NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-15-2024 2PM EST

Episode Date: December 15, 2024

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Louise Schiavone. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he spoke to President-elect Trump over the efforts to bring hostages back from Gaza, there are seven Americans among the 100 still held by Hamas. Biden administration officials say they hope a deal can be finalized this month for a hostage and ceasefire deal that would also allow much needed aid to get into Gaza. Israel continues to carry out deadly airstrikes there. It's also been pounding military targets in Syria following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad's regime. Netanyahu says Israel has no interest in confrontation with rebel leaders there. He says the Israeli actions are defensive to keep weapons out of the wrong hands.

Michelle Kelliman, NPR News, Tel Aviv. The Federal Reserve is holding its last meeting of the year this week. NPR's Rafael Nam reports most investors are expecting policymakers to cut interest rates for a third consecutive time. The Fed has a delicate task heading into 2025. Policymakers have already cut rates twice starting in September and Wall Street is betting they will do that again this week. But after that, the outlook becomes more uncertain. That's because inflation may be easing, but is still above where the Fed would like it to be. And the economy has remained pretty healthy. So the Fed believes it can afford to go slow in cutting rates. That has analysts thinking this may be the last rate cut for now, with the Fed then growing more cautious as CDC's economic conditions.

Rafael Nam, NPR News. Wintery weather is taking a toll in parts of the U.S. In upstate New York, more than 33 inches of snow fell near Orchard Park. An ice storm created treacherous driving conditions in the upper Midwest. More than a foot of snow fell in Orchard Park. An ice storm created treacherous driving conditions in the upper Midwest. More than a foot of snow fell in Lake Tahoe. One of the more unexpected developments was a tornado that touched down 70 miles south of San Francisco yesterday. Forecaster Mossy Cabetta, with the National Weather Service, explained. The weather pattern at the time was definitely conducive to the formation of the tornadoes that occurred.

Unusually warm SSTs paired with a low pressure system coming ashore yesterday afternoon definitely contributed to that. A low pressure system that's on the move in the coming days is expected to deliver snow to the upper Midwest, the upper Great Lakes, and in the short term the Rockies. Additionally, part of the Northeast may see some snow this evening and into the morning. From Washington, you're listening to NPR News. Humira is one of the biggest blockbuster drugs of the last two decades. It treats things like psoriasis, certain kinds of arthritis, and Crohn's disease. NPR's Sydney Lupkin reports on a new study that looks at whether patients are switching

to lower-cost alternatives. For complex drugs like Humira, the copies aren't identical like they are for typical generic drugs. But the alternatives are close, and they're called biosimilars. In the first year of biosimilar competition for Humira, however, the alternatives didn't win much of the market. Ben Rohm of Harvard Medical School co-authored a new study published in the journal JAMA Health Forum, finding only 2% of prescriptions were for the biosimilars. When the biosimilars have such difficulty getting traction, what it means is that the

next time a big blockbuster drug faces competition, maybe biosimilar makers are less excited to come to market. He says health insurers paid less for Humira even as its manufacturer raised its official list price. Sydney Lupkin, NPR News. At the box office this weekend, the top of the charts went to Moana, too. Where are we going? Before Maui stole Tiffiti's heart, our ancestors wanted to connect our island to all the people

of the entire ocean. Moana added $26.6 million to its domestic total in its third weekend and $57.2 million internationally. Wicked, which is in its fourth weekend, brought in another 22.5 million to take second place. The Universal Musical has made over 359 million domestically and over half a billion dollars worldwide. I'm Louise Chiavone, NPR News, Washington.