Reuters: U.S. VP Harris To Defend Abortion Pill Facing Legal Attack
Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to offer a defense of the abortion drug mifepristone in a meeting on Friday, according to a White House official, as some activist groups work to end U.S. sales of the pill. Anti-abortion groups have brought cases against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) claiming the agency used an improper process to approve mifepristone in 2000 and did not adequately consider its safety for minors. (Hunnicutt, 2/24)

KHN: One Texas Judge Will Decide Fate Of Abortion Pill Used By Millions Of American Women
Federal judges in Texas have delivered time and again for abortion opponents. They upheld a state law that allows for $10,000 bounties to be placed on anyone who helps a woman get an abortion; ruled that someone opposed to abortion based on religious beliefs can block a federal program from providing birth control to teens; and determined that emergency room doctors must equally weigh the life of a pregnant woman and her embryo or fetus. (Varney, 2/24)

AP: What Will Happen If Medication Abortion Challenge Succeeds?
Medication abortions in the United States usually involve two different drugs. In the latest effort to limit abortion access, opponents of the procedure are seeking to ban one of those medications. If they succeed, only one of the pills would be available, but women would still be able to get abortions. Here’s a look at medications, efforts to curtail them and how clinics are responding. (Tanner, 2/23)

NPR: Why An Ulcer Drug Could Be The Last Option For Some Abortion Patients
A recent study by the Guttmacher Institute found that 98% of medication abortions in the U.S. used the two-drug protocol in 2020. But internationally, the second drug, misoprostol, has been used alone for decades, says Dr. Jamila Perritt, president and CEO of Physicians for Reproductive Health. Perritt says the case could leave both healthcare providers and patients facing complex medical and legal decisions about how to move forward without mifepristone. (McCammon, 2/24)

On public opinion —

The 19th: Abortion Rights Support Was Growing Even Before Dobbs, Report Shows
Americans have become more supportive of abortion rights over time, and it’s not necessarily tied to the Supreme Court case last summer that overturned federal abortion rights, according to a new study. The nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) released a report Thursday that shows support for abortion legality in all or most cases has risen since 2010, with a notable increase beginning in 2020. (Mithani and Rodriguez, 2/23)

Jezebel: More Than Half Of People In States Trump Won Support Abortion In 'Most Or All Cases'
Most Americans think abortion should be legal, including more than half of people who live in states Donald Trump won in 2020, according to a massive new survey of people in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., proving once again that abortion is overwhelmingly popular and that Republicans cannot read the room. (Cruz, 2/23)

From the states —

ProPublica: Tennessee Lobbyists Oppose New Lifesaving Exceptions In Abortion Ban
In Tennessee, Republican lawmakers are considering whether patients should be forced to continue dangerous pregnancies, even while miscarrying, under the state’s abortion ban — and how close to risking death such patients need to be before a doctor can legally intervene. At a legislative hearing last week, a lobbyist who played a dominant role in crafting the state’s abortion legislation made his preference clear: A pregnant patient should be in the process of an urgent emergency, such as bleeding out, before they can receive abortion care. (Surana, 2/24)

Texas Observer: Pregnant Texans Now Travel 10 Times Farther For An Abortion
Two years ago, if a Texan needed an abortion, they’d have to travel an average of 44 miles to get one. Today, that number is 497.  (Hutchinson, 2/23)

Montana Free Press: Republican legislators advance abortion restrictions, shut down protections for reproductive rights
As the Legislature nears a critical deadline for transmitting bills, lawmakers are advancing new abortion regulations and rejecting measures to protect reproductive health access. (Silvers, 2/23)

News Service of Florida: State Seeks To Move Forward With Law Cutting Public Money To Abortion Clinics
Pointing to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last year to overturn Roe v. Wade, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody on Wednesday asked a federal judge to scrap a 2016 ruling that prevented the state from cutting off public money to abortion providers for health services unrelated to abortion. (Saunders, 2/23)

