Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Trump Directs Use Of AI For Pioneering Pediatric Cancer Research
The Hill: Trump Signs Order To Deploy AI To Boost Childhood Cancer Research
President Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday aimed at using artificial intelligence to improve research and treatments for childhood cancer. The order builds on a 2019 database established by Trump that collects data on childhood cancer. That order directs agencies to use artificial intelligence to analyze information in that database to accelerate research and clinical trials. (Samuels, 9/30)
On federal funding and DEI —
CalMatters: Trump Administration Restores Research Grants To UCLA Following Federal Judge's Order
The Trump administration has restored almost all of the 500 National Institutes of Health grants it suspended at UCLA in July in response to a federal judge’s order last week. Attorneys in the U.S. Department of Justice submitted a court-mandated update on the status of the grant restorations Monday evening. They report that the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, has restored all but nine grants to UCLA health science researchers, though that figure may be even smaller. (Zinshteyn, 9/30)
Bloomberg: Trump Says US Close To Finalizing $500 Million Harvard Deal
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday his administration is close to finalizing a deal with Harvard University, in an agreement that would potentially defuse one of the highest-profile fights between his administration and US higher education. “They’ll be paying about $500 million and they’ll be operating trade schools. They’re going to be teaching people how to do AI, and lots of other things,” Trump said. (Lowenkron and Knox, 9/30)
On autism —
Stat: Leucovorin Researcher Lowers Expectations On Autism Treatment
Like with many niche treatments, the purported benefits of leucovorin began spreading in the autism community via word of mouth. For decades, some parents have sworn that folinic acid, a dietary supplement, improved their autistic children’s ability to speak and communicate, and some doctors would prescribe leucovorin, a drug with the same key ingredient. (Broderick, 10/1)
CBS News: Inside The High-Stakes Battle Over Vaccine Injury Compensation, Autism And Public Trust
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has floated a seismic idea: adding autism to the list of conditions covered by the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. ... Kennedy has also suggested broadening the definitions of two serious brain conditions — encephalopathy and encephalitis — so that autism cases could qualify. Either move, experts warn, would unleash a flood of claims, threatening the program's financial stability and handing vaccine opponents a powerful new talking point. (Gounder, 9/30)
More from the Trump administration —
KFF Health News: At Least 170 US Hospitals Face Major Flood Risk. Experts Say Trump Is Making It Worse.
LOUISVILLE, Tenn. — When a big storm hits, Peninsula Hospital could be underwater. At this decades-old psychiatric hospital on the edge of the Tennessee River, an intense storm could submerge the building in 11 feet of water, cutting off all roads around the facility, according to a sophisticated computer simulation of flood risk. Aurora, a young woman who was committed to Peninsula as a teenager, said the hospital sits so close to the river that it felt like a moat keeping her and dozens of other patients inside. KFF Health News agreed not to publish her full name because she shared private medical history. (Hacker, Kelman and Chang, 10/1)
The Wall Street Journal: White House Withdraws Nominee To Lead Bureau Of Labor Statistics
The White House withdrew the nomination of conservative economist E.J. Antoni to run the Bureau of Labor Statistics, according to people familiar with the decision. A White House official praised Antoni and said the president will soon nominate a new candidate to lead BLS. President Trump nominated Antoni, the former chief economist at the Heritage Foundation and a frequent critic of the BLS, in August. The nomination came shortly after Trump fired BLS chief Erika McEntarfer on Aug. 1, midway through her term, following a weak jobs report. Antoni had called for the removal of McEntarfer, echoing other Trump allies. (Kiernan, Leary and Schwartz, 9/30)
