Health

WASHINGTON (AP) — Abortion opponents say there continues to be much work to be done to further restrict access to abortion when Republican Donald Trump returns to the White House next yr.

They point to federal guidelines issued by Democratic President Joe Biden's administration on emergency abortions, requiring hospitals to offer them to women whose health or lives are in danger, and the easing of prescription restrictions on abortion pills which have allowed women to achieve this to order these medications online on the touch of a button.

“Now the work begins to dismantle the Biden-Harris administration’s pro-abortion policies,” the Susan B. Anthony List, the powerful anti-abortion lobby, said in a press release Wednesday. “President Trump’s pro-life achievements in his first term lay the foundation for his second term.”

The group declined to release details about what it specifically plans to undo. But abortion rights advocates are preparing for more abortion restrictions once Trump takes office. And some women are affected too, because online orders for abortion pills increase sharply in the times after Election Day.

Trump said abortion is a difficulty for the states, not the federal government. Still, he made clear through the campaign that he appointed Supreme Court justices who were in the bulk in striking down the nation's right to abortion. And there are things his administration can do, from choosing judges to issuing regulations to promoting an anti-abortion agenda.

Trump is unlikely to mandate emergency abortions in hospitals

The Trump administration is anticipated to withdraw Biden's controversial directive requiring emergency rooms to perform abortions if needed to stabilize a lady's health or life. The Biden administration had argued that the decades-old federal law requiring hospitals to supply stabilizing treatment to patients in return for Medicare funding also applies in cases where an abortion is likely to be needed.

Since the Supreme Court struck down the country's right to abortion in 2022, there have been increasing reports of ladies in dangerous situations being sent home or left untreated by hospitals. In some cases, hospitals said state abortion bans prevented them from terminating a pregnancy.

“We're seeing pregnant people's lives being put at risk,” Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women's Law Center, said Wednesday. “We see women who have become infertile, who have sepsis, and now we are hearing reports of deaths.”

Even if a Trump administration abandons the law's guidance, Goss Graves said, advocacy groups like hers will proceed the legal battle for the Biden administration's interpretation of the law.

Some doctors and hospitals have also said federal guidelines give them protection when performing emergency abortions in states like Idaho and Texas, where the danger of prosecution for performing an abortion is determined by their decision-making.

Trump has said he supports exceptions for cases of rape and incest, in addition to when a lady's life is at risk. But he hasn't gone to date as to say he supports exceptions when a lady's health is at stake.

In rare but serious cases, abortions could also be needed to forestall organ loss, severe bleeding, or dangerous infections for pregnant women. In cases akin to ectopic pregnancy, premature rupture of membranes, and placental abruption, a fetus should still be alive, but continuing the pregnancy could also be harmful. Doctors have argued that the legal gray area has left them in a bind.

In Idaho, for instance, a hospital resorted to air transporting women out of the state after a strict abortion ban was enacted that only allowed abortions to forestall a lady's death.

The Biden administration sued Idaho, saying the state law conflicts with federal law that requires hospitals to offer patients with stabilizing treatment, which might include abortions. The state has modified its law to permit abortions for ectopic pregnancies, nevertheless it still leaves out other dangerous scenarios. The Supreme Court declined to take up the matter earlier this yr, issuing a limited order clearing the best way for hospitals to perform emergency abortions while the case was heard by lower courts.

However, enforcement of the federal law is on hold in Texas, which has thrown the Biden administration's guidance on emergency abortions into query.

A patchwork of state abortion laws will remain in effect under the Trump administration. Voters in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota rejected constitutional amendments on Tuesday and left the bans in place.

However, in Missouri on Tuesday, voters approved a ballot measure to repeal certainly one of the strictest bans within the country. Abortion law changes also passed in Arizona, Colorado, Maryland and Montana. Nevada voters also approved an amendment but can have to pass it again in 2026 for it to take effect.

Problems with access to abortion pills will proceed under Trump

The ease with which women could obtain abortion pills is also reconsidered under Trump.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Food and Drug Administration made it easier to acquire abortion pills, including mifepristone, and allowed women to access the drugs via telemedicine. The agency has confirmed the drug's safety as much as 10 weeks of pregnancy and said 0.32% of patients experience unintended effects.

Anti-abortion advocates have disputed this, arguing the drugs usually are not secure and a minimum of not suitable for easy accessibility without personal supervision from a physician.

