The Hill: Biden Rips ‘Outrageous And Unacceptable’ Alabama IVF Decision
“Today, in 2024 in America, women are being turned away from emergency rooms and forced to travel hundreds of miles for health care, while doctors fear prosecution for providing an abortion,” Biden said in a statement. “And now, a court in Alabama put access to some fertility treatments at risk for families who are desperately trying to get pregnant. The disregard for women’s ability to make these decisions for themselves and their families is outrageous and unacceptable." (Samuels, 2/22)

The Hill: Harris Slams Alabama IVF Ruling As Hypocritical, ‘Shocking’
Vice President Harris on Thursday bashed the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos are people as hypocritical and placed the blame on former President Trump. “Think about that, individuals, couples, who want to start a family are now being deprived of access to what can help them start a family,” she said. “So on the one hand, the proponents are saying that an individual doesn’t have a right to end an unwanted pregnancy, and on the other hand, the individual does not have a right to start a family.” (Gangitano, 2/22)

The Hill: Hillary Clinton Warns Birth Control Is ‘Next’ After Alabama IVF Ruling
Hillary Clinton is warning about the legality of birth control in the wake of a decision by the Alabama Supreme Court that found frozen embryos created through fertility treatments are children under state law. “They came for abortion first. Now it’s [in vitro fertilization], and next it’ll be birth control,” the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee and secretary of State said in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. (Suter, 2/22)

AP: Alabama IVF Ruling May Be An Opening For Democrats In 2024
Some Republicans joined Democrats in expressing alarm over a ruling this week by the Alabama Supreme Court that jeopardized future access to in vitro fertilization, giving allies of President Joe Biden new fuel for their efforts to center abortion access in the presidential election. “We’ve got to talk about making sure we don’t take away women’s rights to IVF, women who are childbearing age and want to give birth to children,” said GOP Rep. Nancy Mace, who was campaigning this week for former President Donald Trump in South Carolina. (Fernando, 2/22)

Meanwhile, on Republican struggles with their responses to the news —

Axios: House GOP Rushes To Distance From Alabama IVF Ruling
House Republicans are quickly pushing back on an Alabama Supreme Court ruling restricting access to fertility treatments, with one GOP lawmaker already planning a legislative response, Axios has learned. Why It Matters: Reproductive health care has been the central issue for House Democrats as they try to win back GOP-held suburban swing districts. (Solender, 2/22)

Politico: Top Republicans Defend IVF After Alabama Ruling
Days after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law, leading some hospitals in the state to pause in vitro fertilization treatment, several top Republican governors said they support the procedure. (Berg, 2/22)

The New York Times: Alabama I.V.F. Ruling Opens New Front In Election-Year Abortion Battles
Yet, even as some Republicans backed away from the court decision, Republican legislators in conservative states planned efforts to push bills that would declare that life begins at conception — a policy that could have severe consequences for fertility treatments. (Lerer, Dias and Karni, 2/23)

The Hill: Haley: I Didn’t Say I Agreed With Alabama IVF Ruling 
GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley says she did not endorse the recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling that said frozen embryos and fertilized eggs should be treated as children under state law. ... “Well, first of all, I didn’t — I mean, this is again, I didn’t say that I agreed with the Alabama ruling. What the question that I was asked is, ‘Do I believe an embryo is a baby?’” Haley said. “I do think that if you look in the definition, an embryo is considered an unborn baby. And so, yes, I believe from my stance that that is.” (Fortinsky, 2/22)

The latest from Alabama —

NPR: Alabama State Lawmakers Plan Bill To Protect IVF After Court Ruling
Six days after Alabama's Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are "children," upending in vitro fertilization treatments, a Republican state senator said he plans to introduce a bill that would protect IVF statewide. State Sen. Tim Melson, who chairs the Senate's Health Care Committee, said the bill would clarify that embryos are not viable unless they are implanted in a uterus. (Capelouto, Gassiott, Scott Hodgin, 2/22)

NBC News: Three Alabama Clinics Pauses IVF After Court Rules Embryos Are Children
The University of Alabama at Birmingham was first to announce the change on Wednesday. Then another practice, Alabama Fertility, posted a statement Thursday on social media saying it would put a hold on IVF treatments. The Center for Reproductive Medicine at Mobile Infirmary — the clinic sued in the court case — said Thursday that it would pause IVF procedures starting Saturday. (Bendix, 2/22)

