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Experts are warning that tariffs on pharmaceuticals are likely to increase shortages of essential medications. The governments ongoing investigation into the national security implications of importing pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical ingredients is widely understood as a precursor to sector-specific tariffs, which a White House advisor has said are likely. On the other hand, the administration recently issued a new executive order laying the groundwork for tariff exemptions for some pharmaceutical products imported from countries that reach trade agreements with the United States. As a result, manufacturers, pharmacists, doctors and patients are in limbo. Digital health companies that make access to prescription medication simpler are also at risk. But I already know firsthand what a drug shortage looks like. I am the CEO of Oar Health, a company that helps people struggling with alcohol misuse get access to prescription medication to drink less or quit. And naltrexone, the recommended frontline medication for treating alcohol use disorder, has been in shortage for more than a year. Heres what Ive learned: Patients suffer when essential medications are unavailable Throughout the naltrexone shortage, I have heard from patients who have found medication critical to their recoveries. But instead of celebrating and building upon their progress, they were worried about continuing their treatment. Retail and mail order pharmacies alike told patients that they could not refill their prescriptions nor provide a reliable estimate of when they would. Patients documented their experience and concern in social media posts. As someone who took naltrexone for more than five years, I can relate to their unease. When a medication is proving helpful in ones recovery, the last thing a patient should be forced to do is remove that tool from their toolkit. Beyond alcohol use disorder, direct-to-consumer telehealth companies like Ro, Hims, Nurx, and Cove have increased patient access to safe, effective medications across a broad range of health conditions. But access depends on availability. Tariffs on generic medications could harm patients who rely on everything from anti-depressants to birth control to migraine relievers to erectile dysfunction and hair loss treatments. The generic drug supply chain is fragile Americans often assume that generic medications will always be cheaply available from multiple manufacturers and at every pharmacy. This assumption is incorrect. In the case of naltrexone, a shortage of the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient meant that manufacturers had to slash production. Coupled with an increase in demand for the medications used to treat alcohol problems, shortages spread and prices went up. But input shortages are not the only vulnerability in the supply chain. Manufacturing complexity, quality concerns, and geographic concentration have contributed to an increase in the number and duration of generic drug shortages according to the research organization U.S. Pharmacopeia. 253 drugs are in shortage in 2025 according to the American Society of Health System Pharmacists after reaching an all-time peak of 323 in 2024. Because generic drug manufacturing, distribution and pharmacy dispensing all have very low profit margins, a cost increase including from tariffs at any point in the supply chain is likely to be disruptive. Facing even marginally higher costs, a manufacturer may decide that producing a generic drug is no longer economical. And, as our experience shows, the industry lacks the redundancy to make up the difference. Industry can adapt, but not overnight I am proud to say that we have kept medication in hand for every Oar Health member throughout the shortage. But it has not been easy. Many of our members worked with us during the most acute phases of the shortage, shifting from shipments of 90 tablets to 30 tablets at a time out of concern for others who needed access to the medication. We also drastically reduced marketing budgets and briefly stopped accepting new patients, meaning that people who could have benefited from treatment did not. Over time, we have seen API availability improve and manufacturers increase or restart production. But regulatory bottlenecks, manufacturing setup costs, and uncertainty about demand mean that bouncing back after a supply shock is a process measured in months and years, not days or weeks. More than 18 months after the FDA officially declared a naltrexone shortage and almost two years after patients and pharmacists first began reporting problems, naltrexone remains in shortage. This is unfortunately common. The average shortage lasts 18 months and can span as much as 15 years. Similarly, industry participants agree that reshoring manufacturing, a potential goal of tariffs, would be timely and costly. The bottom line I started Oar Health so that more of the 28 million Americans with alcohol use disorder could get access to safe, effective, FDA-approved medication proven to help them drink less or quit. Our more than 10,000 members and the millions of Americans who rely on essential generic medications are counting on policymakers to remember them.
