Policy
During a hearing in front of the Senate’s HELP committee, Susan Monarez addressed her controversial firing and recalled a conversation where Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. allegedly said that “CDC employees were killing children and they don’t care.”
A complex state vs. federal regulatory scheme allows drug compounders to advertise drugs without disclosing risks like a pharma company must do. Experts say it’s time for the FDA to crack down.
While the FDA is trumpeting this new initiative as “sweeping reforms” to the way drug companies can advertise, experts say the regulator is going after a problem that doesn’t exist.
Merck, Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca have similarly suspended or outright canceled investments in the U.K. in the past week after a sizeable increase in a mandatory levy in the region.
In a livestreamed meeting Tuesday afternoon, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. drew a dark portrait of the state of America’s health while addressing the MAHA Commission’s most recent report, which includes plans to research potential links between vaccines and rising rates of chronic disease.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. repeated a series of anti-vaccine talking points during his appearance in front of the Senate finance committee on Thursday, as Democratic and Republican senators alike hammered the Health Secretary on recent COVID-19 vaccine restrictions and his views on Operation Warp Speed.
Perhaps the most interesting of the pile of FDA rejection letters was for Lykos Therapeutics’ MDMA therapy. Letters sent to Stealth BioTherapeutics, Regeneron and more were also released as the agency also promised future CRLs “promptly after they are issued to sponsors.”
As more and more groups call for the health secretary’s removal from office, senators will question Kennedy on his recent moves, including the controversial firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez.
Paul Offit, longtime member of the FDA’s vaccine advisory committee and an outspoken critic of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was recently informed by the Department of Health and Human Services that his services are no longer required.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—along with FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and CBER Director Vinay Prasad—argued against vaccine mandates, partly because they limited medical choice. This week, the FDA under their leadership approved updated COVID-19 vaccines with restrictions that do the same.
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