The Guardian: Doctors Shocked And Angry As Alabama Ruling Throws IVF Care Into Turmoil
Physicians said the decision, which ruled embryos are “extrauterine children”, grossly misunderstood reproductive medicine and was “devastating” for infertile patients. “We made the impossible decision to pause new IVF treatments at our center, which is devastating for our patients and the state,” said Dr Mamie McLean, a fertility specialist at Alabama Fertility, which performed about 700 rounds of IVF in 2023. (Glenza, 2/23)

The Hill: 48 Percent In New Poll Say They Would Support 16-Week Abortion Ban
Nearly half of Americans in a new poll said they would back a national 16-week abortion ban after The New York Times reported former President Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, privately expressed support for the measure. The Economist/YouGov new poll found 48 percent of respondents would support a national ban on abortions after 16 weeks of pregnancy. (Sforza, 2/22)

The New York Times: Abortion Shield Laws: A New War Between The States
Behind an unmarked door in a boxy brick building outside Boston, a quiet rebellion is taking place. Here, in a 7-by-12-foot room, abortion is being made available to thousands of women in states where it is illegal. ... They are obtaining abortion pills prescribed by licensed Massachusetts providers, packaged in the little room and mailed from a nearby post office, arriving days later in Texas, Missouri and other states where abortion is largely outlawed. (Belluck, 2/22)

AP: GOP Lawmakers Try To Thwart Abortion Rights Ballot Initiative In South Dakota
South Dakota’s Republican-led Legislature is trying to thwart a proposed ballot initiative that would enable voters to protect abortion rights in the state constitution. The initiative’s leader says the GOP efforts threaten the state’s tradition of direct democracy. ... If voters approve it, the three-paragraph addition to the South Dakota Constitution would ban the state from regulating abortion in the first trimester and allow regulations for the second trimester “only in ways that are reasonably related to the physical health of the pregnant woman.” (Dura, 2/22)

On contraception coverage —

Roll Call: Democrats Ask Insurers To Meet Contraceptive Coverage Mandate 
The House Democratic Women’s Caucus has asked the biggest insurance association to urge insurers to comply with contraceptive coverage requirements and Biden administration guidance issued in January, according to a letter shared first with CQ Roll Call. (Raman, 2/22)

Stat: Midwife-Assisted Home Births Are On The Rise. High-Risk Deliveries Are Too
Kay Kay Lineweaver’s first birthing experience in 2021 didn’t go as planned. Her baby was breech and the doctor wouldn’t allow her to try to give birth vaginally, so she ended up with an unwanted cesarean section. “[The obstetrician] wouldn’t even give me the option,” she recalled later in a podcast called “Healing Trauma Mamas.” Lineweaver said she felt like she “didn’t have control” and that the birth process was “a nightmare.” (Cohen, 2/23)

St. Louis Public Radio: Pritzker Wants To Lower Black Maternal Deaths In Illinois
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker wants to spend more than $20 million of his proposed $53 billion budget to help decrease the numbers of Black women who die during pregnancy or shortly after giving birth. Pritzker, a Democrat, presented the plan Wednesday as part of his budget plan for the fiscal year that begins in July. The budget includes $4.4 million to study the state’s maternal mortality rate and create a plan to help pregnant women and new mothers. (Fentem, 2/22)

KFF Health News: Pregnancy Care Was Always Lacking In Jails. It Could Get Worse
It was about midnight in June 2022 when police officers showed up at Angela Collier’s door and told her that someone anonymously requested a welfare check because they thought she might have had a miscarriage.Standing in front of the concrete steps of her home in Midway, Texas, Collier, initially barefoot and wearing a baggy gray T-shirt, told officers she planned to see a doctor in the morning because she had been bleeding. ... Instead of taking her to get medical care, they handcuffed and arrested her. (Rayasam, 2/23)

Modern Healthcare: State AGs Call On Congress To Pass PBM Legislation
Congress has heard from another constituency supporting stricter transparency rules for pharmacy benefit managers: state attorneys general. The National Association of Attorneys General sent a letter to House and Senate leaders Tuesday asking them to address drug costs by passing legislation that would require PBMs to disclose more about their prescription drug price negotiations. (Berryman, 2/22)

