With tariffs on the way “very shortly” for imported drugs, pharma giants like Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson are investing billions into expanding US manufacturing.

On the surface, it seems like tariffs are accomplishing the promised goal of bringing manufacturing back to the US. In an April 2 briefing, the White House vowed this increase would strengthen supply chains, lower costs, and reduce dependence on “foreign adversaries.”

But Baltimore, Maryland-based Johns Hopkins researchers said in a June 11 media briefing they don’t think tariffs will bring much benefit. For generic drugs, tariffs could increase supply shortages. For branded drugs—which make up 20% of prescriptions but 80% of prescription drug spending—tariffs could increase prices.

The deets. Only about 12% of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) volume is made in the US, excluding IV fluids, according to an April report by the United States Pharmacopeia (USP), an independent nonprofit that sets global drug quality and safety standards.

See what researchers are saying here.—CC

If you like drama, we highly recommend tuning into UnitedHealth Group’s current happenings.

The health insurer likely hoped to have a plot-twist-free 2025 after weathering the massive Change Healthcare data breach and executive Brian Thompson’s assassination in 2024.

But an abysmal Q1 foreshadowed another tumultuous year.

Execs blamed the poor performance largely on higher-than-expected utilization. Then, a month after Q1’s earnings call, CEO Andrew Witty abruptly resigned for “personal reasons” and former CEO Stephen Hemsley returned to the helm.

Now, the healthcare industry is watching to see if the insurance giant will right itself.

“When a company of this scale staggers, it can disrupt care delivery, delay access to medications, and erode trust across the healthcare ecosystem,” Forrester Research’s Principal Analyst Arielle Trzcinski told Healthcare Brew.

Is the insurance giant entering a new era?—CC

Wellness is big business—a $2 trillion business to be exact, according to the Global Wellness Institute. Now, a new survey by McKinsey that accounts for “six dimensions” of wellness—health, sleep, nutrition, fitness, appearance, and mindfullness—reveals many ways wellness is changing.

The survey—which included responses from over 9,000 consumers across countries like China, the UK, Germany, and the US—found that younger consumers have become pretty devoted to wellness over the past year.

With the US wellness industry worth about $500 billion in annual spend alone, according to previous McKinsey research, 84% of US customers from the survey said that wellness was a top or important priority for them.

Among those, around 30% of Gen Z and millennials responded that wellness was “a lot more” important to them compared to a year ago. Meanwhile, 23% of older generations felt the same.

Keep reading on Retail Brew here.—JS

Is your healthcare org treating compliance like a cost center? Learn how to flip it into a strategic advantage with real-world advice from security leaders. From HIPAA updates to breach prevention, Thoropass covers it all—tune in on June 26!