The Wall Street Journal: Biden Budget To Propose Saving Hundreds Of Billions By Cutting Drug Prices, Fraud
President Biden’s budget blueprint will lay out plans to save hundreds of billions of dollars by seeking to lower drug prices, raising some business taxes, cracking down on fraud and cutting spending he sees as wasteful, according to White House officials. Mr. Biden is set to release his fiscal 2024 budget plan on Thursday. Administration officials said it would propose cutting federal budget deficits by nearly $3 trillion over the next decade. The proposal is unlikely to gain momentum, with Republicans expected to oppose many of Mr. Biden’s plans, and it will include some ideas that didn’t become law while Democrats controlled the House and Senate. But the release of the budget will kick off monthslong spending negotiations with lawmakers. (Restuccia, Rubin and Armour, 3/8)

The New York Times: Biden Will Release Dead-On-Arrival Budget, Picking Fight With GOP 
President Biden will propose a budget on Thursday that has no chance of driving tax or spending decisions in Congress this year, but instead will serve as a statement of political priorities as he clashes with Republicans over the size of the federal government. Mr. Biden’s budget proposal, the third of his presidency, is an attempt to advance a narrative that the president is committed to investing in American manufacturing, fighting corporate profiteering, reducing budget deficits and fending off conservative attacks on safety-net programs. (Tankersley, 3/9)

The Hill: Here’s What To Watch For In Biden’s Budget 
The plan seeks to extend the lifetime for Medicare’s Hospital Insurance Trust Fund by at least 25 years, as the fund is projected to become insolvent by 2028. But to do so, the proposal also calls for a higher tax rate “on earned and unearned income above $400,000.” (Folley, 3/8)

Axios: Biden's Medicare Budget Proposal To Lower Drug Prices May Have Some Bite
President Biden's push to let Medicare negotiate the prices of more drugs sooner after they come to market won't become law any time soon. But some experts say even raising the topic could scare off investment into new treatments. (Owens, 3/9)

Stat: Medicare Chief On The New Drug Price Negotiation Program’s Operations, Hiring, And Timelines
Medicare officials are still hammering out the technical specifics of how the massive program will start to negotiate drug prices — let alone the substantive ones, Medicare chief Meena Seshamani said at a STAT event Tuesday. (Wilkerson, 3/8)

Vox: Joe Biden’s Budget Is Targeting Medicare’s Funding Crisis. Why Is The Program In Trouble?
Alarm bells have sounded about Medicare’s trust fund for decades, with the exact date of when it would run out of money moving forward and back. But, eventually, Congress will need to act. (Scott, 3/9)

Politico: Republicans Take Aim At Medicaid As Budget Talks Heat Up
Senior Republicans in the House and Senate are proposing deep cuts to Medicaid as talks around reducing the deficit intensify ahead of a budget showdown between President Joe Biden and House leaders. As outside conservative groups make a case for cuts in closed-door briefings and calls, members point to pledges from party leaders on both sides not to touch Social Security or Medicare as a key reason the health insurance program for low-income Americans is on the chopping block. (Ollstein, 3/8)

On the end of the federal covid emergency —

Politico: The Latest Sign The White House Covid Operations Are Winding Down? Its Proposed Budget
President Joe Biden is not expected to seek significant new Covid funding as part of his forthcoming budget proposal, the latest sign that the White House is preparing to wind down its emergency response operation later this year. The move comes as Biden has insisted that the public health crisis is under control, and amid a broader administration shift toward new priorities aimed at bolstering the post-pandemic economy and lowering consumer costs. (Cancryn, 3/8)

KHN: Medicaid Health Plans Try To Protect Members — And Profits — During Unwinding 
The federal covid-19 pandemic protections that have largely prohibited states from dropping anyone from Medicaid since 2020 helped millions of low-income Americans retain health insurance coverage — even if they no longer qualified — and brought the U.S. uninsured rate to a record low. It also led to a windfall for the health plans that states pay to oversee care of most Medicaid enrollees. These plans — many run by insurance titans including UnitedHealthcare, Centene, and Aetna — have seen their revenue surge by billions as their membership soared by millions. (Galewitz, 3/9)

On the cost of insulin —

NBC News: Black Diabetes Patients Welcome Eli Lilly’s Price Cap, But Say Systemic Medical Barriers Remain
The news last week that the drugmaker Eli Lilly will cap out-of-pocket costs for its insulin at $35 per month brought relief to some. But what remains are systemic problems with insurance coverage and misdiagnosis that continue to challenge many with diabetes. Mila Clarke, 33, is among the 12% of Black Americans who have been diagnosed with diabetes, the second-highest rate behind Native Americans. (Bellamy, 3/8)

KHN: Why Does Insulin Cost So Much? Big Pharma Isn’t The Only Player Driving Prices 
Eli Lilly & Co.’s announcement that it is slashing prices for its major insulin products could make life easier for some diabetes patients while easing pressure on Big Pharma. It also casts light on the profiteering methods of the drug industry’s price mediators — the pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs — at a time when Congress has shifted its focus to them. (Allen, 3/9)

CNN: Michigan Senate Approves Bill Repealing 1931 Abortion Ban
The Michigan state Senate on Wednesday voted to repeal the state’s 1931 abortion ban as well as its sentencing guidelines. The bills were passed 20-18, along party lines in the Democratic-controlled Senate after passing the House last week and were sent to Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for her signature. Democrats control the governor’s office and the state legislature for the first time in four decades. (Shelton, 3/8)

