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 Trump administration says it is making deals with drug companies to lower prices U.S. consumers pay for medicines. But key details are missing on how the initiative would work. -
The Trump administration sent letters this summer to 17 makers of name-brand drugs pushing them to lower prices to align them with what other countries pay. The companies had 60 days to "step up."
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A law firm appealing a stalled case against Tylenol's maker, Kenvue, says people are calling to join the suit, alleging the painkiller caused autism in children whose mothers took it during pregnancy. -
On Monday, the Trump administration linked the use of Tylenol with rising autism rates, but science doesn’t support that claim. Guest host Sydney Lupkin talks to autism researcher Helen Tager-Flusberg about how autism is studied, the findings from decades of research, and what people–especially those who are pregnant–should do when they experience pain or fever. Plus, we dig into guidance behind using leucovorin to treat autism. Interested in more science behind the headlines? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org. Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave. -
It's been a confusing and fast-changing couple of months for rules about getting a COVID shot. It should be a little easier now, after a panel of vaccine advisers met last week. -
Though the FDA narrowed criteria for the shots, many people still want them, to avoid illness and protect vulnerable family members. Some are turned down at the pharmacy or have to jump through hoops. -
As coverage of this year's crop of COVID boosters hangs in the balance under Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s leadership, what is the vaccine supply situation this year?
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In the past couple years, demand has gone wild for drugs like Ozempic – and its cousins, Zepbound, Wegovy, and Mounjaro. For people who had never been able to lose weight before, suddenly the numbers on the scale were plummeting. And everybody wanted to get their hands on them. Now, in most industries, if a product goes viral like this, it’s a golden ticket. And thanks to government-granted monopolies designed to encourage innovation, the big drug companies behind these blockbuster injections are currently the only ones allowed to make them. In theory, anyway. But, what if that explosive demand backfired, opening the door to legal knock-offs? You’ve maybe seen them - copycats advertised as the same thing as Ozempic. So, what’s the difference? And just how legal are they? On today’s show - a drug that’s changing peoples lives is also challenging the traditional way we buy and sell medicine. This episode was hosted by Sydney Lupkin and Jeff Guo. It was produced by James Sneed. It was edited by Marianne McCune, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Gilly Moon and Debbie Daughtry. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer. Listen free at these links: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts. Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter. Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney. Music: Source Audio - “Subtly Silly Thug,” “Got The Moves,” and “Vive le Punk” -
For women with hair loss, there are more treatment options than ever before — and more ways to access them, as anyone scrolling social media has likely seen firsthand. But it can be confusing.
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Compounding pharmacies are crimping sales of Novo Nordisk's obesity drug Wegovy by making what are essentially copies of the name-brand medicine. The company says it trying to stop them.
