Trump Ready To Levy 100% Tariffs On Some Imported Name-Brand Drugs

Stat: Trump Administration Prepares 100% Tariffs On Some Imported Drugs
The Trump administration has prepared an order that would impose a 100% tariff on imports of patented medications and their active ingredients, according to a draft obtained by STAT. (Payne, 4/1)

Updates from the FDA —

MedPage Today: Speeding Up Approvals, Getting More Drugs OTC Among FDA's Top Priorities
The FDA is continuing its quest to speed up drug approvals and make more drugs available over the counter (OTC), FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, MD, MPH, said Wednesday. "We want to challenge the assumption that it takes 10 to 12 years for a drug to come to market," Makary said during a press conference with reporters. "We believe it can be done faster without cutting any corners on safety. We'd like to modernize the agency with technology, while maintaining our gold-standard thresholds for approving drugs, devices, food, cosmetics, and tobacco." (Frieden, 4/1)

Stat: FDA Commissioner Makary Praises Staff In Speech 
Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary recounted his agency’s achievements and acknowledged a “challenging start” to his tenure in a speech to staff on Wednesday afternoon. (Lawrence, 4/1)

Stat: GAO Says FDA Needs To Improve Conflict-Of-Interest Guidance 
The Food and Drug Administration has often failed to share information on how it determines whether its advisory committee members have financial conflicts of interest and whether those individuals should participate in committee meetings, according to a review by the Government Accountability Office. (Silverman, 4/1)

On the immigration crisis —

The Washington Post: Trump Endorses Republican Plan To End DHS Shutdown
President Donald Trump endorsed a plan Wednesday to end the nearly seven-week-old shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security by going around Democrats to fund parts of the agency. Trump urged Republicans to send him a party-line bill by June 1 to fund two agencies within the department — Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol — using the reconciliation process. (Beggin and Meyer, 4/1)

The Washington Post: Supreme Court Appears Skeptical Of Trump’s Effort To End Birthright Citizenship 
The Supreme Court appeared poised Wednesday to uphold the legal principle that almost everyone born on U.S. soil is a citizen, as justices heard arguments in a major case that raises fundamental questions about who is considered American. The justices seemed ready to hand President Donald Trump a significant defeat in his push to end birthright citizenship, as the president sat watching the first part of the proceedings in the the public gallery — a historic first. Trump is the only sitting chief executive known to have attended arguments before the high court. (Jouvenal, 4/1)

The New York Times: Medical Examiner Rules That A Rohingya Refugee’s Death Was A Homicide 
The medical examiner in Buffalo has ruled that the death of a nearly blind man left alone by Border Patrol agents on a frigid night was a homicide, a finding that could lead to criminal charges. Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a Rohingya refugee from Myanmar, died in February after the agents dropped him off outside a closed Tim Hortons doughnut shop. His death triggered outrage in Buffalo and around the nation. (Ley, 4/1)

The 19th: Fear Of ICE Deepens Postpartum Isolation For Immigrant Mothers
Laura stopped leaving her home weeks before she gave birth. She lived outside of Minneapolis, where many people had been taken by immigration officials. She thought of mothers separated from babies, of children taken to detention facilities. By the time she went into labor, her stress was so intense that her body had stopped producing sufficient oxytocin, her doctors told her. (Luthra, 3/31)