The Detroit News: Michigan Senate Votes To Repeal Abortion Ban Dating Back To The 1840s
The Senate voted 20-18 for six bills on Wednesday that aim to repeal the state's past abortion ban. The House approved two of the bills last week, meaning they will soon be sent to Whitmer's desk. The other four started in the Senate and still have to be voted on in the House. (Mauger, 3/8)

More abortion news from Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and Utah —

AP: Democrats Seek Repeal Or Exemptions In State Abortion Ban
Alabama’s abortion ban that took effect this summer allows no exemptions for pregnancies resulting from rape and incest. Democrats in the Alabama Legislature are seeking to change that but face impossible odds without some Republican support. Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile, filed legislation Tuesday to allow exemptions for rape and incest. Similar legislation is planned in the Alabama House of Representatives to repeal the ban or add exemptions. But Republicans hold lopsided majorities in both chambers, meaning the bills are doomed without garnering some GOP support. (Chandler, 3/9)

AP: Mississippi Advances Initiative Process But Not For Abortion
Mississippi might revive an initiative process, but people would be banned from putting abortion laws or budget proposals on the statewide ballot under a measure moving forward at the state Capitol. The House voted 75-9 Wednesday to adopt an initiative proposal, making changes to a resolution the Senate adopted last month. Negotiators are likely to work on a final version later this month. (Pettus, 3/9)

WUSF Public Media: Abortion Rights Advocates Blast A Proposed 6-Week Ban In Florida
Abortion rights advocates are criticizing a proposal to ban the procedure after six weeks in Florida, saying it could force many people to remain pregnant against their will. Republican state lawmakers filed bills on Tuesday to further limit access to abortions from the 15-week ban currently in place, which doctors like Robyn Schickler, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida, say is already too restrictive. (Colombini, 3/8)

Salt Lake Tribune: Planned Parenthood’s Plan For West Wendover Abortion Clinic In Limbo
When a bill to ban abortion clinics in the Beehive State receives Gov. Spencer Cox’s signature and goes into full effect at the beginning of 2024, the closest clinics to Salt Lake City would likely be six hours away in either Las Vegas or Glenwood Springs, Colorado. But a California-based Planned Parenthood has been working since around the time of the U.S. Supreme Court’s leaked Dobbs decision last spring to bring abortion and health care access closer to the Wasatch Front. (Anderson Stern, 3/8)

Also —

FiveThirtyEight: What Happens If North Carolina Bans Abortion? Or Ohio? Or Florida? 
New bans will have outsized impacts on who can get an abortion, how far they have to drive for it and how long they have to wait for an appointment. A new analysis by Caitlin Myers, an economics professor at Middlebury College who studies abortion, illustrates how abortion access could continue to dwindle this year if key states like Florida and North Carolina pass additional restrictions. (Bycoffe, Koerth, Mejia and Thomson-DeVeaux, 3/8)

The Guardian: ‘Sanctuary Cities For The Unborn’: How A US Pastor Is Pushing For A National Abortion Ban 
The New Mexico state legislature is on the cusp of passing a law that would strike down these ordinances. But pastor Mark Lee Dickson of East Texas Right to Life says anti-abortion advocates would challenge the law in court, arguing that the federal anti-obscenity law at the heart of the ordinances should be enforced across the US. He hopes that the fight over local ordinances turns into a court battle that culminates in a national ban on abortion. (Nowell, 3/9)

Bay Area News Group: California Cancels $54 Million Walgreens Contract Over Abortion Pill Fight
Making good on a threat, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that California will cancel a $54 million contract with Walgreens as punishment for the pharmacy’s decision not to distribute abortion pills in states where attorneys general have warned it would be illegal. (Woolfolk, 3/8)

Politico: California To Halt $54M Walgreens Contract Over Company's Policy On Abortion Drug Sales
Walgreens will no longer provide medications to inmates in California’s sprawling correctional system as a result of the decision. A planned renewal of the contract was scheduled to take effect May 1. Newsom says this is just the first step in an “exhaustive review” of all of the state’s ties with Walgreens, some of which he may need to work with the state Legislature to terminate. (Ollstein and White, 3/8)

AP: California To End Walgreens Contract After Abortion Dispute 
“California will not stand by as corporations cave to extremists and cut off critical access to reproductive care and freedom,” Newsom said in a news release. “California is on track to be the fourth largest economy in the world and we will leverage our market power to defend the right to choose.” Walgreens representative Fraser Engerman said the company was “deeply disappointed by the decision by the state of California not to renew our longstanding contract due to false and misleading information.” “Walgreens is facing the same circumstances as all retail pharmacies, and no other pharmacies have said that they would approach this situation differently, so it’s unclear where this contract would not be moved,” Engerman said. “Our position has always been that, once we are certified by the FDA, Walgreens plans to dispense Mifepristone in any jurisdiction where it is legally permissible to do so, including the state of California.” (Beam, 3/9)

Also —

The Washington Post: Walgreens Drew A Line On Abortion Pill Access And Is Paying A Price
Walgreens’s effort at damage control this week appeared to leave no one satisfied as it continued to attract criticism from both sides of the abortion divide, a stark lesson in the dangers ahead for the multibillion-dollar chain drugstore industry, which has been dragged headlong into the volatile issue. Drugstores have faced criticism from various quarters for selling cigarettes and unhealthy snacks and for shifting policies over sales of birth control. But the conflagration over dispensing abortion pills eclipses those controversies in scale and poses a threat to drug chains’ relationships with consumers, experts say. (Rowland, 3/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Walgreens Abortion Pill Furor Highlights Complexity Of Access In Post-Roe World 
Pharmacies and medication abortion are emerging as contentious political battlegrounds in the increasingly complex issue of abortion access in the U.S. ... Kirsten Moore, director of the Expanding Medication Abortion Access Project, said she believes it will take time for pharmacies to get certified and for the FDA’s new policy to sort out. Antiabortion lawmakers and groups, she said, are throwing everything at the wall to see what can slow or prevent pharmacies from dispensing medication abortion. (Calfas, 3/8)

