HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants to speed up clinical trials in the United States.
“A recent study found that China conducts more early-stage clinical trials than the United States,” Kennedy wrote in an editorial published online by Fox News. “In 2025, Chinese companies accounted for nearly half of global pharmaceutical licensing deal activity. Those trends should concern every American.”
The editorial was published the same day HHS announced what it called a “coordinated, department-wide effort to strengthen America’s leadership in clinical research, accelerate the development of

Working-age adults in Japan with new-onset atrial fibrillation had faster rates of eGFR decline vs. those without, according to study data published in JAMA Network Open.
Incident atrial fibrillation (AF) is often observed as a risk for heart failure, but its association with kidney function is less understood, according to Shingo Fukuma, MD, PhD, professor at Hiroshima University Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, and colleagues. With growing recognition about the importance of identifying cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) syndrome earlier, the researchers explored whether

For decades, biologics have been the gold standard for psoriasis treatment. Now, the psoriasis therapeutic landscape is transforming with new medications that approach biologic-level efficacy in pill form.
“Psoriasis care has changed dramatically over the last 20 years,” April Armstrong, MD, MPH, chief of the division of dermatology at UCLA Health and an investigator for several pivotal psoriasis clinical trials, told Healio. “We have moved from older systemic therapies and phototherapy toward more highly targeted treatments that can produce much higher levels of skin clearance.”
The biologic

A 93-year-old woman presented with sequential bilateral decreased vision within 2 weeks.
Symptoms initially began in the right eye and were characterized by intermittent perception of a blue ribbon and missing letters while reading and distortion of straight lines. Two weeks later, she presented with new insidious, painless vision loss in the left eye.
Her ocular history was significant for cataract extraction with posterior chamber IOL placement in the right eye 5 years prior, bilateral primary open-angle glaucoma managed by a glaucoma specialist and previously known age-related macular

The historical paradigm of cataract surgery forced an absolute compromise: pristine distance vision with absolute spectacle dependence or an expanded range of vision at the cost of contrast sensitivity and night dysphotopsia.
Today, next-generation nondiffractive designs are shifting those boundaries, reshaping how we counsel patients and tailor premium visual outcomes.
For decades, premium cataract surgery was defined by a structured, often rigid trade-off matrix. When patients expressed a desire for spectacle independence, our clinical algorithms immediately pivoted to a discussion of

Among biologic-naive patients with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis, upadacitinib and infliximab had the quickest onset and highest postinduction response of eight advanced therapies, according to results of a post-hoc analysis.
The other therapies had a more gradual onset but exhibited strong efficacy by the end of induction.
“We have all these great new therapies for ulcerative colitis, but their clinical trials used completely different timelines and endpoints, making it impossible to compare them head-to-head,” study author Neeraj Narula, MD, MPH, director of the IBD clinic at McMaster

Sports cardiology was at the forefront of the 2026 American College of Cardiology Scientific Session, highlighted by the first Care of the Athletic Heart preconference session.
The meeting featured a wide array of didactics, poster sessions and interactive, hands-on learning experiences dedicated to hot topics in sports and exercise cardiology.
Key takeaways from the session included:
Aaron L. Baggish, MD, with Universite de Lausanne, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, reviewed the evolution of sports cardiology, from the establishment of the first formal expert consensus

Last year, HHS and dozens of health insurers announced an industry pledge to streamline and reduce prior authorization.
According to America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), that pledge has led to an 11% reduction in prior authorizations “across a range of medical services,” leading to 6.5 million fewer prior authorizations.
AHIP also announced that health insurers participating in the pledge will standardize the process for submitting electronic prior authorization requests for most services, including imaging services like CT scans and MRIs and orthopedic surgeries. These services span

NEW ORLEANS — A novel oral small-molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist demonstrated reductions in HbA1c and body weight among individuals with type 2 diabetes and obesity.
Researchers presented results from the phase 2 SOLSTICE and VISTA studies at the American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions. Both studies evaluated efficacy, safety and tolerability of elecoglipron (AstraZeneca); SOLSTICE included adults with type 2 diabetes and inadequate glycemic control and VISTA included adults with obesity or overweight plus at least one weight-related comorbidity.
Elecoglipron is an oral

Adolescents with concussion and had a median of 141 minutes of screen time a day showed faster symptom resolution than those who had less or more screen time, according to a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
Balanced screen time may be useful in supporting recovery, Jingzhen Ginger Yang, PhD, MPH, principal investigator, Center for Injury Research and Policy of Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio, and colleagues wrote.
“After a concussion, families and clinicians often face uncertainty about how much screen time is appropriate