BridgeBio raises up to $1B in high-premium convertible preferred equity led by Sixth Street and HealthCare Royalty
- Financing intended to strengthen BridgeBio's balance sheet and support funding for current and upcoming drug launches.
Wednesday, July 1, 2026
BridgeBio raises up to $1B in high-premium convertible preferred equity
Baird initiates Abbott Laboratories at Outperform with $121 price target
- Baird cites Abbott's diversified portfolio and product pipeline as supporting sustained revenue and earnings growth.
UnitedHealth to cover Guardant Health's Shield blood-based colorectal cancer screening test
UnitedHealth to cover Guardant Health's Shield blood-based colorectal cancer screening test starting Aug. 1
- BTIG lifts Guardant Health price target to $190 following broader reimbursement from UnitedHealth coverage decision.
Cigna Evernorth investing $100 m in new AI capabilities for specialty pharmacy
Cigna's Evernorth is investing $100 million through 2028 in specialty pharmacy care.
The AI program called Pharmacy Forward is expected to generate approximately $400 million in value by the end of 2028, according to Evernorth.
The program will launch first with Accredo Specialty Pharmacy, which serves more than 1 million patients with chronic and complex specialty conditions each year through Therapeutic Resource Centers.
Evernorth said it expects to extend many of these capabilities to its other pharmacies' operations in the coming years.
WHY THIS MATTERS
Evernorth is investing in a growing chronic and specialty care market as demographics show an aging population in this country.
Americans' median age – the age at which half the population is younger and half is older – continues to rise, climbing from 39.2 in 2024 to 39.4 in 2025, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
"Patients navigating complex health conditions need comprehensive, expert support, often during some of the most difficult moments in their lives," said Matt Perlberg, president of the Evernorth Health Services pharmacy and care delivery businesses, including Accredo, and executive vice president of customer innovation for The Cigna Group. "Pharmacy Forward reflects our commitment to meet patients where they are – delivering an even faster, more seamless experience while ensuring they receive the personalized support and clinical care they deserve."
Pharmacy Forward's AI program is expected to reduce prescription processing times, cutting in half the time it takes for patients to receive their medication.
It is expected to improve medication adherence beyond the industry standard of 80%, Evernorth said.
The program is expected to reduce clinician documentation time by up to 50%.
It will integrate clinical data and insights, AI-generated summaries and predictive analytics for more connected, informed support. This enables clinicians to identify patients at risk of falling off therapy or experiencing adverse events, the company said.
AI is being used to improve the completeness of prior authorization submissions and identify copay assistance eligibility.
Patients get more personalized support through Accredo AI-enabled scheduling. Accredo anticipates a 25% increase in use of personalized patient digital pathways.
Pharmacy Forward will enhance Accredo's ability to ship complex specialty medications from sites as close to a patient's home as possible, ensuring that 90% of patients are within a one-day or same-day ground shipping radius.
To enable this, Accredo is expanding capacity, staffing and capabilities at many of its nearly 40 care facilities to reduce the need for longer ground or air shipments, which are more susceptible to delays from adverse events such as weather.
AI technology will continuously analyze factors, such as patient location, delivery timing and medication handling requirements to determine the most effective dispensing location.
Together, these capabilities represent the next evolution of specialty pharmacy – combining AI, clinical expertise and operational scale to create a more connected and responsive care experience, Evernorth said.
THE LARGER TREND
The global chronic disease management market is growing. It was valued at $6.2 billion in 2024 and is expected to grow from $6.9 billion in 2025 to $18.8 billion in 2034, according to GMI Insights.
The market growth – driven primarily by the increasing incidence of chronic diseases, such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and hypertension – emphasizes the need for effective disease management solutions, the report said.
TARS Stock Drops After Culper Research Accuses Tarsus Of Illegal Medicare Copay Scheme
Tarsus Pharmaceuticals (TARS) shares fell about 5% on Wednesday after short seller Culper Research revealed its short position in the stock and published a detailed report accusing the company of using questionable practices to drive sales of its sole product, XDEMVY.
Retail momentum and short squeeze speculation drive RGC
Retail momentum and short squeeze speculation drive RGC's 22% surge on high volume
- RGC rose ~21.56% (to around $7.30-$8.00 range intraday) from prior close near $6.10 with volume 6-10x average.
- Social media and trading forum chatter amplified buying interest with traders noting short availability constraints and momentum potential.
- No corporate news, earnings, or announcements released on or immediately before July 1, 2026.
- Follows June 23, 2026 class action lawsuit lead plaintiff deadline with no new negative developments reported.
- Consistent with RGC's history of extreme volatility and speculative runs despite no revenue and ongoing legal overhang from DOJ probe and lawsuits.
- Analysts and filings note persistent short interest vulnerability in this low-float name.
Merck halts ph. 2 Alzheimer’s trial after Neuphoria small molecule underwhelms
Merck & Co. has nixed the phase 2 study of a potential Alzheimer’s disease medicine after the drug underwhelmed in an interim analysis, marking another blow for the pharma’s struggling partner Neuphoria Therapeutics.
Merck stopped the 349-patient study after the small molecule MK-1167 “did not meet the necessary efficacy criteria to warrant further investigation,” a company spokesperson told Fierce Biotech. The trial was testing the ability of MK-1167, a modulator of the alpha-7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, to improve Alzheimer’s dementia symptoms when paired with a standard acetylcholinesterase inhibitor.
The trial was not terminated for any safety reasons, the spokesperson added.
MK-1167 isn’t currently being evaluated in any other clinical trials, but the Neuphoria collaboration still stands, according to the Merck spokesperson.
Neuphoria has been a longtime partner of Merck, with the two first pairing up back in 2014 when Neuphoria was still based in Australia and known as Bionomics. The biotech rebranded and moved to the U.S. in 2024.
Merck launched the phase 2 trial of MK-1167 in February 2025, which triggered a $15 million milestone payment for Neuphoria. That payment was a bright spot in an otherwise difficult year for the neuro outfit; in October, the company’s social anxiety candidate failed a phase 3 trial, sparking a strategic review and an attempted buyout by an investor that ultimately didn’t go through.
Just two days ago, London-based Scancell Holdings proposed a merger with Neuphoria that the latter is now considering.
That failed social anxiety candidate, BNC210 or soclenicant, is a negative modulator that tunes down the alpha-7 receptor. MK-1167 is instead a positive allosteric modulator (PAM), meaning it binds to the receptor and amps up its activity.
With the MK-1167 trial sidelined, that leaves just one other Alzheimer’s candidate in Merck’s pipeline, according to its website. That drug, a monoclonal antibody targeting tau called MK-2214, is currently in a phase 2 trial set to wrap up in 2029. The antibody was developed by Japan’s Teijin Pharma and licensed by Merck in 2017.
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