Although the Supreme Court upheld access to the drug earlier this yr, abortion opponents and conservative states have renewed their challenge in lower courts.

Some women are frightened. Telehealth company Wisp saw a direct 600% increase in abortion pill orders between Election Day and the next day. In states like Florida and Texas, where the drug can’t be legally shipped, the corporate saw a virtually 1,000 percent increase in orders for the morning-after pill, also referred to as emergency contraception.

The company fulfills about tens of 1000’s of orders a month for reproductive products, including contraception pills and abortion pills, CEO Monica Cepak told the Associated Press.

Today, women typically take a two-step course of mifepristone and misoprostol to finish a medical abortion. Cepak said the corporate will “keep a close eye” on mifepristone under a Trump administration and is ready to modify to misoprostol-only therapy if a restriction on mifepristone is implemented.

But Trump could possibly be a wild card on this matter, said Mary Ziegler, a law professor on the University of California at Davis and an authority on reproductive health issues. In the ultimate months of the campaign, he moved away from a tougher stance on abortion — even saying he wouldn't sign a statewide abortion ban if it got here to his desk.

Although he enjoys strong support from anti-abortion groups, he’s willing to interrupt with allies if he wants.

“I don’t think we have a clear idea of ​​what he would do,” Ziegler said.

Eli Lilly reported on Thursday Second quarter results and revenue exceeded all expectations, raising full-year revenue guidance by $3 billion as sales of the hit diabetes drug Mounjaro and weight-loss injection Zepbound soared.

Eli Lilly shares rose greater than 10% in early trading Thursday.

The pharmaceutical manufacturer now expects sales of between $45.4 billion and $46.6 billion for the approaching 12 months, a rise of $3 billion at each end of the range.

The company also raised its adjusted annual earnings to $16.10 to $16.60, in comparison with a previous forecast of $13.50 to $14 per share.

Eli Lilly said the rise in guidance was primarily as a result of strong performance from Mounjaro and Zepbound and partly as a result of “improved clarity” regarding the corporate's manufacturing expansions and planned launch of Mounjaro outside the U.S. The company said it achieved several supply-related milestones in the course of the quarter, but didn’t provide specific details.

Demand far exceeds supply for incretin drugs like Zepbound and Mounjaro. These drugs mimic hormones produced within the gut to suppress appetite and regulate blood sugar. This has forced Eli Lilly and its rival Novo Nordisk to speculate massively to spice up production.

But Eli Lilly's supply shortages may steadily ease. On Friday, the drug database of the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported that after an extended period of shortages, all doses of Zepbound and Mounjaro were available again within the USA.

However, the corporate cautioned that the expected increase in demand for certain doses of its incretin drugs may lead to temporary “supply shortages.”

“We're just seeing incredible demand and we're not even trying to promote this drug particularly heavily,” Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks said in an interview with CNBC. “What you're seeing here is just organic consumer demand as we've shipped more product and brought more supply online in the United States.”

Ricks said the corporate has built six manufacturing plants, a few of that are already in operation, and hired hundreds of employees to extend production. Eli Lilly expects production of incretin drugs to be 50% higher within the second half of 2024 than in the identical period last 12 months, he noted.

“We're on track to do that until 2025,” he said. Ricks added that Eli Lilly remains to be developing more convenient weight-loss pills that might help the corporate meet rapidly increasing demand.

Here's what Eli Lilly reported for the second quarter and what Wall Street expected based on an analyst survey conducted by LSEG:

• Earnings per share: USD 3.92 adjusted versus USD 2.60 expected
• Revenue: 11.30 billion US dollars in comparison with expected 9.92 billion US dollars

The pharmaceutical giant posted net profit of $2.97 billion, or $3.28 per share, for the second quarter. In the identical period last 12 months, profit was $1.76 billion, or $1.95 per share.

Excluding one-time items related to the worth of intangible assets and other adjustments, Eli Lilly reported earnings of $3.92 per share for the second quarter of 2024.

The company reported second-quarter revenue of $11.30 billion, up 36% from the identical period last 12 months.

According to Eli Lilly, sales were primarily as a result of increased demand for Mounjaro and Zepbound as production increases improved supply within the United States.

It is Zepbound's second full quarter within the U.S. market after receiving regulatory approval in November. The weekly money injection brought in revenue of $1.24 billion for the period, well above the $922.2 million expected by analysts, in keeping with StreetAccount.

