Pritzker says. “The food noise had gone away. I was exercising every day.” Fortunately, he also didn’t experience any side effects, which can include fatigue, nausea, constipation and headaches.
GLP-1 medications were initially developed and prescribed to help manage blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes and, more recently, to induce weight loss by suppressing appetite and increasing feelings of fullness, according to the National Academy of Medicine.
“After a little while, my glucose level went below the diabetic line, and even below prediabetic,” he says.
He remained on insulin for about a year and a half. Once his glucose levels had returned to normal and his weight was under control, his doctors said he could stop taking insulin.
“That’s really why it went from being a very private matter to me to deciding maybe it’s okay to share that,” Pritzker says. “I thought sharing that with other people might make a difference.”
He stresses that anyone considering a GLP-1 should speak with their doctor first.
“I’m not suggesting that I’ve found the magic cure,” he says. “It’s that I’ve seen some real success from a health perspective. In addition to getting off insulin, I’m losing weight and feeling more energetic and eating better.”
Even so, he admits the journey isn’t over. He still works to maintain a nutritious diet, and he walks at least four miles a day. The difference now is that he enjoys it.
“I feel better when I’m exercising,” he says, “like it’s not a chore.”
He says that’s a big change from what exercise has been like for most of his life.
“At some point, when you become overweight, it just becomes a lot harder to do,” he says. “But now I’m hiking with my son and playing tennis with my daughter, and walking every morning.”
“The idea that I feel better,” he adds, “that I might be around longer and maybe even see grandchildren someday means a whole lot to me.”
As pharmacy cost trends continue to rise and clinical evidence evolves, health insurers face a fundamental question on whether improvements in long-term morbidity and the potential for improved mortality outcomes ultimately justify significant investments in GLP-1 therapies, according to a new AM Best commentary.
The Best’s Commentary, “GLP-1 Therapies: Evaluating the Balance Between Pharmacy Costs and Long-Term Value,” states that GLP-1 therapies have become one of the most significant drivers of pharmacy spending across the health care industry. Growing evidence supports improved morbidity outcomes and more-effective chronic disease management, which may reduce future medical costs. However, affordability pressures continue to shape health insurance coverage decisions, as GLP-1s remain a significant driver of pharmacy spending and long-term cost offsets remain uncertain.
“Discussion surrounding GLP-1 therapies has evolved well beyond weight loss,” said Joseph Zazzera, director, AM Best. “The conversation now centers on whether the long-term health benefits justify the significant near-term pharmacy costs. Because GLP-1 therapies may require long-term treatment, they could continue to place upward pressure on pharmacy expenditures.”
According to the commentary, the most immediate impact of GLP-1 therapies from a population health perspective is likely to be on morbidity rather than mortality. If positive outcomes seen from GLP-1 therapies can be sustained, the potential to reduce health care utilization, improve quality of life and lessen the long-term burden of chronic disease increases, which may reduce future medical costs. Whether improvements in morbidity ultimately translate into measurable reductions in mortality remains an important question.
The commentary also notes that most employer-sponsored health insurance does not cover GLP-1s for weight loss, so it is likely that many individuals are self-paying. Even with lower prices for some of the GLP-1 therapies, the magnitude of individuals who could be eligible for weight loss drugs has insurers and employers continuing to grapple with the affordability implications. Moreover, because members frequently change employers and health plans, the payer funding today’s treatment may not be the organization that ultimately realizes tomorrow’s medical savings benefit.
“Pharmacy costs are immediate and measurable, while many of the anticipated benefits—including fewer diabetes complications, reduced hospitalizations and improved management of obesity-related chronic diseases—may not be realized for years,” said Zazzera. “GLP-1 therapies are likely to remain one of the industry’s most closely watched developments, influencing pharmacy trends, employer and health plan benefit designs and long-term health care economics.”
Cardiac implantable electrical devices (CIEDs) allow bilateral communication at short range with manufacturer-specific “programmers” that allow for assessment of device status and changes to CIED settings.1 Many CIEDs also wirelessly broadcast radio frequency signals, such as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). Once paired with a relay station, either a stand-alone unit typically plugged in at patients’ bedside or a manufacturer-specific smartphone application, wireless CIEDs send transmissions to servers maintained by the manufacturers.2 Manufacturer guidance suggests that wireless communication between CIEDs and relay stations extends only to approximately 10 feet.3 A recent kidnapping of a patient publicly reported to have a pacemaker paired with a smartphone application generated broad interest in whether patients with these devices could be geolocated.4,5 This report describes efforts to define the technical characteristics of BLE-enabled pacemakers regarding signal detection and the ability to identify specific devices at remote distances.
The United States should continue sanctions and its blockade of Iran while seeking either to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or escalate its response, Republican Senator John Kennedy said on CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday.
“We need to continue doing what we're doing. The sanctions, the blockade,” Kennedy said, after describing a recent Iranian proposal to President Donald Trump as not serious.
“The truth is, if you're fair minded at all, Iran is a sucking chest wound and the world is safer for it. Its public and private sector is held together with duct tape and spit,” Kennedy said.
The threat level in the Strait of Hormuz remains “severe” as Revolutionary Guards activity against commercial shipping continues, the Joint Maritime Information Center said in an advisory on Sunday.
“IRGC attacks, attempted attacks, and/or harassment activity persisted including UAV overflight, targeted surveillance of merchant shipping, and occasional VHF hailing,” JMIC said.
Update 100 JMIC Advisory Note 27 September
Released on behalf of the Joint Maritime Information Centre
The activity demonstrated “Iran’s intent to assert presence along key transit lanes and maintain pressure on transiting vessels,” according to the advisory.
No confirmed attacks or disruptions were reported in the Strait of Hormuz over the previous 72 hours, while commercial traffic remained below 2025 levels, it added.
US Coast Guard data showed traffic averaging about 30 vessel transits per day over the previous 72 hours, JMIC said.
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