Reuters: US Bill On Chinese Biotech Firms May Be More 'Narrowly Tailored', Lawmaker Says
A bill in the U.S. Congress targeting Chinese biotech companies may end up being more "narrowly tailored", the U.S. lawmaker who proposed it said on Friday, adding that he was cautiously optimistic something could be passed this year. A congressional committee focused on China introduced a bill late last month that would restrict federally funded medical providers from allowing China's BGI Group, WuXi Apptec (603259.SS), opens new tab and other biotech firms from accessing genetic information about Americans. (Blanchard, 2/23)

In other news from the administration —

Stat: FDA Gives A Mixed Response To Petition Seeking Greater Clinical Trial Transparency
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration told an advocacy group that it is not planning to take a tougher stance against wayward clinical trial sponsors and investigators that fail to register studies or report results, a central issue in the ongoing debate over greater transparency into clinical research. (Silverman, 2/22)

NCPR: Biden Officials Keep States Waiting On Expanding Medicaid Voter Registration
Officials in several states are waiting for the Biden administration to greenlight proposals that advocates say could enable hundreds of thousands of lower-income U.S. citizens and citizens with disabilities to vote. Despite multiple inquiries from members of Congress over the past two years, Biden officials have yet to weigh in on plans for using Medicaid application information to automatically register eligible voters when they sign up for the government-sponsored health insurance. (Wang, 2/23)

Montana Free Press: Biden Administration Pushes For Expanded Data Collection On Indian Child Welfare Act Cases
In an effort to better understand how Native American children are faring in foster care, the Biden administration’s health department is proposing a rule that would require state child welfare systems to gather more data about child removal cases that are subject to the Indian Child Welfare Act. The proposed rule change, announced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families on Thursday, would require states and tribal agencies that administer certain federal funds to submit more specific information about ICWA cases to the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis Reporting System, or AFCARS. (Silvers, 2/22)

And from the courts —

Reuters: HCA Healthcare Must Face Antitrust Case Over Health Costs, US Judge Says
Hospital operations giant HCA Healthcare (HCA.N), opens new tab has lost a bid to dismiss a proposed class action in North Carolina federal court accusing it of scheming to restrict competition and artificially drive up costs for health plans. The prospective class of North Carolina health plans can move ahead with antitrust claims for now against HCA, the country's largest U.S. for-profit hospital system, Chief U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger in Asheville ruled, opens new tab on Tuesday. (Scarcella, 2/22)

The Hill: ‘Norovirus’ Slams Northeast US Hardest In Recent Weeks: CDC
A stomach virus known as the “norovirus” is spreading across the Northeast region of the United States, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The three-week average positive tests for norovirus in the region reached 13.9 percent in recent weeks and held above a 10 percent positive rate since the middle of December 2023. ... CDC data show that other regions are seeing positive tests in recent weeks too. The South has 9.5 percent, the Midwest has hovered around 10 percent and the West has about 12 percent. (Irwin, 2/22)

In news on measles —

CIDRAP: Two Measles Cases Confirmed In New Orleans
The Louisiana Department of Health yesterday announced that two measles cases have been confirmed in the greater New Orleans area. An investigation is under way, and officials said the patients had recently traveled out of state. The New Orleans Times-Picayune, citing local health officials, reported that the infections involve two children hospitalized at Children's Hospital New Orleans. The cases are Louisiana's first since 2018. (Schnirring, 2/22)

Health News Florida: Health Officials Offer MMR Vaccines At Broward School With Measles Cases
Health officials were expected at an elementary school in Broward County on Wednesday to offer the MMR vaccine in the wake of six reported measles cases at Manatee Bay Elementary. The MMR vaccine, for measles, mumps and rubella, is available to anyone who needs them. The vaccinations are part of the county school district’s response to the outbreak at the Weston School. (2/22)

The Washington Post: Florida Surgeon General Defies Science Amid Measles Outbreak
Florida surgeon general Joseph A. Ladapo failed to urge parents to vaccinate their children or keep unvaccinated students home from school as a precaution in a letter to parents at the Fort Lauderdale-area school this week following six confirmed measles cases. Instead of following what he acknowledged was the “normal” recommendation that parents keep unvaccinated children home for up to 21 days — the incubation period for measles — Ladapo said the state health department “is deferring to parents or guardians to make decisions about school attendance.” (Sun and Weber, 2/22)

KFF Health News: Florida Defies CDC In Measles Outbreak, Telling Parents It's Fine To Send Unvaccinated Kids To School
With a brief memo, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo has subverted a public health standard that’s long kept measles outbreaks under control. On Feb. 20, as measles spread through Manatee Bay Elementary in South Florida, Ladapo sent parents a letter granting them permission to send unvaccinated children to school amid the outbreak. (Maxmen, 2/23)

