Reuters (9/29, Choudhury, Sunny) reports the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) announced Monday it would launch a new website, to be called AmericasMedicines.com, “to help patients buy prescription drugs directly from manufacturers, bypassing pharmacy benefit managers and other middlemen.” The website, set to be launched in January, “will allow drugmakers to list medicines available for direct purchase and connect patients with programs that offer lower prices and fewer barriers to access.”

Related Links:

— “US lobby group PhRMA plans website to boost access to cheaper drugs, Reuters, September 29, 2025

Modern Healthcare (9/26, Tepper, Subscription Publication) reported, “Medicare Advantage enrollment could slip next year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Friday.” Health insurers “project Medicare Advantage membership will fall from 34.9 million this year to 34 million in 2026, CMS said in a news release.” Additionally, “insurers…predict that Medicare Advantage will lose ground to fee-for-service Medicare next year.” Modern Healthcare adds, “The privatized program surpassed traditional Medicare in 2023 but will cover 48% of beneficiaries in 2026, down from 50% this year, according to industry estimates reported to CMS.”

Related Links:

— “Medicare Advantage enrollment may shrink in 2026, CMS says,”Nona Tepper, Modern Healthcare, September 26, 2025

Psychiatric News (9/26) reported a study found that “older adults who took medications to treat hypertension had slower cognitive decline compared with their peers who did not take such medications.” The researchers “combined data from three studies that included 3,361 participants who were taking antihypertensives at baseline and 586 participants who never took these medications.” They observed that “participants using antihypertensives had higher levels of global cognition at baseline and a slower rate of cognitive decline over follow-up compared with non-users – especially in the domains of episodic and semantic memory.” Meanwhile, brain autopsy results “showed that taking antihypertensives was associated with a lower tau tangle density (a marker of Alzheimer’s disease) but not with other neurodegenerative or cerebrovascular pathologies.” The study was published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia.

Related Links:

— “Antihypertensive Drugs Associated With Slower Cognitive Decline, Psychiatric News , September 26, 2025

HealthDay (9/25, Thompson) reports a study found that “a growing number of Americans appear to be losing their brain power, particularly younger adults.” Researchers analyzed CDC survey data collected annually between 2013 and 2023 and observed that the U.S. “experienced a sharp increase in adults experiencing serious problems with memory, concentration and decision-making.” Overall, “the rate of people reporting thinking problems increased from 5.3% in 2013 to 7.4% in 2023, the survey found. For adults under 40, the rate rose sharply from 5.1% to 9.7%, nearly doubling, researchers said. On the other hand, rates among seniors 70 and older declined slightly, from 7.3% to 6.6%.” According to the study, “the biggest increases were found among people who had less education and earned lower wages.” The study was published in Neurology.

Related Links:

— “Lights Are Dimming For America’s Brain Power, Study Says,”Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, September 25, 2025

The Washington Post (9/25, Timsit) reports a study published Wednesday in Science Advances explores why our brains sometimes “hold on to some seemingly ordinary moments while letting others slip away.” The study found that “our brains selectively strengthen certain memories when they are associated with important experiences, in a mechanism known as memory enhancement. As part of that process, the brain uses a sliding scale to decide which memories to preserve.” Moreover, the study “suggests that tying ‘fragile’ memories – of typically routine events – to memorable or rewarding moments could prevent them from slipping away, and that doing this in a systematic way could help strengthen useful memories or weaken irrelevant ones.” Study results further indicated “that people were more likely to remember neutral memories that came after a major event if that event was important or meaningful.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)