Policy
Scientists and analysts express concern that the newly appointed ACIP members—which include known anti-vaxxers—could relitigate recommendations that have already been made. Many are imploring Sen. Bill Cassidy to step up.
FEATURED STORIES
Vaccine skepticism is at an all-time high in the U.S., and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is making some drastic moves in the name of reversing that trend. But misinformation and inconsistencies within the country’s healthcare agencies highlight problems with his approach.
The overturning of the FDA’s lab-developed tests rule is just the tip of the iceberg. With the loss of Chevron deference, power has shifted from federal agencies to the courts, with potential implications for everything from the FDA shortage list to CMS drug price negotiations.
A February executive order on pharmaceutical price transparency does nothing to change the incentives that keep costs opaque. But drug companies and other stakeholders would reap the benefits of such disclosures.
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Two weeks of upheaval at the CDC culminated Monday in the complete reconstitution of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices as HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pens op-ed criticizing “conflicts of interest” he says exist on the current committee.
The loss of special government employee status for four members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices follows the resignation of ACIP co-lead Lakshmi Panagiotakopoulos, who left in protest of a controversial change in COVID-19 recommendations for healthy children and pregnant women.
Given the evidence, the committee has recommended that the labels for Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Ozempic be updated to include the “very rare” risk of non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy.
The lawsuit alleges that HHS leadership knew the records they used to guide their layoff decisions were inaccurate and contained errors.
In comments posted in response to the Trump administration’s pharma tariff investigation, companies and industry groups offered solutions to ease the impacts if the plan must go ahead.
According to the nonprofit news outlet NOTUS, at least seven studies cited in the Make America Healthy Again report released last week are nonexistent. The White House shrugged off questions about the errors.
In a letter to the Department of Commerce, Novo Nordisk argued that unsanctioned compounded semaglutide, mostly from China, constitutes a national security threat to the U.S.
Leerink Partners previews the drugs likely to be subject to the Inflation Reduction Act’s next price negotiations as the program expands to Medicare Part B and smaller biotechs.
In a video posted to social media on Tuesday, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. claimed that there is a lack of clinical data to support the repeat COVID-19 booster strategy in children.
Rouzbeh Haghighat was serving on the board of Chinook Therapeutics at the time of the Novartis acquisition and, according to the DOJ’s allegations, used confidential information to conduct insider trading.