Meanwhile —

The Colorado Sun: Parents Of Medically Fragile Kids Can’t Find Nurses Because Pay Is So Low
Nurses willing to care for medically fragile children and adults — including patients who use feeding tubes, can’t walk or speak, and rarely leave their homes — are hard to find in Colorado. (Brown, 2/22)

AP: Wendy Williams Diagnosed With Same Form Of Dementia As Bruce Willis
Former talk show host Wendy Williams has been diagnosed with the same form of dementia that actor Bruce Willis has, a statement released Thursday on behalf of her caretakers says. The statement said the 59-year-old’s diagnoses of primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia “have already presented significant hurdles in Wendy’s life” and have behavioral and cognitive impacts. (McCartney, 2/22)

Axios: Mental Health Is Seen As A Top Health Threat To U.S.
Americans see poor mental health as one of the biggest threats to public health, ranking just behind obesity and the long-running opioid epidemic, according to the latest Axios-Ipsos American Health Index. Almost 9 out of 10 people say their own emotional wellbeing is very or somewhat good, but they view mental health issues as a serious societal threat that now outranks access to firearms, cancer or COVID-19. (Millman, 2/23)

CIDRAP: Researchers Identify Mechanism Behind Brain Fog In Long COVID
Disruptions in the blood-brain barrier along with a hyperactive immune system are the likely mechanisms behind "brain fog" in patients who are experiencing long COVID, an Irish research team reported today in Nature Neuroscience. Brain fog has been reported during acute COVID infection and has also been reported in nearly 50% of patients who experience long COVID, or symptoms well past the acute phase of COVID-19. (Schnirring, 2/22)

The Washington Post: Why Viagra Has Been Linked To A Lower Risk Of Alzheimer’s Disease
Viagra can be a wonder drug for men with erectile dysfunction, helping them maintain their sex lives as they age. Now new research suggests the little blue pill may also be beneficial to aging brains. The findings are based on a massive study of nearly 270,000 middle-aged men in Britain. ... The researchers noticed a distinctive pattern. The men who were prescribed Viagra or a similar drug had an 18 percent lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, compared with men who weren’t given the medication. (Amenabar, 2/22)

In other research news —

CNN: What, When And How You Eat Food Affects Your Health, According To A Doctor
What you eat and don’t eat can reduce your risk of medical conditions such as heart disease and cancer and increase life expectancy, according to decades of research. But while much of the advice focuses on what not to eat, I also wanted to learn more about when and how people can eat to optimize their health. (Hetter, 2/22)

Newsweek: Heart Disease Linked To Eating Too Much Protein
We're often told to eat more protein to maintain a healthy, balanced diet. But new research shows that eating too much could actually be bad for our health. ... In a new study, published in the journal Nature Metabolism, researchers found that eating too much of one particular amino acid, called leucine, may increase our risk of cardiovascular disease. (Dewan, 2/22)

CIDRAP: Plants Can Take Up CWD-Causing Prions From Soil In The Lab. What Happens If They Are Eaten?
When Christopher Johnson, PhD, set out to study whether lab mice fed prion-contaminated plants developed neurodegenerative disease, he expected the plants to take up only small prion clusters, but they absorbed large clusters characteristic of prion diseases in deer and other animals. ... Prions are infectious misfolded proteins that cause fatal neurodegenerative diseases such as chronic wasting disease (CWD) in cervids like deer and elk, scrapie in sheep and goats, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or "mad cow" disease) in cattle, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. (Van Beusekom, 2/22)

Live Science: The Skin Microbiome Could Be Harnessed As Mosquito Repellent, Study Hints
Tweaking the microbes that populate our skin may be an effective strategy to deter mosquitoes from biting us and thus curb the spread of mosquito-borne diseases, a new study hints. Scientists previously knew that mosquitoes sniff out humans to bite by zeroing in on our unique scents. ... Now, a study has pinpointed chemicals generated by the skin microbiome that can actually repel mosquitoes. Specifically, this natural perfume drives away a species called Aedes aegypti, which spreads diseases such as chikungunya, dengue, yellow fever and Zika. (Khedkar, 2/22)