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E-Commerce
Remember CDs? Theres a new company betting that, if you dont already, youre about to. Jewel is a Norwegian company specializing in manufacturing high-end display cases for CDs. The brand recently soft-launched online in Europe and is planning to expand to the U.S. in the coming months. It offers products that range from an $130 freestanding case that fits four CDs to a $300, 16-slot case designed to be mounted directly onto the wall. Launching a CD-based brand more than 20 years after CDs hit their peak feels like a counterintuitive prospect. After all, how many people even own a CD player these days? But Marius Brandl, Jewels founder, says the brands thesis is simple: Vinyl records have had their renaissance. CDs are next. [Photo: Jewel] Are CDs on the rise? Retro tech and physical media have experienced an undeniable comeback, in part driven by young consumers looking to cut back on social media. Gadgets like iPods (yes, those are considered retro), Game Boys, film cameras, and even pagers have seen a resurgence. And, as Brandl notes, that applies to the music industry, too. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), vinyl posted its 18th straight year of growth in 2024, generating $1.4 billion in retail revenue, its highest share of physical format revenue since 1984. Meanwhile, CDs may have fallen out of fashion in the mid-2000s, but theyre not a dead medium. In 2024, the RIAA reports, 33 million CDs were sold in the U.S., up 1.5% from 2023. [Photo: Jewel] For some fanbases, theyre becoming a more popular collectors item: Taylor Swift, for example, has a longstanding partnership with Target and tends to sell several versions of her albums in the format, including the upcoming Life of a Showgirl album, which will include three exclusive CDs. Charli XCX also gave the CD an injection of instant cool last summer, when her brat CDs sold out almost instantly. What’s interesting is the generation born before and after the year 2000, especially in Europe, have really, really been collecting [CDs], Brandl says. My feeling is that CDs will have a comeback. [Photo: Jewel] The making of a CD brand in 2025 Brandls idea for Jewela brand name inspired by the plastic jewel case that most CDs come inactually started back in the 90s, when he was in college. Brandl remembers attending a party where he saw a table strewn in CDs, and wondering to himself whether there might be a better way to organize and display them. [Photo: Jewel] At the time, Brandls concept of a grid-based display case received lots of positive feedback from his professors, who saw the CD as a promising new medium. He only made it to early development stages, though, before realizing that he couldnt find a way to both display the CDs and open their cases without damaging them, and the idea fizzled out. [Video: Jewel] When Brandls close friend convinced him to revive the idea in 2023, Brandl spent more than half a year developing the right blend of rubber to hold each jewel case inside his display prototype. The rubber, which lines two sides of each square-shaped slot,needed enough grip to keep the cases from sliding, but not so much that the cases would break when opened. The rubber was the biggest challenge, and also how to be able to make it not to be too expensive to produce, Brandl says. He adds that the acrylic, aluminum, and hardware that serve as the backbone of the displays are all premium materials sourced from European manufacturers, which has bumped up the brands price points. Instead of making it as cheap as possible with cheap materials, we thought, The ones who will buy this are probably the ones who like music so much that they have a nice Hi-Fi system, and they want new design solutions. Given that Jewel just launched, Brandl says its difficult to measure sales numbers at this stage. From inside his street-level office in Oslo, though, he talks with interested customers every day who stop by to take a closer look at the product. The people are from eight, nine yearsold to 82 years old,” Brandl says. I think the ones between 17 and 25 show the most interest. And I tell them, Your parents and grandparents and great grandparents listen to LPs. But the CDthat’s your generations physical connection to music.
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E-Commerce
We know that having friends at work is good for your performance and happiness. But could ChatGPT replace your happy hour bestie? According to a new study from KPMG that surveyed more than 1,000 professionals, almost all (99%) would be open to the idea of an AI chatbot assuming the role of close friend or trusted companion at work. That same study teases out a separate, also compelling thread: 45% of workers reported feelings of loneliness at work. Thats a huge jump, up nearly double from last year. On top of that, the survey found that friendship seems to be a big priority for most workerseven over money. More than half (57%) of those surveyed said they would take a salary 10% below market rate if it meant being able to have close friends at work, as opposed to accepting a salary 10% above market rate and having no close friends at work. (Whether theyd be willing to take a pay cut for a chatbot is another matter.) Still, it begs the question: Would people settle for Gemini as a close friend at work? The survey results suggest its possible. Plus, compared to “traditional” (read: human) colleagues, AI is always happy to assist, is hyperefficient, and doesnt complain when delegated tasks or when offered criticism. (Theres also the fact that one in three U.S. employees say they would rather scrub a toilet than ask a human colleague for help.) From therapists to relationship counselors to romantic partners, AI-powered digital companions are rapidly emerging as alternatives to any number of human relationships. Now AI may well be ready to assume its newest role of work spouse. This reflects a deeper truth: People are craving connection, Sandy Torchia, vice chair of talent and culture at KPMG, told Fast Company. When something shows up consistently, listens without judgment, and responds in a supportive way, it starts to feel familiareven comforting. We already know that having a work bestie or office ally isnt just good for happiness, its good for productivity and performance. Employees in the KPMG survey said that having workplace friendships increases their motivation to go above and beyond their job description. But right now, we have zero idea whether any of these benefits transfer to a human-chatbot work friendship. What we do know is that the worker value on friendship is growing; 87% of employees consider work friendships “very important. And the youngest workers value workplace friendships more than their older counterparts: 90% of Gen Zers surveyed said those friendships are very important, compared to 77% of boomers. The trend is playing out alongside an increase in public familiarity and comfort with AI tools. In the past couple of years, the share of U.S. employees who say they have used AI in their role a few times a year or more has nearly doubled, from 21% to 40%, according to a Gallup survey in June. While this is predominantly for work-related tasks, chatting with AI can also reduce stress, anxiety, and loneliness for some users, according to a 2023 study published in The Journal of Medical Internet Research. Of course, correlation doesnt mean causation when it comes to chatbots being used more as stand-ins for human friends at work. But even if employees dont want AI to step into the role of friend, almost all surveyed in the KPMG report said they would like to use AI to aid their friendships in some capacity; 98% said they would like AI systems to connect them with coworkers based on shared interests. Its still early days in terms of widespread chatbot adoption, so who knows what will happen. For now, dont count on a bot to fully replace your gossip buddy by the watercooler. AI can mimic aspects of friendship; it cant replace the depth, nuance, and emotional resonance of human relationships, Torchia says. Thats where employers have a real opportunityto engineer environments where authentic connection can thrive.
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E-Commerce
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