Alaska lawmakers are putting pressure on Walgreens —

KTOO: Alaska Legislators Say State Attorney General Overstepped With Walgreens Letter Over Abortion Pill
Alaska legislators urged Walgreens leadership to reconsider its decision not to sell the abortion drug mifepristone in the state after what they called “inappropriate pressure” from the state’s attorney general, Treg Taylor. Nearly two dozen members of the Alaska House and Senate signed on to the letter and enclosed a copy of the state’s constitution, encouraging Walgreens CEO Rosalind Taylor to review it. (Stremple, 3/7)

Science: Science Takes Back Seat To Politics In First House Hearing On Origin Of COVID-19 Pandemic
Members of the House of Representatives’ Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic mostly hammered home long-standing Republican or Democratic talking points, shedding no new light on the central question: Did SARS-CoV-2 naturally jump from animals to humans or did the virus somehow leak from a laboratory in Wuhan, China?“It was very disappointing, and almost unbelievably divorced from the science,” says University of Arizona evolutionary biologist Michael Worobey, whose published research in Science supporting a natural “zoonotic” origin of the virus has been attacked by proponents of the lab-leak scenario. (Cohen, 3/8)

Nature: US COVID Origins Hearing Renews Debate Over Lab-Leak Hypothesis
One of the focal points for Republican committee members was the idea that Anthony Fauci, former director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, had steered the scientific community to dismiss a lab leak early in the pandemic. Ahead of the hearing, they released a memorandum suggesting that Fauci “prompted” a group of virologists in March 2020 to publish a correspondence in Nature Medicine1 concluding that a lab-leak scenario was not plausible. Fauci was not at the hearing to offer his perspective, but in a statement he responded to the memorandum, denying the accusations. He said his only goal was to encourage the virologists to evaluate the origins of SARS-CoV-2. “I have stated repeatedly that we must keep an open mind as to the origins of the virus.” (Lenharo and Wolf, 3/9)

Stat: Revamped Covid Panel Argues For Research Limits, Even Bans
Pathogen-altering research is back under fire here, as Republican lawmakers argue it should be banned until policymakers and scientists work out whether these types of studies have helped advance infectious disease research — or played a role in the global Covid-19 pandemic. (Owermohle, 3/8)

Bloomberg: Covid Origins Hearing Draws Call For Rules On Risky Research
The Trump administration’s top infectious disease official urged lawmakers during a hearing on the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic to ban research that enhances a pathogen’s ability to spread or cause disease. Robert Redfield, who served as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the outset of the health crises, has long maintained that Covid was likely caused by a lab accident in Wuhan, China. (Griffin and Ruoff, 3/8)

Politico: Trump’s CDC Director Says Fauci Shut Down Debate On Covid’s Origin 
Trump administration CDC Director Robert Redfield told a congressional committee Wednesday that his former colleague, Anthony Fauci, and former National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins froze him out of discussions on Covid-19’s origins. The accusation came during a politically charged hearing Wednesday of the House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic and stoked Republican claims that Fauci in early 2020 promoted the view that an infected animal spread the virus to humans to divert attention from research the U.S. sponsored at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology. (Paun, 3/8)

The Hill: House Democrats Denounce GOP COVID Witness As Having Racist Views 
A British author and former science editor of The New York Times was the subject of Democratic ire Wednesday when he testified during a congressional hearing on the origins of COVID-19. Nicholas Wade, who said he believes the virus originated in a research lab in Wuhan, China, came under fire by Democrats on the House coronavirus subcommittee for a controversial book he authored in 2014 that has been endorsed by white supremacists. (Weixel, 3/8)

The Washington Post: Covid Backlash Hobbles Public Health And Future Pandemic Response
When the next pandemic sweeps the United States, health officials in Ohio won’t be able to shutter businesses or schools, even if they become epicenters of outbreaks. Nor will they be empowered to force Ohioans who have been exposed to go into quarantine. State officials in North Dakota are barred from directing people to wear masks to slow the spread. Not even the president can force federal agencies to issue vaccination or testing mandates to thwart its march. Conservative and libertarian forces have defanged much of the nation’s public health system through legislation and litigation as the world staggers into the fourth year of covid. (Weber and Achenbach, 3/8)

The Jewish News of Northern California: In Our Annual Covid Checkup With Dr. Bob Wachter, It’s Time To Start Playing The Long Game
During the pandemic, UCSF Department of Medicine chair Dr. Bob Wachter emerged as one of the leading voices, both locally and nationally, that people could turn to for clear, concise information on the risks of Covid. On social media and in interviews, Wachter explained the data while humanizing the science by providing a look at his own personal decisions, from mask-wearing to whether to get on an airplane. On the three-year anniversary of California’s state of emergency declaration due to the spread of Covid-19, Wachter spoke to J. about where we are now. (Mirsky, 3/7)

San Francisco Chronicle: Lockdowns Reduced Virus Spread By 56% But At Steep Economic Cost, Study Finds
The lockdown orders issued at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic helped reduce the spread of the disease by an estimated 56%, according to a new study from researchers at USC, UC Riverside and other schools. But the lockdowns also took a heavy toll on the economy. (Vaziri, 3/8)