CIDRAP: Study Shows Persistent COVID-19 Infections Fairly Common
Researchers at the University of Oxford published new findings yesterday in Nature suggesting as many as 1 to 3 out of every 100 COVID-19 infections in the United Kingdom persist longer than 30 days, and patients with persistent infections are 55% more likely to report developing long COVID. Persistent infections have long been a concern to COVID-19 researchers, because people with prolonged infections tend to display a high number of viral mutations, making them reservoirs of new variants. (Soucheray, 2/22)

CIDRAP: Report Suggests Lower Antibiotic Use In Europe Led To Less Antimicrobial Resistance
A multi-agency report ties a reduction in antimicrobial consumption (AMC) in Europe to a decrease in overall antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in people and farm animals from 2014 to 2021. The fourth joint report on integrated analyses of AMC was published yesterday in the EFSA Journal by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), and the European Medicines Agency (EMA). (Van Beusekom, 2/22)

Newsweek: Placenta Study Reveals Troubling Pervasiveness Of Microplastics
Scientists have issued a warning after finding significant levels of microplastics in human placentas. ... These plastics contain a concerning cocktail of chemicals that have been shown to interrupt the body's natural release of hormones, potentially increasing our risk of reproductive disorders and certain cancers. ... "Fetuses are vulnerable to environmental stressors," Matthew Campen, a pharmaceutical sciences professor at the University of New Mexico, told Newsweek. "Small influences during development can cause all sorts of problems with viability of the fetus or developmental issues in newborns." (Dewan, 2/22)

Reuters: Pharmacies Across US Disrupted Following Hack At Change Healthcare Network
Pharmacies across the United States are experiencing disruptions following a hack at UnitedHealth's technology unit, Change Healthcare, several pharmacy chains said in statements and on social media. The problems began on Wednesday after a "suspected nation-state associated cybersecurity threat actor" gained access to Change Healthcare's information technology systems, UnitedHealth said in a filing on Thursday. (Satter and Roy, 2/23)

Modern Healthcare: Healthcare Data Breaches In 2024 Have Exposed 11.6M People
After a record 133 million individuals had their healthcare data stolen or otherwise exposed in 2023, the first few months of 2024 suggest there's no letup in data breaches. As of Thursday, about 11.6 million people had their data exposed this year from 79 reported breaches affecting 500 or more individuals, according to the Health and Human Services Department's Office for Civil Rights breach portal. (Broderick, 2/22)

On industry employment news —

Axios: Health Care Employment Picture Still Strong
Job openings in health care and social services last year hit the second highest rate since data began to be collected in 2001, and the employment picture remained strong in January, especially in ambulatory care settings and hospitals. The findings from Altarum reinforce just how much the health industry is fueling a robust labor market, even as it's beset by churn and high levels of worker burnout. (Bettelheim, 2/23)

The Hill: More Women Than Ever Are Becoming Doctors. Here’s Why There Are Still So Few
In recent years, female medical students have begun outnumbering their male peers. As of the 2023-2024 school year, they make up more than 55 percent of students in the country’s M.D.-granting programs, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. The ranks of female doctors have also been steadily increasing. In 2007, just over 28 percent of practicing physicians in the country were women. By 2021, the most recent year for which the American Medical Association (AMA) has data, more than 37 percent were. (O’Connell-Domenech, 2/22)

CIDRAP: Female Pediatricians Report More Stress During Pandemic
A new study from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) finds that female US pediatricians reported worse anxiety, sadness, and stress at work than their male colleagues, and the differences were more pronounced during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study, published today in Pediatrics, was based on survey responses gathered during the AAP Pediatrician Life and Career Experience Study, which asked questions about career satisfaction and wellbeing from 2012 to 2021 among cohorts of 2002–2004 and 2009–2011 pediatric residency graduates. (Soucheray, 2/22)

In other industry news —

Stat: Neurocrine Biosciences, Biotech Based In San Diego, Joins PhRMA
Neurocrine Biosciences, a biotech company based in California, has joined the drug lobbying organization PhRMA, the group announced on Thursday. The addition is a step toward rebuilding PhRMA’s ranks after high-profile departures that followed the passage of Democrats’ drug pricing law, though both Neurocrine and the other company that joined since are smaller than those that exited. (Cohrs, 2/22)

Stat: Community Health Systems Hospitals Under DOJ Investigation
Community Health Systems is facing a new federal probe into its hospital billing practices more than four years after the hospital chain settled separate allegations of fraudulent overbilling. (Herman, 2/22)

