Roche has reported mid-stage results that put its lead obesity candidate closer to the front of a fast-moving race dominated by Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. The Swiss group said its once-weekly injectable Roche CT-388 obesity drug achieved up to 22.5% placebo-adjusted weight loss at 48 weeks in a phase 2 trial among participants who adhered to the treatment regimen.…
Category: Archive
Every Health Matters article, newest first. Use the search or browse by month to find older reporting.
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AI in Drug Development helps Pharma Cut Trial Admin Time
Artificial intelligence is still struggling to crack the most complex problem in pharma R&D: reliably designing new molecules that become breakthrough medicines. But drugmakers say AI is already paying off in the “unsexy” middle of development. This is where time and money are often lost to paperwork, vendor hand-offs, and slow trial start-up. At the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in January…
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HIV ARV Tender Crisis Triggers Parliamentary Scrutiny
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi faces urgent questions in Parliament after two companies holding major government contracts to supply HIV medicines entered business rescue. The concern is immediate and practical. Any disruption to antiretroviral (ARV) supply can lead to missed doses. That raises the risk of treatment failure and drug resistance. South Africa carries the world’s biggest HIV burden. An estimated…
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WhatsApp Microlearning: Solving a Persistent HIV Training Gap
A new approach to frontline training is gaining traction in South Africa’s HIV response. It is built around a simple idea. Most clinicians and counsellors may not have time for long online webinars, but they do have phones and use WhatsApp. Briony Chisholm, an information pharmacist at the University of Cape Town’s Medicines Information Centre (MIC), says rural clinics often…
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Gauteng Health Budget Underspending Exposes Service Pressure
The provincial health department’s failure to spend its budget has once again placed Gauteng’s health system under the spotlight. This comes even as hospitals deteriorate and frontline gaps widen. The Gauteng health department projects an underspend of R725 million for the 2025–26 financial year ending 31 March. This is according to an official reply from the finance and economic development…
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Busa Seeks an NHI Meeting with President Ramaphosa
Business Unity South Africa (Busa) has backed Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s call to cool tensions around National Health Insurance (NHI). In fact, Busa seeks an NHI Meeting to ensure there is structured engagement with the Presidency in the first quarter of 2026. The aim is to discuss proposals previously submitted to President Cyril Ramaphosa. Busa is the largest umbrella body…
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Dis-Chem MyHealth Partnership Defends Retail-Led Cover
Dis-Chem has defended its health insurance partnership with Centriq and Kaelo after a ruling by the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS). The pharmacy retailer says the decision clarifies the process. It argues it is not a warning shot against retail-led healthcare models. The CMS found that changes to the branding and presentation of Centriq’s MyHealth insurance products under the Dis-Chem…
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Doctor Job Crisis Hits Post-Community Service Cohort
South Africa’s doctor employment bottleneck is back in the spotlight. The South African Medical Association Trade Union (Samatu) says 1,260 doctors who have completed community service remain unemployed. It also indicates approximately 1,100 vacant medical officer posts nationwide. Samatu’s junior doctors’ leadership says some clinicians have been without work for months. In some cases, the period extends for years. The…
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Dis-Chem Insurance Branding Non-Compliant says CMS
A regulatory dispute could ensnare thousands of South African health insurance policyholders following a Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) finding that Dis-Chem’s branding breached the Medical Schemes Act. Davizro | iStock/695273346 The CMS ruled that Centriq Insurance Company’s decision to market its MyHealth Core and MyHealth Vital products under the Dis-Chem name amounted to an unauthorised name change. In the…
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National Health Insurance Negotiations: SAMA Seeks NHI Talks
South Africa’s largest doctors’ organisation, the South African Medical Association (SAMA), is preparing for fresh talks with Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi on the future shape of National Health Insurance (NHI). The move follows a public push by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana for organisations challenging the NHI Act to consider negotiating a settlement, rather than prolonging court battles. SAMA is one…