More on the spread of covid —

The Boston Globe: A New Study Found 59 Percent Of Long-COVID Patients Had Organ Damage, But Experts Say It’s Not That Simple 
Nearly 60 percent of individuals with long COVID showed signs of organ damage a year after their initial illness, according to a recent study by researchers in the United Kingdom, the latest evidence of the virus’s long-term effects. (Kool, 3/8)

Los Angeles Times: Newsom Tests Positive For COVID, His Second Infection
California Gov. Gavin Newsom tested positive Wednesday for COVID-19 after exhibiting mild symptoms, according to his spokesman Alex Stack. Newsom will work remotely and self-isolate for at least five days, Stack wrote in a text message to reporters. He added that Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, has tested negative. (Rosenhall, 3/8)

San Francisco Chronicle: COVID In California: Protesters Force Sonoma Vaccine Clinic To Close
A small group of anti-vaccine protesters forced the closure of a COVID-19 vaccine clinic last Thursday at Sassarini Elementary School in the town of Sonoma, police said Tuesday. Three people “became unruly” at the site, Police Sgt. Scott McKinnon said, according to The Sonoma Index-Tribune. (Vaziri, 3/8)

On the 'tripledemic' —

Stat: FDA Issues Rare Comment On Approval Of Covid And Flu Home Test
Last week, the Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency authorization for the first at-home Covid-19 and flu combination test. The news came just days after the test’s maker, Lucira, filed for bankruptcy, blaming the FDA’s “protracted” approval process for its financial problems. (Trang, 3/8)

CIDRAP: Global Flu Activity Declines, With Flu B Proportions Increasing 
After peaking in late 2022, global flu activity continues to decline, though subtype proportions are shifting, the World Health Organization (WHO) said this week in its latest update, which covers roughly the middle 2 weeks of February. Though the H3N2 strain was dominant earlier in the season, a slightly larger proportion of viruses in the latest reporting period were the 2009 H1N1 virus. Influenza B now makes up 41% of samples, and all characterized influenza B viruses belonged to the Victoria lineage. Influenza B levels typically rise in the latter part of the Northern Hemisphere flu season. (Schnirring, 3/8)

Reuters: GSK Expects US Launch Of RSV Vaccine With No Supply Issues 
GSK expects to launch its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine in the U.S. this year without supply constraints and sees China as a major future market for the shot, a senior executive told Reuters. The drugmaker is racing rival Pfizer Inc to introduce the first approved RSV vaccine in the United States, where 14,000 people die annually of the lower respiratory tract disease caused by the virus. (Fick, 3/9)

Also —

CNN: Viruses In Permafrost: Scientists Have Revived A 'Zombie' Virus That Spent 48,500 Years Frozen
Warmer temperatures in the Arctic are thawing the region’s permafrost — a frozen layer of soil beneath the ground — and potentially stirring viruses that, after lying dormant for tens of thousands of years, could endanger animal and human health. While a pandemic unleashed by a disease from the distant past sounds like the plot of a sci-fi movie, scientists warn that the risks, though low, are underappreciated. (Hunt, 3/8)

NBC News: Opioids Were Most Common Cause Of Child Poisoning, Study Found
Opioids were the most common substance contributing to the poisoning deaths of children ages 5 and younger, according to a new study. The research, published Wednesday in the journal Pediatrics, found that opioids accounted for more than 47% of the poisoning deaths among children in that age group between 2005 and 2018 — 346 of 731 total deaths reported to the National Center for Fatality Review and Prevention. (McShane, 3/8)

The New York Times: Opioids Are Leading Cause Of Child Poisoning Deaths, Study Finds 
About 42 percent of the 731 fatalities were among infants one year old and younger and most of the incidents occurred in the child’s home, the study found. Many of the fatal poisonings happened while the child was supervised and nearly 100 of the children had open child protective services cases at the time of their deaths, the authors said. Over-the-counter pain, cold and allergy medications were the second most common substance contributing to the pediatric poisoning deaths. These accounted for about 15 percent and most often affected children two years old and younger, according to the study. (Chung, 3/8)

CNN: Young Children Are Increasingly Victims Of Opioid Epidemic, Study Finds 
“It truly is striking to see, looking at this data, how different the proportions were between 2005 and 2018,” said study co-author Dr. Christopher Gaw, an associate fellow at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia whose research primarily focuses on pediatric injury and poisoning. The number of deadly poisonings in this age group had been decreasing since the passage of the Poison Prevention Packaging Act in 1970, when harder-to-open childproof packaging became a standard for many medicines, other studies have shown. Gaw thinks that people’s preferences for particular drugs have shifted and that that has had an impact on fatality numbers. (Christensen, 3/8)

More on the opioid epidemic —

KATU: Recently Released Inmates More At Risk For Opioid Overdoes, Study Says 
A new study by Oregon State University, Oregon Health & Science University and Portland State University found people who are recently released from prison have 10 times the risk of an opioid overdose than the general public. Researchers say this underscores the need to help former inmates transition back to the real world safely, especially in the first two weeks. (3/8)

Politico: Biden’s Next Battle In His Opioids Fight: His Own Bureaucracy
Physicians scrambling to stop people from dying in America’s unyielding opioid crisis say Biden administration officials are working at cross purposes in their fight to reverse record numbers of fatal drug overdoses. Even as the administration is implementing a new law that makes it easier for doctors to prescribe a lifesaving drug to treat opioid use disorder, one of its agencies, the Drug Enforcement Administration, subjects the drug to such strict regulation that many are reluctant to dispense it. As a result, physicians and treatment advocates say, the DEA policy is inadvertently making it more difficult to reduce opioids’ toll: more than 80,000 lives in 2021. (Mahr and Leonard, 3/8)