Modern Healthcare: HHS Settles With Green Ridge Behavioral Health 
Green Ridge Behavioral Health in Gaithersburg, Maryland, has agreed to a settlement with the federal Health and Human Services Department's Office for Civil Rights concerning a ransomware attack. According to a news release issued Wednesday, the $40,000 settlement is only the second time OCR has reached an agreement with a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-regulated entity for potential violations identified during an investigation following such a breach. (Turner, 2/22)

Reuters: Novavax Settles Dispute With International Vaccine Group Gavi
Novavax (NVAX.O), opens new tab has agreed to pay back international vaccine group Gavi at least $475 million in cash or vaccines by the end of 2028, settling a dispute over canceled orders that created financial uncertainty for the U.S. maker of COVID-19 shots. Shares of the company rose 23.2% to $4.91 on Thursday. (Erman, 2/22)

The CT Mirror: Athena Health Care Systems Owes $750K To CT Cities
Athena Health Care Systems, one of the largest nursing home chains in Connecticut, owes more than $750,000 in taxes, utility costs and interest on missed payments to municipalities, records show. (Carlesso and Altimari, 2/23)

Reuters: Healthcare Startup Abridge Raises $150 Mln For AI Model For Clinicians
Abridge, a startup building artificial intelligence-powered clinical documentation tools, has raised $150 million in a Series C round, the company told Reuters, as more investors seek exposure to industry-specific generative AI applications. The funding, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Redpoint Ventures, valued Abridge at about $850 million. The company last raised funds just four months ago and was then valued at over $200 million, according to PitchBook data. (Hu, 2/23)

Stat: Abridge Raises $150m As Clinical Notes Automation Market Heats Up
A Pittsburgh artificial intelligence startup emerging as a challenger to Microsoft’s clinical note taking business has raised $150 million, a rare mega deal in a funding lull. The startup, Abridge, also has an unlikely cheerleader: Paul Ricci, the former head of Nuance, the service from Microsoft it competes with. (Ravindranath, 2/23)

Modern Healthcare: Nuance Competitor Abridge Closes $150M Series C 
Abridge, a generative artificial intelligence-driven clinical documentation company, announced late Thursday it had raised $150 million in Series C funding. As one of the largest rounds in the past six months, the infusion of capital could cast a glimmer of hope on a digital health market insiders said was bound for a "reckoning" this year. (Turner, 2/22)

Reuters: Teleflex Beats Quarterly Profit Estimates On Strong Demand For Medical Devices
Teleflex (TFX.N), reported fourth-quarter profit above Wall Street estimates on Thursday, on the back of strong demand for its medical devices and surgical equipment. ... The manufacturer of hospital supplies and single-use medical devices reported a 2.1% rise in revenue from a year earlier to $773.9 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with estimates of $768.7 million, according to LSEG data. (2/22)

Reuters: Moderna Reports Surprise Profit, Sets Out Road Map For RSV Vaccine
Moderna (MRNA.O), opens new tab on Thursday reported a surprise fourth-quarter profit, helped by cost cutting and deferred payments, and set out a commercial roadmap for its vaccines in Europe and experimental respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) shot. Shares jumped 8% to $94.65 in early trading, still well off the record high of $497.49 hit during the peak of the COVID pandemic in 2021.Waning demand for COVID vaccines and anticipation of a loss for 2023 led to a steep decline in Moderna's shares last year. (Wingrove and Leo, 2/22)

Reuters: Weight-Loss Drugs Could Boost US GDP By 1% In Coming Years, Goldman Says
The widespread use of powerful new weight-loss drugs in the United States could boost gross domestic product by 1% in the coming years as lower obesity-related complications are likely to boost workplace efficiency, according to Goldman Sachs. Some analysts have predicted the market for weight-loss drugs could reach $100 billion a year by the end of the decade, with Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO), opens new tab and Mounjaro producer Eli Lilly (LLY.N), opens new tab leading the race. (2/22)

Obituaries —

The New York Times: Roger Guillemin, 100, Nobel-Winning Scientist Stirred By Rivalries, Dies
Roger Guillemin, a neuroscientist who was a co-discoverer of the unexpected hormones with which the brain controls many bodily functions, died on Wednesday at a senior living facility in San Diego. He was 100. His death was confirmed by his daughter Chantal Guillemin. Dr. Guillemin’s career was marked by two spectacular competitions that ruffled the staid world of endocrinological research. (Wade, 2/22)

