Weight-Loss Drug Coverage Deliberated by FDA, Medicare (1)

US drug regulators are in talks with the Medicare agency about “what to do about obesity drugs,” FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf said Wednesday, potentially signaling a step toward increased coverage of the popular class of drugs.

The comments from the head of the Food and Drug Administration at a biotechnology conference indicate the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid is looking at ways to offer or expand a benefit that the agency’s statute has long banned.

Right now, the CMS is prohibited from paying for obesity drugs, if that’s the only indication, Califf said at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization convention ...