Rocky Mountain PBS: As Opioid Crisis Reaches New Peaks, Future Of Overdose Prevention Sites In Colorado Remains Unclear
More than four years ago, Denver’s city council approved an ordinance that would allow for the creation of overdose prevention centers. Sometimes referred to as safe injection sites or safe consumption sites, these centers offer a safe place for people to use illicit drugs under the supervision of trained staff that can reverse overdoses and connect people with recovery resources, if necessary. As the U.S. grapples with the worst overdose crisis in its history — nearly 1,900 people died from an overdose in Colorado in 2021, a record high — Denver still does not have an overdose prevention center. (Cooke and Sandoval, 3/7)

The New York Times: Executive Sentenced For Scheming To Flood Northeast With Opioids 
In his quarter century as chief executive of Rochester Drug Cooperative Inc., Laurence F. Doud III made the distributor the country’s seventh-largest wholesaler, sending stock dividends to record highs as revenue topped $1 billion. He also directed a criminal conspiracy to deceive the Drug Enforcement Administration and pump opioids into pharmacies throughout the Northeast, federal prosecutors said, despite knowing that retailers were diverting the drugs and supplying them to addicts. (Moynihan, 3/8)

On treatments for addiction and overdoses —

Stat: Health Secretary Signals Support For New Rule On Buprenorphine
A federal proposal to impose new restrictions on a key addiction-treatment medication has caused an uproar in certain segments of the medical community. But health secretary Xavier Becerra seems to be on board. (Facher, 3/8)

Reuters: U.S. FDA Approves Amphastar Pharma's Nasal Spray For Opioid Overdose
Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc said on Wednesday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved its nasal spray for emergency treatment of known or suspected opioid overdose. (3/8)

CNN: Mediterranean And MIND Diets Reduced Signs Of Alzheimer's In Brain Tissue, Study Finds
People who consumed foods from the plant-based Mediterranean and brain-focused MIND diets had fewer of the hallmark signs of Alzheimer’s — sticky beta-amyloid plaques and tau tangles in the brain — when autopsied, a new study found. The MIND diet is short for Mediterranean-DASH Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay. In fact, people who most closely followed either of the diets had “almost 40% lower odds” of having enough plaques and tangles in brain tissue to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, according to the study. (LaMotte, 3/8)

In other food and nutrition news —

CNN: 'Massive Efforts' Are Needed To Reduce Salt Intake And Protect Lives, World Health Organization Says
The world is off-pace for achieving the goal of reducing sodium intake 30% by 2025, according to a first-of-its-kind report from the World Health Organization. Although all 194 WHO member countries committed to the target set in 2013, only 5% have implemented comprehensive sodium-reduction policies, according to Thursday’s report. (Chavez, 3/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Former Blue Bell CEO Pleads Guilty To Misdemeanor Over Listeria Outbreak
U.S. prosecutors are dropping felony fraud charges they brought against a former chief executive of ice cream maker Blue Bell Creameries LP in the wake of a 2015 listeria outbreak that led to three deaths.  As part of a settlement reached Wednesday, Paul Kruse, Blue Bell’s CEO from 2004 until 2017, will plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge over food safety violations. He will pay a $100,000 fine and avoid jail time, according to a plea agreement filed in federal court in Austin, Texas. (Tokar, 3/8)

Stat: ‘Emotional Hunger’ Vs. ‘Hungry Gut’: The Attempt To Subtype Obesity
“Anne” is sitting in a small, wood-paneled consultation room, at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., about to embark on yet another weight loss journey. Except this one might be different from all the others — the tours of Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, and dietitian-led programs. Her doctor, Andres Acosta, is probing her struggle at a depth that’s new to Anne. Acosta begins today’s appointment by telling Anne — a pseudonym we’ve used to protect her patient confidentiality — that he wants to understand the “root cause” of her obesity. (Belluz, 3/9)

More health and wellness news —

NPR: Where There's Gender Equality, People Tend To Live Longer
Both women and men are likely to live longer when a country makes strides towards gender equality, according to a new global study that authors believe to be the first of its kind. The study was published in the journal PLOS Global Public Health this week, just ahead of International Women's Day. It adds to a growing body of research showing that advances in women's rights benefit everyone. (Treisman, 3/8)

The Washington Post: Bindi Irwin: Doctors Dismissed Endometriosis As Pain Women ‘Deal With’
Bindi Irwin, conservationist and daughter of the late Steve Irwin, the renowned “Crocodile Hunter,” took to Twitter on International Women’s Day to share her 10-year struggle with endometriosis, a chronic disease that can cause debilitating pain and infertility. ... “For 10 years I’ve struggled with insurmountable fatigue, pain and nausea,” Irwin, 24, wrote. “A doctor told me it was simply something you deal with as a woman and I gave up entirely, trying to function through the pain.” (Hassan, 3/8)