Also —

USA Today: Patients Worried IVF Treatments Could Become Illegal Under Abortion Bans, Doctors Say
Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, hundreds of frantic phone calls have poured into fertility centers across the nation from patients worried not about abortion access, but about their frozen embryos. Patients are contacting doctors to discuss the legal status of fertilized embryos and decide whether to move them to states with looser abortion restrictions, said Jennifer Hirshfeld-Cytron, vice president and physician at Fertility Centers of Illinois. (Fernando, 2/24)

Bloomberg Law: Fentanyl Crisis Spurs Need For Help With Multiple-Drug Overdoses
The record number of Americans dying from a mix of drugs laced with fentanyl is driving research into medications that can eliminate multiple substances from the body. The National Institute on Drug Abuse is prioritizing research to counteract overdoses from more than one drug. One promising medication could start initial safety testing as soon as June or July. (Baumann, 2/24)

The Hill: Republicans In New Poll List Fentanyl, Other Opioids As Top Public Health Threat
Republicans listed fentanyl and opioids as the top public health threat plaguing the U.S. in a new Axios-Ipsos survey, as both parties in Congress seek to spotlight the country’s overdose crisis. The new poll, published on Thursday, found that 37 percent of Republican respondents list fentanyl and other opioid drugs as the top public health threat, compared to 17 percent of Democrats. (Oshin, 2/23)

In other news relating to the opioid crisis across the country —

Kansas City Star: Kansas House Votes To Legalize Fentanyl Test Strips After Measure Failed In Senate Last Year
The Kansas House approved two bills Thursday legalizing fentanyl test strips amid a larger effort to address deaths and overdoses from the powerful drug. The House voted unanimously to pass a bill which also increases penalties for distribution and a second bill legalizing test strips while establishing a review board for overdose deaths. (Bernard and Barackman, 2/23)

Stateline: Addiction Treatment May Be Coming To A Pharmacy Near You
Despite an overdose epidemic that killed 107,000 people last year, nearly 9 in 10 Americans who need medication to treat their addiction to deadly opioids aren’t receiving it. Surprising new results from a first-of-its-kind study in Rhode Island could hold a key to getting addiction medication to more people who need it: allowing patients to get prescriptions at their local pharmacy rather than a doctor’s office. The change would particularly help those with low incomes who lack housing and transportation, the study found. (Vestal, 2/24)

ABC News: Record-High Drug Overdose Deaths In This State
A record number of drug overdose deaths were recorded in North Carolina in 2021, according to new data from the state Department of Health and Human Services. In 2021, a total of 4,041 people died from drug overdoses, the highest figure reported in The Tar Heel State in a single year. (2/23)

Komo TV: EMS Crews In King County Have Responded To More Than 1,000 Opioid Overdoses This Year
Public health data shows the opioid crisis in the Seattle region continues to worsen as EMS crews have already responded to 1,046 overdose calls in King County since the start of the year. There have been 198 drug and alcohol deaths, most of those involving fentanyl, according to data from Seattle-King County Public Health. (Harris, 2/23)

Fox 10: Over 4.5m Fentanyl Pills Seized By Arizona Officials "The Sample You See Here Today Is Staggering"
According to a news release, 3,000 pounds of methamphetamine, 140 pounds of fentanyl powder, over 135 kilos of cocaine and 35 kilos of heroin were recovered during a 'large-scale interagency narcotics investigation' in the Phoenix area. FOX 10's Lauren Clark reports. (2/23)

On opioid-related lawsuits —

News 19: City Of Huntsville Joins Opioid Lawsuit Against CVS, Walgreens And Walmart
Huntsville City Council on Thursday authorized the city to join the list of local governments that will participate in an opioid lawsuit against three retail pharmacy chains. The lawsuit claims CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart pharmacies did little to stop the flood of pills that led to hundreds of overdose deaths. (Snowden, 2/23)

