What you were reading — Rapport’s top stories of 2025

Policy explainers with purpose

2025 was tumultuous on the policy front, with most-favored nation pricing deals and continued IRA implementation, upheaval at federal agencies and public health concerns. But our most-read policy story — in fact our most-read story of the year of any variety — was about examining public sentiment around the biopharma industry, how we got where we are, and what a campaign might look like that helps us better connect with people around issues of affordability and innovation, starting in the home of biotech: Massachusetts.

Resolving the Massachusetts Paradox is critical to inspiring America to solve affordability through insurance reform to lower out-of-pocket costs and to stop threatening price controls on novel medicines, preserving our innovation ecosystem.

Peter Kolchinsky’s late-2024 data-spelunking through CMS’s national health expenditure data and other gold standard sources was among our most read pieces for the second straight year. Peter (and the math) showed that we only spend 8% of our healthcare spending on branded prescription drugs — the best slice of our healthcare dollar. 

In May, Peter Kolchinsky examined the roots and unintended consequences of Most-Favored Nation policy. No more freeriding the Great American Drug Deal. 

Vaccine misinformation was sadly commonplace in 2025. Our infectious disease team responded with a comprehensive overview, written with their friends and families in mind. ​“A Vaccine for Your Mind.”