Meanwhile, Mounjaro posted second-quarter revenue of $3.09 billion, greater than triple the revenue of the identical period last 12 months. Analysts had expected revenue of $2.39 billion, in keeping with StreetAccount.

Prices for Mounjaro were higher within the U.S. within the second quarter, partly as a result of increased access to the drug and lower use of savings card programs in comparison with the identical period last 12 months.

However, the corporate said savings cards are expected to have “only a minimal effect” on actual price comparisons within the second half of the 12 months since the $25 monthly coupon for patients without insurance coverage for Mounjaro expired in June.

Ricks said prices for Eli Lilly's incretin drugs were “fairly stable” within the second quarter.

The situation is different for Novo Nordisk, which on Wednesday reported weaker-than-expected second-quarter sales of its weight-loss drug Wegovy and the diabetes injection Ozempic, partly as a result of price pressure.

Wegovy's revenue was hit by higher-than-expected price concessions to U.S. pharmacy profit managers, who negotiate drug discounts with manufacturers on behalf of insurers, Novo Nordisk executives said Wednesday during a quarterly earnings conference call.

Eli Lilly shares have risen greater than 30% this 12 months after rising nearly 60% in 2023, because of rising demand for the corporate's weight-loss and diabetes drugs — and increased investor interest of their potential as treatments for other health conditions. That popularity comes despite their high monthly prices, inconsistent insurance coverage and intermittent supply shortages.

With a market capitalization of over $730 billion, Eli Lilly is the biggest pharmaceutical company based within the United States

As temperatures soared within the Bay Area on Saturday, emergency crews continued to battle several wildfires across the state.

Further out near Highway 101 and Alum Rock Avenue, a brush fire broke out Saturday night, blocking the 2 right lanes, the California Highway Patrol said.

Emergency crews also responded to a brush fire in Antioch on Wilbur Avenue and Apollo Court on Saturday afternoon.

According to Cal Fire, firefighters were capable of bring the most important fire, the Sites Fire in Colusa County, 38% under control by Saturday night, up from 30% almost 24 hours earlier. The fire continues to rage over an area of ​​19,195 acres, where it has been raging since Thursday.

A heat warning was in effect for giant parts of the Bay Area on Saturday.

The National Weather Service said temperatures soared above 95 degrees within the East Bay on Saturday, reaching 95 degrees in Concord and 98 degrees in Livermore. Temperatures were a bit cooler in San Jose, with a high of 90 degrees, and ranged from 80 to 85 degrees on the San Francisco Peninsula.

The National Weather Service said Bay Area residents can look ahead to barely cooler weather on Sunday that can last through early next week.

Cal Fire said its 2,248-person crew continued to battle the Sites Fire, working in temperatures above 100 degrees and increasing southerly winds. All evacuation orders were downgraded to warnings, aside from Sites Lodoga Road from Sites to Lodoga.

At the peak of the hearth, 326 buildings were threatened, including Cal Fire Station 36 in Leesville, Cal Fire said Saturday evening. But after completing the damage inspection, the agency determined that no buildings were affected.

On Saturday, firefighters continued to work to bring several fires under control across the state.

The state's second-largest fire, the Post Fire in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, covered 15,690 acres, a figure that hasn't modified since Tuesday night. As of Saturday evening, the hearth was 79% contained. An evacuation order remained in effect for south of Gorman Post Road, west of Interstate 5, east of the Los Angeles County border and north of Pyramid Lake.

In the situation summary, Cal Fire said its 1,250-person crew worked through the night to contain the hearth and protect precious resources and habitat. The agency said Saturday was certainly one of the most well liked days, with temperatures within the triple digits and winds reaching 30 mph. Cal Fire's update Saturday night said there was still a slight probability of thunderstorms on Sunday.

In Calaveras County, firefighters have contained the 5,351-acre Aero Fire to 78%. The fire has destroyed three buildings and damaged one other. All evacuation warnings were lifted Saturday afternoon.

Crews continued to work to totally contain the Point Fire in Sonoma County and the Hesperia Fire in San Bernardino County. As of Saturday evening, the Point Fire was still 1,207 acres and 85% contained, while the Hesperia Fire was 1,078 acres and 95% contained.

Cal Fire said one firefighter was injured while battling the Point Fire. The fire also destroyed three buildings and damaged two others.

More fires broke out across the state on Saturday as emergency crews battled three latest fires in Madera, San Diego and Fresno counties. Just before 5 p.m. Saturday, a brand new fire also broke out in San Bernardino County – the Needles Fire.