KHN and NPR: Jimmy Carter Took On The Awful Guinea Worm When No One Else Would — And Triumphed
Jimmy Carter took great pride in pointing out that the United States didn’t start any new wars during his term as president. But after he left office, he launched a war against “neglected” diseases — diseases in far-off lands that most Americans will never suffer from and may not have even heard of. Diseases like lymphatic filariasis, trachoma, river blindness, schistosomiasis … and a disease caused by a nasty little bug called a Guinea worm. Guinea worms are spread through contaminated drinking water and eating undercooked fish. The female worms, which can be up to 3 feet long once mature, cause incredibly painful, open blisters usually on the infected person’s lower legs and feet — through which the worms emerge. It can take a toll for weeks or months, and sometimes permanently, leaving some people unable to support a family. (Beaubien and Whitehead, 3/8)

Axios: Health Data Breach Hits Members Of Congress
Hundreds of members of Congress and their staffs this week were hit by a data breach of their health records in the District of Columbia's health insurance marketplace. Both the FBI and U.S. Capitol Police are investigating the breach of DC Health Link, the marketplace set up under the Affordable Care Act — an act that may have impacted hundreds of lawmakers and staff, NBC News reports. (Reed and Solender, 3/8)

AP: Congress Members Warned Of Significant Health Data Breach
A broker on an online crime forum claimed to have records on 170,000 DC Health Link customers and was offering them for sale for an unspecified amount. The broker claimed they were stolen Monday. Reached by The Associated Press on an encrypted chat site, the broker did no say whether the data had been purchased and said they could not provide additional data to back the claim. They said they were acting on behalf of the seller, who they identified as “thekilob.” (3/9)

In related news —

Modern Healthcare: Tracking Healthcare Data Breaches
2022 has 717 reported breaches so far, just surpassing 2021's total of 715. (Broderick, 3/8)

In other news from Capitol Hill —

The Washington Post: Sen. Mitch McConnell Hospitalized After Fall At Hotel
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has been hospitalized following a fall at a hotel in Washington, his spokesperson said late Wednesday. The 81-year-old senator was attending a private dinner at a local hotel when he tripped, spokesman David Popp said in a statement. “He has been admitted to the hospital where he is receiving treatment,” he added, without providing any further details on his condition. (Pannett, 3/9)

CIDRAP: Groups Call On Congress To Support PASTEUR Act 
More than 230 organizations representing healthcare providers, public health professionals, scientists, and the pharmaceutical and diagnostics industries have sent a letter to Congress urging support for the PASTEUR (Pioneering Antimicrobial Subscriptions to End Upsurging Resistance) Act. The legislation, which was originally introduced in 2020 and then reintroduced in 2021, would create a subscription-style payment model that would allow the federal government to pay up-front for access to newly approved antibiotics that target drug-resistant infections and meet critical, unmet health needs. (Dall, 3/8)

USA Today: Mental Health Number 988 Expands Text, Chat For LGBTQ Patients To 24/7
A government-backed 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline's LGBTQ pilot program is now offering text and online chat services 24/7. The 988 lifeline, (formerly known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline), is a suicide prevention network of more than 200 crisis centers across the U.S. that provides round the clock service available to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress. (Neysa Alund, 3/8)

In other health care industry developments —

The Boston Globe: BMC’s Head Of Spine Surgery Identified As Recipient Of Alleged Kickbacks
Six weeks ago, Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay $9.75 million to the federal and state governments to settle allegations that it illegally gave a Massachusetts surgeon free medical devices for operations he performed on patients overseas to encourage him to use more of its products at his own hospital. (Saltzman, 3/8)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Medical Malpractice Lawsuits Rise In Philadelphia After Pennsylvania Supreme Court Rule Change
Late last year, the family of a 9-year-old boy who fractured his jaw at a Nemours Children’s Hospital clinic in Montgomery County was ready to sue for negligent care. Their lawyer waited a few weeks, hoping to maximize their chances of a successful verdict when a change in state rules allowed them to try their case in a Philadelphia courtroom, instead of the county where the injury occurred. (Laughlin and Gutman, 3/8)

AP: Atlanta Hospital Closure Inquiry Sought By Georgia Democrats 
Democratic Georgia lawmakers, local officials and the NAACP are asking federal officials to investigate a health care system that closed hospitals in downtown Atlanta and a southern suburb, claiming Wellstar Health System has illegally discriminated against Black people and violated its tax-exempt status. State Sen. Nan Orrock, an Atlanta Democrat, said Wednesday that she and others filed complaints Tuesday with the IRS and the Office of Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (Amy, 3/8)

Also —

Side Effects Public Media: Family Members Of ICU Patients Could Benefit From More Intentional Chaplain Support
Family members in charge of making decisions when a loved one is in the intensive care unit — known as surrogate decision-makers — often face mental health issues like depression, anxiety or even post traumatic stress. A new study led by the Regenstrief Institute in Indianapolis shows that chaplain support can improve their mental health. (Benson, 3/7)

Modern Healthcare: Healthcare Unions Lead Contract Enforcement To Ensure Compliance
At Mission Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, nurses won their first contract in July 2021, with language guaranteeing sufficient staffing in each unit based on the number of patients, additional pay for nurses working overtime and extra shifts, and adequate personal protective equipment meeting federal, state and local guidelines. The contract also states nurses can’t be floated to units where they haven't been trained. (Devereaux, 3/8)

The Boston Globe: Cambridge Biotech Testing Experimental ALS Drugs Based On Harvard Research
A Cambridge biotech startup based on work from a trio of Harvard researchers believes it has found a new approach to treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, a debilitating neurodegenerative disease that robs people of their ability to move and is often fatal within a few years. QurAlis said Thursday that it has raised $88 million from more than a dozen private investors, including EQT Life Sciences, which has taken a special interest in neurodegenerative disorders and dementias, as well as from the venture capital arms of pharmaceutical giants Amgen and Sanofi. (Cross, 3/9)