Fox 5: Nevada Joins Settlement With Opioid Manufacturer
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford has announced the state’s inclusion in a settlement with opioid manufacturer Allergan. The multi-state settlement will bring in $29 million for Nevada. (Sheridan, 2/23)

And opioid addiction treatment developments —

Stat: Study To Evaluate Expanded Methadone Access Amid Opioid Crisis
Ever since fentanyl entered the U.S. drug supply, many Americans seeking treatment for opioid addiction have found that only a single medication is effective at easing cravings and withdrawal: methadone. But even though the drug is widely considered to be safe and effective, there’s not much data about how methadone stacks up against its main alternative, buprenorphine. (Facher, 2/24)

Politico: Senators Revive 'Forever Chemicals' Research Bill
The "Federal PFAS Research Evaluation Act" would require multiple agencies — including EPA, the National Science Foundation, the Defense Department and National Institutes of Health — to work with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to produce four consensus reports identifying research needed to understand the health impacts of PFAS contamination. It was introduced by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.). (Borst, 2/23)

Politico: Mark Ruffalo Joins Activists To Slam Biden Admin Over 'forever Chemical' Delays
During a press conference on Thursday afternoon, members of the Environmental Working Group joined with other activists to ramp up pressure on regulators over PFAS, calling for the release of long-awaited drinking standards and other promised rules. Actor Mark Ruffalo was among those who spoke passionately during the event, calling on President Joe Biden to accelerate measures cracking down on the toxic substances. (Crunden, 2/23)

Meanwhile, attention focusses on cancer drug Keytruda —

Reuters: Senator Warren Urges U.S. Patent Office To Scrutinize Merck's Keytruda
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren sent the nation's top patent regulator a letter urging close scrutiny of Merck & Co's requests for new patents on its blockbuster cancer treatment Keytruda, saying further efforts to protect the drug could be an abuse of the system. (Erman, 2/23)

FiercePharma: Warren Asks Patent Office To Scrutinize Merck's Keytruda
With several measures aimed at controlling rising drug prices, the Inflation Reduction Act was a long-awaited victory for the U.S. government over the pharma industry. But the emboldened Senate isn’t stopping there. Led by Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, and Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, lawmakers have since taken aim at a variety of pharma issues including mergers and acquisitions, offshoring profits and COVID-19 vaccine prices. (Dunleavy, 2/23)

Stat: Lawmakers Call For Scrutiny Of Merck's 'Abuse' Of Patent System
A group of lawmakers is urging the Biden administration to scrutinize any effort by Merck to win added patent protection for its blockbuster Keytruda cancer treatment over concerns the company may abuse the U.S. patent system. (Silverman, 2/23)

In other news —

The New York Times: After Long Delay, Moderna Pays N.I.H. For Covid Vaccine Technique
As Moderna racked up tens of billions of dollars in sales of its coronavirus vaccine, the company held off on paying for the rights to a chemical technique that scientists said it had borrowed from government-funded research and used in its wildly successful shot. But Moderna and the government have now reached an agreement. The company said on Thursday that it had made a $400 million payment for the technique that will be shared by the National Institutes of Health and two American universities where the method was invented. (Mueller, 2/23)

The Hill: Progressives Call On FDA To Take Further Action On Cold And Flu Medicines Shortage
A group of progressive lawmakers have asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to further its efforts to address the shortage of over-the-counter flu and cold medicines, proposing a number of updated measures to improve accessibility. In a letter to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, six Democratic House members stated that despite improvements that have been made in the shortages of ibuprofen and acetaminophen, concerns still remain. (Choi, 2/23)

Politico: EPA Faces Suit Over Widely Used Carcinogen's Risk Value
A Texas-based multinational company is contesting EPA's recent decision to stand by a 2016 determination that dramatically darkened the agency's appraisal of the cancer risk posed by a widely used organic chemical compound. (Reilly, 2/23)

