2 top experts resigned from a key panel after the FDA approved a new Alzheimer’s drug

Hello,

Welcome to Insider Healthcare. I'm Lydia Ramsey Pflanzer, and today in healthcare news:

• Two top neuroscience experts resigned from an FDA panel after the agency approved a new Alzheimer's drug;
• Amazon and Walmart's latest battleground is cheap prescriptions;
• Transcarent, a startup backed by Livongo veterans, just raised $58 million at a nearly $500 million valuation.

If you're new to this newsletter, sign up here. Comments, tips? Email me at [email protected] or tweet @lydiaramsey125. Let's get to it…

Two doctors have resigned from a prestigious panel after FDA approved a controversial Alzheimer's drug

• Two top neuroscience experts resigned this week from a committee that advises the FDA.
• The doctors stepped down after the agency approved a controversial Alzheimer's drug called Aduhelm.
• Their committee voted in November that the FDA shouldn't approve the drug.

Get the scoop here>>

Amazon and Walmart are competing to offer you the cheapest prescriptions, and it could shake up the entire pharmacy industry

• Amazon and Walmart are competing to drive down drug costs, challenging traditional pharmacies.
• Prime members get some for $1 a month. Walmart offers some at no cost, says a Morgan Stanley note.
• It's not the first time the two have faced off: They're also competing on virtual and primary care.

Find out more>>

A startup backed by Livongo veterans just got a nearly $500 million valuation, and it's coming for healthcare's middlemen

• Healthcare startup Transcarent just raised $58 million from investors including General Catalyst.
• The round valued the two-year-old Transcarent at nearly $500 million, Insider has learned.
• It's aiming to route patients to the care they need without networks and navigators.

Read the full exclusive here>>

More stories we're reading:

• The Biden administration is set to buy 500 million Pfizer vaccine doses to ship around the world, according to reports (Insider)
• Dr. Scott Gottlieb: the Delta variant is likely not going to be a threat to the US until the fall (CNBC)
• 'I was pregnant and then I wasn't.' How a miscarriage led a startup employee to build a company that's now funded by Alexis Ohanian's Seven Seven Six. (Insider)
• Nursing homes are struggling to hire workers (Axios)

- Lydia