Medicare has launched a pilot program meant to make GLP-1 weight-loss drugs easier to obtain, with some seniors paying as little as $50 a month. But KFF Health News reports that many patients with the most serious illnesses do not qualify for the discount and face full retail prices instead. One patient, Jeff La Marca, received a prescription for Zepbound in January but could not afford the $750 monthly cost. Medicare has long been barred from covering drugs used for weight loss, so the pilot works through narrow criteria, and doctors say patients with similar conditions can end up with very different bills.
Eating-disorder specialists are calling for screening before patients start GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, warning that appetite suppression and delayed gastric emptying can harm people with restrictive eating patterns. Guidance from the National Eating Disorders Association says the drugs can be harmful when inadequately monitored, when prescribed by clinicians without eating-disorder expertise, or when weight loss is driven by weight stigma. Clinicians writing on the topic say GLP-1s should not be used in active restrictive eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa or ARFID, and should be used cautiously in bulimia and binge-eating disorder. A 2026 JAMA Psychiatry study flagged misuse of the drugs to sustain rapid restriction.
People who limited eating to an eight-hour window lost more weight than those who ate across 12 hours or longer, according to a pooled analysis of individual data from five trials. The results were covered by medical news outlets on September 14. A separate Spanish study of 99 adults found that weight loss was maintained a year later in fasting groups whether the window came early or late. At the American Diabetes Association 2026 sessions, specialists debated how much muscle mass patients lose during rapid weight loss, and a physician survey found most think fixing the food environment matters more than relying only on GLP-1 drugs.
The TAME trial, the planned study of whether the diabetes drug metformin can delay diseases of aging, has still not launched because it remains short of funding. It is designed as a six-year randomized trial of about 3,000 adults aged 65 to 79 at 14 US sites, coordinated at Wake Forest, and is estimated to cost $45 million to $70 million. The National Institute on Aging has set aside about $5 million. Researchers say the obstacle is that metformin is a cheap generic, so no drugmaker expects a return. Claims that the trial has enrolled patients or produced results are inaccurate.
Results from a phase 2a trial of rentosertib, a drug designed with generative AI, show reversal of predicted biological aging across six proteomic aging clocks. The study, published in Nature Biotechnology, analysed more than 2,800 proteins in blood samples from 42 people with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis over 12 weeks. Experts say the signal is promising but that a younger aging-clock score is not proof that patients have become biologically younger.
A large real-world study has linked semaglutide, the drug sold as Ozempic and Wegovy, to nearly 40% fewer asthma attacks. The same analysis found about 20% fewer flare-ups of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Researchers say GLP-1 drugs may reduce inflammation and body weight in ways that help the lungs. The findings add respiratory conditions to a growing list of possible benefits beyond diabetes and weight loss. Doctors caution that observational data cannot prove cause and effect.
The United States has recorded 3,134 confirmed measles cases in 2026 as of September 3, the highest yearly total in more than three decades, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cases have been reported in 47 jurisdictions and 38 new outbreaks have been logged this year, with 95% of infections tied to those outbreaks. Public health groups warn the sustained spread puts US elimination status at risk. Outbreaks in Utah and South Carolina have driven hospitalisations, and Pennsylvania officials linked two infant deaths to the virus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an advisory warning health care providers about a rise in reported human exposure to rabid or possibly rabid animals, along with mistakes in the treatment that follows. Rabies-related inquiries were 17 percent higher in July and August than in the same months of 2025. At least eight state health agencies reported heavier use of post-exposure prophylaxis and procedural errors. Use of rabies vaccines rose about 33 percent and human rabies immune globulin rose 76 percent year over year. The agency pointed to several high-profile outbreaks and mass exposure events, including one in North Carolina where more than 260 people were urged to seek care.
Research presented at the European Respiratory Society Congress in Barcelona found that people with asthma prescribed semaglutide, the drug sold as Ozempic and Wegovy, had almost 40% fewer asthma attacks than similar patients taking an older diabetes medicine. Researchers at Imperial College London used UK electronic medical records in four parallel analyses, each covering 20,000 to 22,000 people. Semaglutide was also linked to about 20% fewer COPD flare-ups. GLP-1 drugs are approved for type 2 diabetes and obesity, and asthma outcomes have not been measured in their clinical trials. The team says trials are needed to confirm the findings, and that the results should not change treatment decisions on their own.
Two people have died and more than three dozen have fallen ill in a Legionnaires' disease outbreak in Westchester County, north of New York City, health officials said. The victims included residents of White Plains and New Rochelle. At least 38 cases have been confirmed this summer. Legionnaires' disease is a severe form of pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria, which grow in warm water and spread through mist from cooling towers, showers and fountains. It does not pass from person to person. Older adults, smokers and people with weakened immune systems face the highest risk, and the disease is treatable with antibiotics when caught early. Investigators are testing water systems to find the source. A separate Harlem outbreak earlier this year sickened 81 people and killed three.