Fierce Healthcare: CMS Wants More Data Before Rethinking Alzheimer's Drug Coverage
CMS said in a statement that it "regrets" that the coverage decision could not be broader, but data on these drugs do not do enough to answer the agency's key questions. "After careful review of the request and supporting documentation, we are making this decision because, as of the date of this letter, there is not yet evidence meeting the criteria for reconsideration," CMS said. (Minemyer, 2/23)

KHN: Senators Have Mental Health Crises, Too
Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress reacted with compassion to the news that Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) has checked himself into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for treatment of clinical depression. The reaction is a far cry from what it would have been 20 or even 10 years ago, as more politicians from both parties are willing to admit they are humans with human frailties. (Rovner, 2/23)

Fox News: Most US States Failing To Protect Schools' Water From Lead Contaminants, Study Finds
Could drinking from the school’s water fountain put your child’s health at risk? The odds are higher than parents might think, according to a new report from the Environment America Research & Policy Center in Denver, Colorado, called "Get the Lead Out." (Rudy, 2/23)

Politico: 27 States Earn F For Lead In School Drinking Water
While a number of states have significantly reduced child lead exposure through infrastructure upgrades and water treatment efforts in recent years, major exposure risks remain. Released Thursday by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) Education Fund along with the Environment America Research & Policy Center, the new analysis found that children are still widely at risk when they consume drinking water at school, due largely to policy gaps. (Crunden, 2/23)

On other public health developments —

AP: US Ending Extra Help For Groceries That Started During COVID
Nearly 30 million Americans who got extra government help with grocery bills during the pandemic will soon see that aid shrink — and there’s a big push to make sure they’re not surprised. Officials in 32 states and other jurisdictions have been using texts, voicemails, snail mail, flyers and social media posts — all in multiple languages — to let recipients know that their extra food stamps end after February’s payments. (Aleccia, 2/23)

Axios: Medicaid For Food Pilot Programs Draw Mixed Reviews
Advocates, analysts and policymakers are giving mixed reviews to the Biden administration's move to let states use Medicaid funds for food. Some are glad that Medicaid will be available as an additional tool to address food insecurity and diet-related health conditions, but others see expanding programs like SNAP as the priority ahead of a looming hunger cliff. (Horn-Muller, 2/24)

Fox News: Ozempic Is A ‘Band-Aid’ On The Root Of Childhood Obesity: Toxic Food, Former Pharma Consultant Says
A former Coca-Cola and pharmaceutical consultant said the push to put kids on weight-loss drugs ignores what he calls the root issue behind obesity — added sugars and processed food — and will fail to prevent more people from developing the disease. The American Academy of Pediatrics' (AAP) released guidelines last month encouraging pediatricians to be more proactive in fighting childhood obesity, with treatments including rigorous lifestyle changes or even weight loss drugs, or in some cases, surgery for children as young as 12. Calley Means, who co-founded a company that promotes food as medicine, blamed added sugar that food manufacturers put in products to increase flavor or extend shelf life for the rise in obesity along with other chronic diseases. (Sahakian, 2/23)

The Washington Post: Wild Swings In Weather Can Take A Health Toll
Lily Pien, an allergist at the Cleveland Clinic, drove to work earlier this week in snow and hail. The next day it was 65 degrees and sunny. This weather whiplash had her bracing for an influx of patients seeking relief for their suddenly suffering noses. “My schedule is filled up,” she said. “As the weather changes, so does my patient load and their nasal symptoms.” (Cimons, 2/23)

CNN: Sleep This Way To Add Years To Your Life
Want to live longer? Then prioritize sleep in your life: Following five good sleep habits added nearly five years to a man’s life expectancy and almost 2.5 years to a woman’s life, a new study found. “If people have all these ideal sleep behaviors, they are more likely to live longer,” said study coauthor Dr. Frank Qian, a clinical fellow in medicine at Harvard Medical School and internal medicine resident physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. (LaMotte, 2/24)

