Two-thirds of Americans say the abortion drug mifepristone, used in the majority of abortions in the United States, should remain on the market, according to a poll from The Washington Post and ABC News. The poll found that 66% of U.S. adults say mifepristone should remain on the market, while 24% say it should be taken off the market. Just under half, 47%, say access to mifepristone should be kept as is, while 12% say it should remain on the market but be more restricted than it is now. On the whole, opinions on access to abortion medication are closely tied to support for the Supreme Court’s decision last year eliminating a constitutional right to an abortion.

Reviewers at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration concluded that Sarepta Therapeutics did not show that its gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy will likely benefit patients and left key safety concerns, STAT writes. FDA documents released ahead of an advisory committee hearing Friday maintain that Sarepta clinical studies “conducted to date do not provide unambiguous evidence” that the therapy, known as SRP-9001, is “likely beneficial for ambulatory patients” with Duchenne. The reviewers also feared that administering a potentially “ineffective gene therapy” could expose patients to safety risks and make those patients ineligible for other gene therapies in the future.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is investigating a merger in the $8 billion digital advertising market that affects the pharmaceutical industry, Politico reports. The deal involves IQVIA, which is buying Propel Media, owner of DeepIntent, one of the main advertising technology companies used by drugmakers to market their products to doctors and patients. The deal, which has not been previously disclosed, was first inked last year and IQVIA is believed to have paid in the range of $700 million to $800 million. At issue is whether the deal would help IQVIA lock up the bulk of the market for digital advertising of pharmaceuticals aimed at doctors and patients.

The leaders of major insulin makers and pharmacy benefit managers are set to blame each other on Wednesday in their testimony during a U.S. Senate committee hearing on making the life-saving drug more affordable, Reuters reminds us. Both sides blame each other for high drug prices. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, introduced a bill that caps all insulin list prices at $20 per vial and is working with Sen. Bill Cassidy, the ranking Republican on the HELP Committee, on a bipartisan bill that strengthens government oversight over PBMs, one of several bills aimed at reducing drug prices.

Boehringer Ingelheim and Zealand Pharma reported new clinical data in obesity for an experimental medicine, setting up a possible challenge to therapies such as Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro, Pharmaphorum notes. In a Phase 2 trial, a weekly injection of the drug helped participants who were obese or overweight — but without Type 2 diabetes — lose up to 14.9% of their weight after 46 weeks. The results put the drug in the same ballpark as Phase 2 findings for Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy — which is already approved for obesity — as well as Lilly’s Mounjaro (tirzepatide), which is heading for a FDA decision for weight loss in October.

Drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy have become immensely popular for their ability to help people with obesity lose weight and now, a new, albeit small, study suggests they may also be useful in fighting cancer, STAT says. Prior research has shown that people with obesity have deficiencies in their “natural killer” cells, or NK cells — immune cells that help in combating cancer. In the new study, published in the journal Obesity, researchers found that after a cohort of 20 people with obesity took semaglutide, the underlying ingredient in the diabetes drug Ozempic and the weight loss drug Wegovy, they had increased functioning in their NK cells.