Live Science: One-Third Of Trans People Taking Testosterone May Still Ovulate, Raising Chance Of Pregnancy
Many transgender men and other gender-diverse people opt to take testosterone to bring about male secondary sex characteristics, such as a deeper voice and thicker body and facial hair, and to suppress female characteristics, such as menstruation. While taking this hormone therapy, a person may no longer get their period, however, they may still ovulate and therefore could potentially get pregnant, a new study finds. The small study included 52 transmasculine people. (Cooke, 2/22)

In news concerning the death of a trans student in Oklahoma —

AP: How The Death Of A Nonbinary Oklahoma Teenager Has Renewed Scrutiny On Anti-Trans Policies
The death of a 16-year-old nonbinary high school student in Oklahoma whose family says was bullied has renewed scrutiny of anti-trans polices and political rhetoric over gender identity. ... In the days since news of Benedict’s death became public, calls from Oklahoma to a national crisis hotline for LGBTQ+ youths have spiked by more than 500%, said Lance Preston, the founder and director of the Indiana-based Rainbow Youth Project USA, a group that aims to improve the safety and wellness of LGBTQ+ young people. (Murphy, 2/23)

The 19th: Nex Benedict’s Death In Oklahoma Is An ‘Awakening’ For Parents Of Trans Kids
As news broke this week about the death of 16-year-old nonbinary student Nex Benedict, who died after a fight in a school bathroom, crisis calls to an Oklahoma LGBTQ+ support organization more than quadrupled — with 69 percent of callers referencing Benedict. (Sosin and Nittle, 2/22)

On other trans and reproductive health-related matters —

The Baltimore Sun: A Maryland Trans Woman’s Journey To Find Her Voice 
“I’m really sick of you doing that.” Jessie Buckley sighed, shifting a curtain of dark red hair from her face. Inside a small, windowless room on the University of Maryland’s campus in College Park, she glanced across the table at Katie Aveni, a speech-language pathology master’s student, who nodded encouragingly. (Roberts, 2/22)

AP: Mississippi Might Allow Incarcerated People To Sue Prisons Over Transgender Inmates
A bill before Mississippi lawmakers might allow incarcerated people to sue jails and prisons if they encounter inmates from the opposite sex, such as those who are transgender, in restrooms or changing areas. State lawmakers advanced the proposal out of a House committee Thursday. It would require inmate restrooms, changing rooms and sleeping quarters in correctional facilities to be designated for use only by members of one sex. If prisoners encounter someone of the opposite sex in any of those areas, they could sue the prison under the proposal. (Goldberg, 2/23)

The 19th: More Teens Calling The National Domestic Violence Hotline To Report ‘Reproductive Coercion’
The country’s central domestic violence hotline received a major spike in calls from teens about reproductive coercion in the year following the overturn of Roe v. Wade. New data from the National Domestic Violence Hotline (NVDH), also known as The Hotline, shows that 24 13- to 17-year-olds called about reproductive coercion in the year before June 2022; in the next year, that number rose to 44. (Gerson, 2/22)

The Hill: New York AG Asks FDA To Double Down On Warnings, Discourage Prescription For Asthma Drug
The New York attorney general’s office is asking the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to double down on its warnings and discourage the use of an asthma drug. “The New York Office of the Attorney General writes to encourage the FDA to address the dangers of montelukast, particularly to the most vulnerable population—minor children—and protect all patients from these heartbreaking, unintended side effects,” Darsana Srinivasan, chief of the Office of the Attorney General’s Health Care Bureau, wrote in a Thursday letter addressed to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf. (Suter, 2/22)

The Texas Tribune: Texas Opts Out Of Federal Summer Meals Program For Kids
This year 35 states will participate in a $2.5 billion federal nutrition program that will help low-income parents buy groceries for their children when free school meals are unavailable during the summer months. But Texas, which has 3.8 million children eligible for the program, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has opted not to join this national effort. If it had, qualifying families would have received $120 per child through a pre-loaded card for the three summer months. The USDA calculated that Texas is passing on a total of $450 million in federal tax dollars that would have gone to eligible families here. (Banks, 2/22)

Politico: Florida House Approves $767 Million Live Healthy Plan Despite Spending Concerns
The Florida House signed off on Senate President Kathleen Passidomo’s $767 million health care workforce expansion plan on Thursday, with one Republican in opposition who said the program was a misguided waste of taxpayer dollars. The House approved two bills, each with a 117-1 vote, that seek to expand health care in Florida, either through training opportunities, increased access to services in rural stretches of the state or promoting technological advances. (Sarkissian, 2/22)

