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Medicine

This Month

Planet Innovation CEO Stuart Elliott.

Singapore contract manufacturer lands at PE-backed Aussie medtech

Singapore-based contract manufacturer Meiban Group has taken a 20 per cent stake in Planet Innovation.

CSL chief executive Paul McKenzie will outline plans to cut the company’s R&D spend at the company’s full-year results next month.

CSL prepares to slash R&D as it grapples with looming Trump tariffs

The market is focused on a mooted 200 per cent levy on the pharmaceutical giant’s goods. There are far more significant changes afoot at the company.

Donald Trump’s tariff on pharmaceutical products would affect more than $2 billion in Australian exports, largely made up of CSL’s goods manufactured in Melbourne.

Target hostile countries, not us, drug giant CSL tells Trump

The country’s biggest pharmaceuticals group pointed to “specific non-allied countries” and urged the White House to reconsider a 200 per cent tariff.

Resolute reformers have, for over 25 years, been beating their heads against political brick walls in the health reform area. I

Sick of doctor fee gouging? Don’t ask government to fix it

Government reluctance to intervene in the medical profession means we must consider reform based on market forces to empower consumers.

June

Longevity clinics such as Tim Gurner’s Saint Haven, Everlab, Whole Body MRI on the Gold Coast, and the Longevity Medicine Institute in Sydney are offering full-body MRIs.

Rich Australians are paying $3500 for this scan

Rebecca Keen believes a full-body MRI may have saved her life, but doctors say getting one could cause more harm than good.

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Candy crusher: Diabetics may soon be able to take a pill instead of injectables to regulate blood sugar and suppress appetite.

‘Game changer’ diabetes pill a step closer after trials

Diabetes pills could hit Australian shelves within years, offering an alternative to popular injectable treatments such as Ozempic.

CTO & Founder Dr Ali Fathi and Tetratherix CEO Will Knox in their Lab.

‘Next Cochlear’ launches ASX float to sell its ‘medical Lego’

Tetratherix, a medical device company backed by Xero founder Rod Drury, is set to make its ASX debut later this month with an ambitious global pitch for investors.

May

How dementia affects clever people may surprise you.

‘Game changer’ Alzheimer’s blood test cleared in the US

US regulators have approved the first blood test to help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, potentially making it easier to find and treat patients.

An ASX 300 takeover target dished up a doozy of a disclosure case study on Wednesday.

Disclosure doozy makes a mockery of Australia’s safe-haven fantasy

If you told a private-equity suitor about a regulatory headache, but not shareholders, was the event disclosable or not? A 15 per cent share price drop says Mayne Pharma got this one wrong.

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The companies that are winners and losers from Labor’s landslide victory

Winners include healthcare diagnostics, vehicle financiers, and developers. Mortgage insurers, fuel suppliers, and automotive firms may face challenges.

Violet chair Kate Carnell: “Despite 90 per cent of Australians preferring home care and half wanting to die at home, fewer than 5 per cent actually do.”

The stage of life Australians can’t afford to ignore

Kate Carnell says federal funds for end-of-life planning would reduce costly hospitalisations and prevent unnecessary suffering.

Australian neurologist and Synchron co-founder Tom Oxley took his company to the US because there wasn’t access to enough funding in Australia.

The Aussie bringing Black Mirror-esque brain tech to reality

This neurologist has built technology allowing humans to control machines with just their thoughts. Now he’s racing Tesla’s founder to take it to the masses.

April

Trent Twomey outside the Brisbane Chairman’s Lounge with retiring Qantas staff member, Trudy

Pharmacy Guild coming to you from the Chairman’s Lounge

Labor has been remarkably kind to the chemists’ lobby group recently, but we suspect that’s more due to their choice of lobbyist than airline lounge access.

Jon Pilcher runs Neuren Pharmaceuticals from his spare room in Melbourne.

This $1.3b biotech is still run out of a spare bedroom in Melbourne

It’s been a volatile few years for Neuren, the neurological disorder treatment group which has seen shares rocket, then slump. Now it has a promising new drug.

Expat Sydneysider Max Marchione is attracting big name backers since relocating to San Francisco to build Superpower.

Meet the 24-year-old Australian behind a $300m US start-up

Max Marchione moved to San Francisco to start Superpower and capitalise on the US’ under-resourced healthcare sector.

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Ilya Yuffa, head of international for US weight-loss drugmaker Eli Lilly, wants Australia to shrink the approval time for new medicines.

Eli Lilly issues warning for Australia as Trump signals pharma tariffs

In an interview, the US pharmaceuticals giant’s international chief says Australia has made no progress in making life easier for medicine developers.

Noah Wyle stars as Dr Michael “Robby” Robinavitch in The Pitt.

Doctors say this show is first to get the emergency ward right

Binge’s unusually accurate medical drama The Pitt, starring Noah Wyle as a beleaguered intensive care physician, has become the talk of real-life hospital breakrooms.

Hola Health co-founders Vishnu Gopalan, Lenin Rajendran and Thiru Rajendran have received investment that values the company at $70 million.

Woolworths buys into telehealth consultations with $70m start-up

The supermarket giant’s pharmacy division has led a funding round in Hola Health, giving customers access to virtual doctor’s appointments and prescriptions.

March

Concept weight loss drugs image for AFR Magazine feature.

How Ozempic and other GLP-1s are transforming much more than just waistlines

We don’t yet know how many Australians are taking the jab, but we’re certainly seeing the effects.

Dr. David Fajgenbaum, left, with Joseph Coates, after finding a lifesaving drug regimen for Coates that an artificial intelligence model suggested

Doctors told him he was going to die. Then AI saved his life

In labs around the world, scientists are using AI to search among existing medicines for treatments that work for rare diseases.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/medicine-hnj