The U.S. health care system has struggled for decades with the tension between providing incentives for pharmaceutical innovation and keeping breakthroughs affordable for those who would most benefit from them. Even as countries around the…

A new version of the popular diabetes treatment Mounjaro can be sold as a weight-loss drug, U.S. regulators announced Wednesday. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Eli Lilly’s Zepbound, or tirzepatide. The drug helped…

DEAR DR. ROACH: Why do commercials for diabetes show most people who need medication as overweight? I know slim people who have this problem. —R.J. ANSWER: There are several different types of diabetes mellitus (“diabetes”…

If you knew that you were on course to be seriously ill in 10-15 years but could dramatically lessen your chances, would you?  One out of five Americans today potentially face that question when diagnosed…

What if treating obesity could be as easy as popping an effective pill? That’s a notion that has long fueled hope for many of the more than 40% of Americans who are considered obese —…

The green revolution was one of the greatest feats of human ingenuity. By promoting higher-yielding varieties of wheat and, especially, rice, plant-breeders in India, Mexico and the Philippines helped China emerge from a famine and…

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley doesn’t agree with President Joe Biden very often. When it happens, we take notice.  Well, it happened Tuesday night at the State of the Union address.  Amid all the tiresome, partisan…

TOPEKA — Rep. Heather Meyer is familiar with the battle between lifesaving medication and crippling medical debt. Meyer, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 12, grew up with a single…

DEAR DR. ROACH: My dad has been on hospice care for several months now. He had an untreated wound infection that was not responding to meds, so he went on hospice. Also, his wife died,…

Imagine a gathering with 10 of your friends and family members. Now imagine that at least one of you has a disease that can lead to blindness…or amputation…or a stroke. The prospect is not at…