In other pharmaceutical news —

ABC News: Nationwide Shortage Of Asthma Medication Albuterol Could Worsen
A nationwide shortage of the asthma medication albuterol has been ongoing since last fall and experts fear it's only expected to get worse. Albuterol can be taken in several forms but it's the aerosolized solution used in a nebulizer in hospital and in homes that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration put on its drug shortage list in late October. This shortage poses the greatest challenge for hospital settings where it is used most commonly but can be a problem for those that use this form of the drug at home. (Kekatos, Cobern and Bakshi, 3/9)

CNBC: Alzheimer's: Eli Lilly Treatment Solanezumab Failed To Slow Disease
Eli Lilly on Wednesday said it will halt development of its Alzheimer’s treatment candidate solanezumab after the antibody failed to slow disease progression. Solanezumab’s failure is a blow to efforts to treat Alzheimer’s in people who are in the very early stage of the disease and have not yet shown clinical symptoms. (Kimball, 3/8)

AP: What To Know About Prescription Drugs Promising Weight Loss
WeightWatchers will be introducing its roughly 3.5 million subscribers to a new generation of medications that go beyond behavioral changes like gym workouts and diet tracking. Obesity experts say the drugs may revolutionize treatment of the disease that affects 42% of American adults. Here’s a look at the promise of these new medications and cautions about their use. (Aleccia, 3/8)

NPR: Gene Editing Benefits And Risks Debated At London Meeting
It's still far too premature to try to use powerful new technologies to edit genes that can be passed down from generation to generation, according to the organizers of the Third International Summit on Human Genome Editing that concluded Wednesday in London. (Stein, 3/8)

Also —

Stat: 'Truth Is Losing The Battle': FDA Commissioner On Misinformation
The Food and Drug Administration is considering whether it needs to revamp guidance on how FDA-regulated manufacturers should deal with online misinformation about their products as the agency continues to contend with a deadly tide of falsehoods spreading on social media, Commissioner Robert Califf told STAT. (Brody, 3/9)

USA Today: Drugs Touted By Direct-To-Consumer Ads Don't Trump Others, Study Finds
They often start with someone in late-middle-age, gray-haired but active, taking a brisk hike, biking or looking out to sea. There's a passing reference to some dreaded disease the person would be suffering but for the great drug they're taking. Tucked in the advertisement is a long list of potential, often horrible, side effects, delivered so rapid-fire, they sound almost comical. (Weintraub, 3/9)

Stat: Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla Contributed To Dr. Oz Campaign
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla made the maximum possible campaign contribution to Mehmet Oz ahead of his failed bid last year to represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate, according to federal campaign finance records. Oz is well-known for spreading medical misinformation, including touting astrology as a legitimate medical tool and the myth that apple juice contains unsafe levels of arsenic — a surprising political ally for Bourla, who runs one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. (Cohrs, 3/9)

AP: Arkansas House Sends Governor Trans Care Malpractice Bill
The Arkansas House sent the GOP governor a bill Wednesday to make it easier to sue doctors who provide gender-affirming treatment to minors, moving to effectively reinstate the state’s blocked ban on such care. The office of Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she backs the malpractice bill, which overwhelmingly passed the majority-Republican House on a mostly party-line vote. (DeMillo, 3/9)

Minnesota Public Radio: Walz Moves To Protect Those Seeking Gender-Affirming Care
Gov. Tim Walz signed an executive order Wednesday ensuring people who seek and receive gender-affirming care in the state have protection under the law. The move comes after seven states — Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, South Dakota, Tennessee and Utah — banned gender-affirming care for transgender youth and several more have taken up bills that would do the same or ban the care for transgender people of any age. (Ferguson, 3/8)

In environmental health news from Indiana and Ohio —

Indianapolis Star: Test Results Ordered By Holcomb Show No Dioxins In Train Wreck Waste
The contaminated soil that has arrived in Indiana from the train wreck in Ohio does not contain any harmful levels of dioxins, a toxic chemical that can cause cancer, according to results from sampling ordered by the Governor. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb announced last week that he was directing his administration to conduct testing of the hazardous waste that had arrived at an Indiana landfill — three shipments of contaminated soil arrived last week. The state said it was working with a third-party laboratory, Pace Labs out of Minnesota. (Bowman, 3/8)

Indianapolis Star: Experts Say Hazardous Waste Landfills Are Safe, But Concerns Linger
Hundreds of tons of contaminated soil and millions of gallons of water have been collected from East Palestine, Ohio, after a train derailment last month released toxic chemicals into the surrounding air, water and ground. The waste from the site has to go somewhere, but the question becomes: Where to put it? (Bowman, 3/9)

In other health news from across the U.S. —

ProPublica: Illinois To Relocate Half Of Choate Mental Health Center Residents
The Illinois Department of Human Services plans to dramatically reduce the number of patients with developmental disabilities who live at the embattled state-run Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center. In an exclusive interview before an expected Wednesday announcement, IDHS Secretary Grace Hou outlined a “repurposing and restructuring” of Choate, located in rural Anna, about 120 miles southeast of St. Louis. That process will start with the relocation of 123 residents with developmental disabilities who entered the facility voluntarily — roughly half the current population. (Hundsdorfer and Parker, 3/8)

The Baltimore Sun: Spike In Sleep-Related Infant Deaths Alarms Baltimore City And County Officials 
A spike in sleep-related infant deaths in the Baltimore metro area is alarming medial providers and health officials and causing them to double down on safe sleep education efforts. Eleven babies have died in Baltimore since Dec. 1, according to preliminary data provided by Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Letitia Dzirasa on Wednesday. (Roberts, 3/8)

