Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
No. 2 NIH Official Suddenly Resigns As Institutes Face Staff, Funding Cuts
The New York Times: Top N.I.H. Official Abruptly Resigns As Trump Orders Deep Cuts
The No. 2 official at the National Institutes of Health abruptly resigned and retired from government service on Tuesday, in another sign that the Trump administration is reshaping the nation’s public health and biomedical research institutions. The official, Dr. Lawrence A. Tabak, a dentist and researcher, was long considered a steadying force and had weathered past presidential transitions. ... One person familiar with the decision said Dr. Tabak had been confronted with a reassignment that he viewed as unacceptable. (Gay Stolberg, 2/12)
Politico: Judge Allows Trump To Implement ‘Fork In The Road’ Deadline For Federal Workers
A federal judge is allowing the Trump administration to move forward with its plan to downsize the federal workforce by offering employees the option to resign now but stay on the payroll through September. U.S. District Judge George O’Toole, an appointee of Bill Clinton, did not address whether the deferred-resignation program is legal. Instead, the judge ruled Wednesday that several unions that sued over the program lack legal standing to pursue the issue in court. (Gerstein, 2/12)
Politico: Education Department Moves To Fire Civil Servants
The Education Department terminated a swath of its civil service workforce on Wednesday, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. The precise number of affected employees was not immediately clear. Firing notices were distributed to workers in the department’s offices for civil rights, federal student aid and communications, as well as its legal department, according to people who relayed details and documents that substantiated the terminations to POLITICO on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters. (Perez Jr. and Quilantan, 2/12)
The Hill: 75,000 Workers Took Trump, Musk Government Buyout
Roughly 75,000 federal workers across government have accepted a buyout offer, taking an unusual deal spearheaded by the Trump administration as it looks to reduce the federal workforce. A senior administration official confirmed the figure in the hours after a court rejected a bid by unions to quash the program. (Beitsch, 2/12)
Bloomberg: Some Research Universities Face Credit Risk From NIH Funding Cut
Proposed cuts by the Trump administration to a type of federal funding from the National Institutes of Health would pose a credit challenge to universities that receive the funds, analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. said. The NIH has been ordered to slash funding for research at universities and hospitals, though on Monday a federal judge temporarily paused the change. A hearing date is scheduled for Feb. 21. (Rembert, 2/12)
Stat: Trump Cuts Fuel Research Brain Drain, Young Scientists Look Abroad
A torrent of disruptive Trump administration policies is alarming scientists who fear the current political climate is weakening researchers’ resolve to stick with careers in academic science. Already, the anxiety is so deep that many scientists say it could undermine the country’s enduring position as the world leader in biomedicine. (Chen and Wosen, 2/12)
Stat: Resistance Is Organizing Against Trump Attacks On Science
For the first month of the Trump administration, it appeared that there was little organized resistance to its attacks on the existing system of biomedical research. But resistance is starting to form. Unions representing fellows at the NIH and several universities are planning a protest at the headquarters of the Department of Health and Human Services next week. Simultaneously, a grassroots group of scientists is planning a protest in Washington, D.C., and state capitals around the country in March. (Oza, 2/13)
MedPage Today: Archives Host Missing CDC Data
After learning the hard way that government data may not always be available or reliable, the research community is finding alternative ways to host important government health data and guidance online. The Alt CDC Bluesky account posted about one notable archive of CDC datasets hosted on the nonprofit Internet Archive. It houses hundreds of CSV files, metadata files, zip files, PDFs of infographics, and more -- uploaded before Jan. 28, 2025 -- available to download. Alt CDC also gave a shout out to the data archivists who made it possible. (Robertson, 2/12)
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Also —
Bloomberg: WHO Eyes Endowment Fund As Trump Threatens To Pull US From Agency
The World Health Organization wants to establish a $50 billion endowment fund in a bid to diversify the global health agency’s finances, which have been threatened by the looming exit of the US. The “early-stage” idea could generate $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion annually to add to contributions from member states and the WHO Foundation, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday in a call with journalists. (Wind, 2/12)
Stat: As Trump Hits Pause On Anti-Bribery Law, Will Pharma Engage In Bad Behavior?
Between 2011 and 2020, 10 of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies paid a combined $1.34 billion in fines to the U.S. government for bribing foreign officials in order to boost purchases of their medicines. The law that made it possible is the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which has been credited with making changes in long-standing industry business practices. (Silverman, 2/12)
