Weekly Recap: 14 Health Press Releases You Need to See

A roundup of the most newsworthy healthcare press releases from PR Newswire this week, including Abbott's acquisition of Exact Sciences, holiday health awareness and tips for helping children manage their anxiety.

NEW YORK, Nov. 21, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- With thousands of press releases published each week, it can be difficult to keep up with everything on PR Newswire. To help healthcare journalists and consumers stay on top of the week's most newsworthy and popular releases, here's a recap of some major stories from the week that shouldn't be missed.

The list below includes the headline (with a link to the full text) and an excerpt from each story. Click on the press release headlines to access accompanying multimedia assets that are available for download.

1. Abbott to acquire Exact Sciences, a leader in large and fast-growing cancer screening and precision oncology diagnostics segments
   Under the terms of the agreement, Exact Sciences shareholders will receive $105 per common share, representing a total equity value of approximately $21 billion. Together, the companies will accelerate innovation, expand access to life-changing diagnostics, and help more people detect and manage cancer at its earliest, most treatable stages.
2. Aetna Launches Leading Edge Conversational AI Navigation
   This represents a paradigm shift, as Aetna continues to transition from the industry's traditional transactional experience to a consumer health experience. Unlike other industry alternatives where conversational AI is relegated to a chat window, Aetna is embedding generative AI throughout its end-to-end digital experience.
3. Solventum Announces Agreement to Acquire Acera Surgical
   Solventum has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Acera Surgical for $725 million in cash plus up to $125 million in contingent cash payments based on the achievement of certain future milestones. Acera's innovation engine and commercial footprint align with Solventum's leadership in advanced wound care, its clinical relationships and go-to-market capabilities. 
4. "Wow! The Things We Can Do! Me, You, and Anxiety Too!" Invites Children to Befriend Anxiety and Use Its Energy for Creativity and Courage
   The new children's book by therapist and author Aileen Nealie encourages children to see anxiety as a friendly wave of energy they can create with, featuring whimsical illustrations by acclaimed animation director Mark Dindal.
5. Seth Rogen and Lauren Miller Rogen's Non-Profit Hilarity for Charity Raises $1.3 Million for Alzheimer's at "Friendsgiving" Fundraiser
   The event raised $1.3M and all proceeds directly benefit HFC's pioneering brain health education and essential resources for Alzheimer's caregivers. "We are deeply grateful to everyone who continues to stand with us and fuel HFC's work," said Seth Rogen & Lauren Miller Rogen. "Our board, donors, sponsors, friends, and supporters remind us every day that we're not in this fight alone."
6. Independent Health to Join MVP Health Care's Family of Companies
   Together, the two organizations are building the foundation for a new era of health and well-being across New York, Vermont and beyond—one that is built on local trust, innovation, and a shared commitment to improving lives. 
7. Home for the Holidays: Experts Share Tips for Communicating and Connecting When a Loved One Has Dementia
   "Communication is how we connect with others, and connection is what the holidays are all about," says American Speech-Language-Hearing Association 2025 President Bernadette Mayfield-Clarke, PhD, CCC-SLP. "By modifying how you approach a loved one who is dealing with the disease, family and friends can communicate more effectively and have more fulfilling time together."
8. Vanda Pharmaceuticals Reports Positive Results for Tradipitant in Preventing GLP-1 Induced Nausea and Vomiting
   This study, which pre-treated patients with either tradipitant or placebo before administering a 1 mg injection of Wegovy®, a dose that normally takes 9 weeks of titration to reach, succeeded and met its primary endpoint, with only 29.3% of tradipitant-treated participants (17/58) experiencing vomiting compared to 58.6% on placebo (34/58) (p=0.0016), representing a 50% relative reduction.
9. Red Cross: Community Responders Provide Lifeline Amid 2025 Emergencies
   In a powerful display of humanity, volunteers — who make up 90% of the American Red Cross workforce — joined forces with community partners to care for families overwhelmed by the most destructive winter wildfires in California, devastating flooding in Alaska, increased tornadoes across the Midwest, and severe storms and flash floods nationwide.
10. Bambusa Therapeutics Announces Completion of Series A-2 Financing to Accelerate Next-Generation Bispecific Programs
    This Series A-2 financing reflects strong participation from Bambusa's existing investors. Their continued commitment highlights growing confidence in Bambusa's highly differentiated bispecific platform, rapid execution, and clinical momentum.
11. American Cancer Society Launches Nationwide Program to Increase Equity in Clinical Trials
    The program offers trained American Cancer Society cancer information specialists to help caregivers, people with cancer, and health care providers learn how clinical trials may fit into a treatment journey, explore personalized clinical trial options tailored to specific needs, and easily access American Cancer Society services and resources to overcome participation barriers.
12. Novo Nordisk launches introductory self-pay offer for Wegovy® and Ozempic® for $199 per month
    This introductory offer is good for the first two months of therapy and applies to the two lowest doses (0.25 mg and 0.5 mg) of Wegovy^® or Ozempic^®. After those two months, patients will move to the new standard monthly self-pay price which Novo Nordisk is lowering from $499 to $349 per month.
13. Freenome Announces Exclusive Agreement with Roche to Expand Technology Collaboration and Develop and Commercialize Cancer Screening Tests Outside the U.S.
    Roche is acquiring exclusive ex-U.S. rights to develop "kitted" tests, which involve packaging the software and assay to enable decentralized test processing and analysis, without a large, centralized processing lab. Roche is the global leader in decentralized testing, and this partnership will accelerate the availability of Freenome's tests in certain ex-U.S. markets.
14. College Students Say Poor Nutrition is More of a Problem Than Alcohol or Drug Abuse, Survey Finds
    Most students view diet as central to mental health, energy, and academic performance — yet three-in-four report their campuses lack healthy options.

For more news like this, check out all of the latest health-related releases from PR Newswire.

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