Sydney Lupkin
Sydney Lupkin is the pharmaceuticals correspondent for NPR.
She was most recently a correspondent at Kaiser Health News, where she covered drug prices and specialized in data reporting for its enterprise team. She's reported on how tainted drugs can reach consumers, how companies take advantage of rare disease drug rules and how FDA-approved generics often don't make it to market. She's also tracked pharmaceutical dollars to patient advocacy groups and members of Congress. Her work has won the National Press Club's Joan M. Friedenberg Online Journalism Award, the National Institute for Health Care Management's Digital Media Award and a health reporting award from the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing.
Lupkin graduated from Boston University. She's also worked for ABC News, VICE News, MedPage Today and The Bay Citizen. Her internship and part-time work includes stints at ProPublica, The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, The New England Center for Investigative Reporting and WCVB.
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The drug had been fast-tracked for approval under the agency's accelerated approval program, and has been available for more than a decade, despite the drugmaker's failure to prove that it works.
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Once U.S. stockpiles of COVID-19 vaccine run out, Moderna says it might charge as much as $130 per dose, but give people who lack health insurance a break. Critics say that's not enough help.
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The Food and Drug Administration has new tools to hold drug companies accountable for promises they make about medications. But the agency has yet to show its hand in using this new power.
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An insulin maker is cutting its prices. Eli Lilly, one of the three makers of insulin products in the United States, is also making other moves toward affordability for people with diabetes.
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At-home rapid tests have become a staple of COVID-19 precautions, but some experts worry that people are relying too much on these tests and that's creating a false sense of security.
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Changes by the FDA mean patients won't have to schedule in-person exams to get a prescription. That opens the door for more pharmacies to provide the medication. But not everyone will have access.
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An NPR investigation found stalled confirmatory trials and lax enforcement are plaguing the FDA's accelerated approval of drugs for urgent medical needs.
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Stalled confirmatory trials and lax enforcement plague the Food and Drug Administration's accelerated approval pathway for pharmaceuticals that target urgent medical needs.
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NPR has obtained the government's $5.3 billion contract for the first 10 million courses of Paxlovid, an antiviral pill for COVID-19. Here's what's in it.
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Paxlovid and molnupiravir have been authorized for emergency use to keep COVID-19 patients out of the hospital, but don't expect to be able to go to your usual pharmacy and get them.