Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Department Offers $10 Million To Help Catch UnitedHealth Hackers
Reuters: US Offers $10 Million Bounty For Info On 'Blackcat' Hackers Who Hit UnitedHealth
The U.S. State Department on Wednesday offered up to $10 million for information on the "Blackcat" ransomware gang who hit the UnitedHealth Group's tech unit and snarled insurance payments across America. "The ALPHV Blackcat ransomware-as-a-service group compromised computer networks of critical infrastructure sectors in the United States and worldwide," the department said in a statement announcing the reward offer. (3/27)
The Hill: Sanders Calls For Novo Nordisk To Slash Ozempic, Wegovy Prices
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called on pharmaceutical manufacturer Novo Nordisk to slash prices for two of its drugs Wednesday, citing a new study on the costs to manufacture the medications. The research found that a weekly injection of semaglutide — which is the generic name for Ozempic — can be manufactured at a cost between $0.89 and $4.73 per month. (Sforza, 3/27)
Politico: Romney Leads Letter Questioning Marijuana Rescheduling
Loosening federal marijuana restrictions may put the U.S. out of compliance with international drug law, three Republican Senators argued in a letter to the Drug Enforcement Administration on Wednesday. "As members of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, we write to underscore the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) duty under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) to ensure compliance with the United States’ treaty obligations under the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (Single Convention)," reads the letter. (Fertig, 3/27)
In other administration news —
Reuters: U.S. FDA Approves Akebia's Anemia Drug
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Akebia Therapeutics' (AKBA.O drug, vadadustat, to treat anemia caused by chronic kidney disease (CKD) in dialysis patients, the drugmaker said on Wednesday. The drug will be available under the brand name Vafseo, it added. The FDA had earlier declined to approve vadadustat - a Hypoxia-inducible factor–prolyl hydroxylase (HIF-PH) inhibitor - on safety concerns, as it posed an increased risk of blood clot formations and drug-induced injuries to the liver. (3/28)
CNN: FDA Settles Lawsuit Over Ivermectin Content That Doctors Claimed Harmed Their Practice
The US Food and Drug Administration has settled a lawsuit over some of its posts about ivermectin, including what may have been one of its more popular pandemic-era social media campaigns. (Christensen, 3/27)
St. Louis Public Radio: Black St. Louisans Question FDA’s New Sickle Cell Treatment
On Feb. 19, Tanjila Bolden was at home getting ready for bed when she began to feel something unusual in her chest. “It wasn't painful, but it was weird, like fluttery on my left side of my chest, it was going down my left arm into my elbow … and up into my jaw,” she said. “I had never felt it before.” (Henderson, 3/28)
Stat: Decaf Coffee Targeted By Food Safety Group Under Obscure FDA Rule
There’s a fight brewing over the future of decaf coffee. Consumer health advocates are petitioning the Food and Drug Administration to ban a key chemical, methylene chloride, used to decaffeinate coffee beans. While the chemical is almost entirely removed during the decaffeination process, advocates say that a little-known nearly 66-year-old federal law mandates the agency ban the additive because it has been proven to cause cancer in rodents. (Florko, 3/28)
Also —
Reuters: Common Livestock Feed Additive Poses Risks To Human Health, Lawsuit Says
Major food safety, environmental and animal rights groups have sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration seeking to force it to reconsider approvals for a widely-used livestock growth drug they say is putting human health at risk and causing stress in farm animals prior to slaughter. The Center for Food Safety, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Animal Legal Defense Fund and others, filed the lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., saying the FDA largely ignored two requests to review its approval for ractopamine. (Mindock, 3/27)