The Hill: Pandemic SNAP Benefits Just Ended. Here’s How Some States Are Making Up For It
As of Feb. 16, there have been at least 131 bills introduced in state legislatures across the country since the beginning of the year that are aimed specifically at strengthening SNAP programs, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.   But only a handful of state lawmakers have either passed or introduced legislation to make up for the recently cut aid by boosting overall SNAP benefits.  (O'Connell-Domenech, 3/8)

CIDRAP: Azithromycin During Labor Doesn't Reduce Sepsis, Mortality In Newborns
A randomized clinical trial in West Africa found that receipt of the antibiotic azithromycin during labor did not reduce the incidence of neonatal sepsis or mortality, researchers reported today in JAMA. The trial, which involved nearly 12,000 pregnant women in The Gambia and Burkina Faso, found that the incidence of neonatal mortality or sepsis was similar whether mothers received an oral dose of azithromycin or placebo, though the intervention did significantly reduce other, noninvasive infections in newborns and their mothers. (Dall, 3/8)

CIDRAP: Even Mildly Ill COVID-19 Patients Report Chest Pain At 6 Months, 1 Year 
An unpublished study involving nearly 150,000 COVID-19 survivors who had mild infections in Salt Lake City suggests that many still had chest pain 6 months and 1 year later. The research was presented yesterday at the American College of Cardiology's Scientific Conference in New Orleans. (Van Beusekom, 3/6)

ScienceDaily: First Nasal Monoclonal Antibody Treatment For COVID-19 Shows Promise For Treating Virus, Other Diseases
A pilot trial tested the nasal administration of the drug Foralumab, an anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody. Investigators found evidence that the drug dampened the inflammatory T cell response and decreased lung inflammation in patients with COVID-19. (Brigham and Women's Hospital, 3/8)

CIDRAP: Bacterial Co-Infections Linked To Higher Risk Of Death In US COVID Patients 
Although bacterial co-infections were identified infrequently in hospitalized US COVID-19 patients, they were associated with a more than two-fold higher risk of death, US researchers reported yesterday in Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses. (Dall, 3/3)

ScienceDaily: Potential New Therapeutic Target For Inflammatory Diseases Such As Lupus And Sepsis
Scientists have made an important breakthrough in understanding what goes wrong in our bodies during the progression of inflammatory diseases and -- in doing so -- unearthed a potential new therapeutic target. (Trinity College Dublin, 3/8)

CIDRAP: 8.5 Days Elapse Between Successive Mpox Cases, Study Estimates 
The average time for symptom onset between successive mpox cases (serial interval) is 8.5 days, and the average time between infection and symptom onset (incubation period) is 5.6 days, estimates a study published yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases. (Van Beusekom, 3/3)

USA Today: 'Spring Forward' Is Bad For Your Sleep And Your Health. There's A Better Alternative
Sleep medicine specialists at Northwestern Medicine say daylight saving time could be linked to cluster headaches, weight gain, an increased risk of heart attacks and a higher risk of stroke. (Dr. Shelby Harris, 3/9)

The Washington Post: Let’s Use Medicaid To Help People Pay For Healthy Food
Almost 400,000 Americans on Medicaid have diabetes and are insulin-dependent. Forty percent of them have trouble affording healthy food. This means that despite the $34 billion Medicaid spends on these enrollees each year, almost half are likely to have trouble managing their conditions effectively. (Rachel Nuzum, 3/9)

The New York Times: American Health Care Is Dying. This Hospital Could Cure It
Visiting a hospital or clinic today feels like facing a firing squad, with rounds and rounds of bills coming from every direction. Fewer than half of Americans rate the quality of U.S. health care as excellent or good. We all have our stories. (Ricardo Nuila, 3/9)

The Atlantic: We’re Missing A Key Driver Of Teen Anxiety 
For the past few weeks, I’ve been thinking a lot about the extraordinary rise of teen mental distress in the United States. I’ve studied the literature on social-media and smartphone use and considered the rise of loneliness among young people. But the Columbia news made me think I’ve overlooked a key factor that helps explain why adolescent distress is rising not only in the U.S. but also in many rich countries. It’s pressure-cooker schools. (Derek Thompson, 3/8)

Los Angeles Times: How The COVID 'Lab Leak Theory' Lost Me
Recent reports that Department of Energy and FBI officials think the COVID-19 pandemic originated with a so-called lab leak appear to have provided all the “evidence” many require. (Michael Worobey, 3/8)

The CT Mirror: Physician-Assisted Suicide Is Coming To CT. Here's How
Connecticut is poised to pass what is euphemistically called An Act Concerning Aid in Dying for Terminally Ill Patients giving doctors the permission to kill patients who want to be killed. This law failed to pass last year because of some clever parliamentary maneuvering by opponents. But polls show 63% approval for this legislation. This bill is just the beginning of a large social trend that decades from now will result in the killing of the disabled, those suffering from severe psychiatric disorders and the indigent elderly. (Dr. Joseph Bentivegna, 3/9)

Stat: Gene Therapy Warranties Can Make Health Care Payers Whole
A decade ago, I had pegged gene and cell therapies as the next frontier. As an investment banker, I was sure they would someday change how patients were treated. But a question from a biotech CEO started me thinking about not only how to pay for them, but how to offer guarantees for these therapies to payers who rightfully wanted reassurances that they were paying for something that works for their beneficiaries. (Emad Samad, 3/9)