Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Met Museum Expunges Sackler Name From Exhibition Spaces
The New York Times: Met Museum Removes Sackler Name From Wing Over Opioid Ties
In the wake of growing outrage over the role the Sacklers may have played in the opioid crisis, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Sackler family jointly announced on Thursday that the Sackler name would be removed from seven exhibition spaces, including the wing that houses the Temple of Dendur. “Our families have always strongly supported the Met, and we believe this to be in the best interest of the museum and the important mission that it serves,” the descendants of Dr. Mortimer Sackler and Dr. Raymond Sackler said in a statement. “The earliest of these gifts were made almost 50 years ago, and now we are passing the torch to others who might wish to step forward to support the museum.” (Pogrebin, 12/9)
Gwinnett Daily Post: Senate Passes Jon Ossoff Bill Targeting Opioid Epidemic
The U.S. Senate has passed bipartisan legislation sponsored by Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., aimed at America’s opioid crisis. The Rural Opioid Abuse Prevention Act cleared the Senate Wednesday night and now moves to the U.S. House of Representatives. More than 75,000 Americans died of opioid overdoses between April 2020 and April of last year, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Williams, 12/9)
In other pharmaceutical industry news —
Bloomberg: J&J Overhauls Executive Team Before Spinning Off Consumer Unit
Johnson & Johnson expanded a leadership overhaul as the health-care giant prepares for its chief executive officer and top scientist to depart before spinning off its consumer business. Mathai Mammen, head of research and development for the Janssen pharmaceutical unit, and Bill Hait, global head of external innovation, will be elevated to executive vice president roles. They will share the duties of retiring Chief Scientific Officer Paul Stoffels though neither will take his title. “We’ve got a tremendous and deep bench of leaders to replace him,” said Alex Gorsky, J&J’s outgoing CEO, in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Balance of Power With David Westin.” (Griffin, 12/9)
Bloomberg: Bayer Scores Another Roundup Trial Victory in California
Bayer AG won a second consecutive trial in California over its top-selling Roundup weedkiller as a jury rejected a woman’s claim that it caused her cancer. The verdict Thursday in state court in San Bernardino follows a Los Angeles jury’s Oct. 5 decision rejecting a mother’s claim that her young son developed cancer from exposure to the herbicide in the family’s yard. (Feeley, 12/9)
In other biotech and research news —
Modern Healthcare: Google, WHO Partner On Software Developer Kit
Google this week unveiled a project in partnership with the World Health Organization designed to provide technology support to software developers in low- and middle-income countries looking to create digital health apps. The tech giant is working on an open-source software developer kit that could be used to create mobile apps that help frontline healthcare workers treat patients when internet connectivity is unstable and to share health data more easily, according to a blog post a Google Health product manager and Android software engineer published Wednesday. (Kim Cohen, 12/9)
Axios: 35-Year-Old Stool, Blood Samples Reap New HIV Discovery
A tranche of blood and stool samples that have been in storage since 1984 are now helping scientists learn more about HIV and AIDS. Applying modern science to these decades-old samples offers a glimpse back in time into the role gut microbes may have played in the early spread of HIV and AIDS. Men who contracted HIV back in the 1980s appear to have had a different microbiome than their counterparts who remained HIV-negative, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Microbiome. (Reed, 12/10)
Stat: In Marathoning Mice, Clues Found To How Exercise Benefits The Brain
If you give a mouse a wheel, it will run, and run, and run: between 4 to 6 miles every night, a marathon every few days. All that paw-pounding does good things for the creature’s brain — more blood flow, more neurons, better navigation and memory. And if you transfuse blood from that well-exercised mouse into a sedentary one, it will get the same brain-function boost as if the furry little layabout had put in all those miles itself. (Molteni, 12/8)
