Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Former Lilly Executive Is A Leading Candidate For HHS Secretary
The Washington Post: Trump Eyeing Former Drug Firm Executive Alex Azar For Health And Human Services Secretary
Alex Azar, a former pharmaceutical executive and a top health official during the George W. Bush administration, is now the leading candidate to head the Department of Health and Human Services, two Republicans briefed on the matter said Tuesday. Azar served a decade at Lilly USA, the biggest affiliate of Eli Lilly and Co., including five years as president. He directly led a biomedicines division that covered, among other areas, neuroscience, immunology and cardiology, and was also responsible for the company’s sales and marketing operations. (Eilperin and Goldstein, 10/17)
Politico: Trump Leaning Toward Former Pharma Exec For Health Secretary
One official said Trump had signed off on Azar, but another cautioned that the pick wouldn’t be final until the White House makes a formal announcement. A third Trump administration official confirmed that Azar has been shortlisted for the job. Other contenders long seen as top candidates for the job — including Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma, and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb — are no longer under consideration, according to multiple sources. (Restuccia, Johnson, Karlin-Smith and Dawsey, 10/17)
And a look at an interesting aspect of NIH duties --
Stat: NIH Library Is A ‘Safe Harbor For Information,’ Director Vows
The National Library of Medicine, built during the height of the Cold War, was designed to protect books, documents, and public information from just about anything — even the fallout of a nuclear disaster. Today the current director thinks the library can be a beacon of transparency and openness in an era full of concerns about threats to public information. NLM Director Patricia Brennan, who heads the $1 billion agency, vows the world’s largest biomedical library will continue to take steps to make data “open and accessible” at a time when the Trump administration has clamped down on making some information available to the public. (Blau, 10/17)
