CRISPR‑Cas9, a gene-editing tool originally part of bacterial immune defense, has been used for everything from a “de-extinction” of dire wolves to the creation of human-compatible pig organs to the controversial—and illegal—birth of gene-edited babies.

In 2023, the FDA approved the first-ever CRISPR-based medicine, exagamglogene autotemcel (brand name Casgevy), to treat sickle cell anemia. Beyond that, there are dozens of gene-editing trials that use CRISPR in treatments for other conditions like chronic Hepatitis B, lymphoma, and urinary tract infections.

All this happened relatively quickly after researchers Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier, who submitted the first CRISPR patent in 2012, published a landmark paper that same year describing how clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs) and CRISPR-associated Protein 9 could be repurposed as “programmable DNA scissors,” kickstarting a genetic revolution.

“It’s really a ‘before and after’ in the history of humankind,” Isabel Esain Garcia, a postdoctoral researcher in Doudna’s lab at the University of California, Berkeley, told Healthcare Brew. “I definitely think that the future is going to be CRISPR-based clinical [applications].”

Check out the latest installment in our Quarter Century Project here.—CC

The Medicare drug price negotiation program is likely going to look a bit different for round three.

The program, which was established under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), allows the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to directly negotiate prices for a set number of Medicare Part D drugs with pharmaceutical manufacturers.

The first round of negotiated prices was released in August 2024 and is scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1, 2026. The list of the next 15 drugs slated for negotiations was unveiled in January, with new prices set to take effect in 2027.

While the first two rounds included only Part D drugs, CMS issued draft guidance on May 12 saying it plans to include for the first time Part B drugs (which are administered by doctors in a clinic or hospital), and that it wants to renegotiate prices for some drugs from the first two rounds. Part B drugs and renegotiations are both required under the IRA.

Here’s the latest on CMS’s drug price (re)negotiations.—MA

Welcome back to Signed and Scrubbed, a monthly roundup of hospital deals and bankruptcies.

In April, Modern Healthcare reported Q1 2025 hit a record low for hospital mergers and acquisitions—the lowest a quarterly figure has been in the last decade—citing tariffs, federal funding cuts, and regulatory issues.

Despite that, we still compiled hospital news of note from April. Here’s the rundown.

Ascension. Two subsidiaries under the St. Louis-based parent health system closed deals last month. On April 8, Ascension Saint Thomas announced it would partner with metabolic care provider PathPoint Health to open two care centers in Tennessee to support patients with conditions like diabetes and obesity. Then on April 15, Ascension Seton announced it would take full ownership of 126-bed Cedar Park Regional Medical Center in Cedar Park, Texas, in a $460 million deal.

See the full April roundup here.—CM

Join us and Project Management Institute on May 22 to explore how AI and automation are reshaping healthcare. From reducing burnout to integrating emerging tech, hear how experts are navigating the future of care—no scrubs required.