Politico: Florida Passes Strict Social Media Restrictions For Minors Despite DeSantis’ Misgivings
The Florida Republican-led House overwhelmingly passed legislation Thursday to create the strictest social media prohibitions in the country by cutting off anyone under 16 years old from many platforms despite some objections from Gov. Ron DeSantis. House members voted on the bill mere hours after it was backed by the Senate in a surprise move that procedurally could force DeSantis to act sooner on legislation that he has been skeptical of for weeks. (Atterbury, 2/22)

AP: Wisconsin Lawmakers OK Bill To Tackle Forever Chemicals Pollution, But Governor Isn't On Board 
The Wisconsin state Assembly passed a bill Thursday that would unlock $125 million to help municipalities and landowners cope with pollution from so-called forever chemicals. But Gov. Tony Evers isn’t on board. The Senate passed the Republican-authored legislation in November. The Assembly followed suit with a 61-35 vote on Thursday, the chamber’s last floor period of the two-year legislative session. ... The chemicals have been linked to health problems including low birth weight, cancer and liver disease, and have been shown to make vaccines less effective. (Richmond, 2/22)

New Hampshire Public Radio: NH Officials Blast Anthem Over Handling Of $69M Contract For State Retirees
State officials say they will pursue punitive fines against Anthem for mismanaging a Medicare Advantage contract for state retirees, after many reported delayed mail order prescriptions, unexpected charges and long hold times. Frustration among retirees — and state leaders — has been building since Anthem took over on Jan. 1, but it boiled over Wednesday during an Executive Council meeting. (Bookman, 2/22)

The New York Times: Just How Many People Will Die From Climate Change? 
How deadly could climate change be? Last fall, in an idiosyncratic corner of the internet where I happen to spend a lot of time, an argument broke out about how to quantify and characterize the mortality impact of global warming. An activist named Roger Hallam — a founder of Extinction Rebellion who now helps lead the harder-line group Just Stop Oil — had told the BBC that, if global temperatures reach two degrees Celsius above the preindustrial average, “mainly richer humans will be responsible for killing roughly one billion mainly poorer humans.” (David Wallace-Wells, 2/22)

Newsweek: Alabama's Bizarre Ruling Isn't Really About The Embryos 
Alabama's Supreme Court ruling asserting that frozen embryos are "children" will have devastating and far-reaching implications. One of the largest hospitals in the state has already suspended in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments while its administrators weigh the legal risks of the decision—with potentially more clinics and hospitals to follow. (Leah Jones, 2/22)

Newsweek: Embryos Are Kids? Judicial Tyranny And Justice In The Name Of Jesus 
Margaret Atwood couldn't make this up. The claimants in LePage v. Mobile Infirmary Clinic argued their "embryonic children" were victims of wrongful deaths after their accidental destruction. Last week, Alabama's highest court not only ruled in their favor but also expanded the definition of "children" to include cryopreserved, fertilized eggs. That's right: Despite containing as few as two cells, these pre-Alabamans will now unconsciously enjoy all the same rights, legal status, and privileges as actual Alabamans. (Melina Cohen, 2/22)

The New York Times: Samuel Alito Opened The Door To Reproductive Hell 
Despite the lofty and expansive rhetoric of his majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Justice Samuel Alito insisted throughout the text that the actual decision was more modest than it might appear. The end of Roe, he said, was not the end of abortion access as much as it was the beginning of a new era of democratic deliberation and decision-making. No longer shackled by a prior dictate of the Supreme Court, the people were free to choose. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives,” Alito wrote. (Jamelle Bouie, 2/23)

The Washington Post: Goodbye, Tampon Tax. Hello, MDCDs. 
My nonprofit, Period Law, has been fighting to end the sales tax on menstrual products since 2016. We made our case to the national sales tax group that “feminine hygiene products” is vague and unhelpful. More important, it’s confusing to male legislators. (Laura Strausfeld, 2/22)

The Star Tribune: See A Circle In Blue? Time To Renew
Filling out paperwork is no one's idea of a good time. But a delay in crossing that off your to-do list could put your health insurance at risk if you're one of the nearly 1.5 million Minnesotans whose medical care is covered through the state's public health programs. (2/22)