In news about influenza —

Philadelphia Inquirer: Flu Vaccines Helped Reduce Children's Risk Of Hospitalization By About 75% This Year, CDC Studies Show
Children who were received the latest flu vaccines were less likely to get sick enough to end up in a hospital, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday, underscoring the value of vaccines after this year’s cold weather season saw local children’s hospital ERs overwhelmed by a “tridemic” wave of respiratory illnesses. This year’s flu vaccines were particularly effective for children, reducing their risk of hospitalization and emergency department visits, the CDC found in new data released this week. (Whelan, 2/23)

Reuters: Flu Experts Gather With H5N1 Risk On The Agenda
The world's leading experts on influenza met this week to discuss the threat posed to humans by a strain of H5N1 avian flu that has caused record numbers of bird deaths around the world in recent months. The group of scientists, regulators and vaccine manufacturers meets twice a year to decide which strain of seasonal flu to include in the vaccine for the upcoming winter season, in this case for the northern hemisphere. (Rigby, 2/24)

Fierce Healthcare: Google, Microsoft Execs Say Bias Must Be Addressed To Expand AI
As new generative AI models like ChatGPT gain popularity, some experts are saying that to ensure such tools work in healthcare, implicit racial biases baked into health data must be accounted for. Officials with Google and Microsoft discussed the use of AI in healthcare during the Healthcare Datapalooza event held Thursday in Arlington, Virginia. There is a lot of excitement around the potential for AI models like ChatGPT—a chatbot that crunches massive data sets to generate text, video and code—for healthcare use cases. (King, 2/23)

On research relating to covid —

CIDRAP: Celebrity Tweets Swayed US Public Opinion Toward Pandemic Efforts, Study Suggests
US celebrity Twitter posts—especially those from politicians and news anchors—likely influenced the increasingly negative US public attitudes toward efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study published this week in BMJ Health & Care Informatics. (Van Beusekom, 2/23)

CIDRAP: Long COVID May Double Risk Of New Heart Conditions
COVID-19 survivors with persistent symptoms are at more than double the risk of new-onset cardiovascular symptoms, suggests a meta-analysis to be presented Mar 6 at the American College of Cardiology (ACC)/World Congress of Cardiology Annual Scientific Session in New Orleans. (Van Beusekom, 2/23)

In other scientific, innovative health news —

CIDRAP: California Animal Law May Have Led To Less Drug Resistance In Human E Coli Infections
A California law that banned the routine use of medically important antibiotics for disease prevention in food-animal production was associated with a reduction in one type of antibiotic-resistant infection in people, researchers reported yesterday in Environmental Health Perspectives. (Dall, 2/23)

CIDRAP: Study Links Acid Suppressants To Colonization With Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria
A new study suggests that medications used to control heartburn and other gastrointestinal issues may increase the risk of acquiring multidrug-resistant bacteria in hospital patients. The study, published today in JAMA Network Open, found that hospitalized patients using proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) had a nearly 50% increased risk of acquiring extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)- or carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales, with a slightly higher risk among patients who used PPIs twice a day. (Dall, 2/23)

St. Louis Public Radio: Aural Diversity Studies Hearing Differences In Humans 
Stephanie Gurley-Thomas could always tell that something was off with her hearing, but she didn’t know what. “When I was 15, I had a staph infection in my ankle. We ended up having an ototoxic drug to clean it out,” she said. “Ototoxic means it's poisonous to your ear, basically.” Her symptoms gradually worsened, but because she was quite young, she didn’t consider that hearing loss might be the culprit. (Rogers, 2/23)

Reuters: Humana To Exit Employer Insurance Business To Focus On Government Plans
Humana Inc (HUM.N) will exit the employer-based insurance business over the next 18 to 24 months, it said on Thursday, to focus primarily on government-backed programs such as Medicare for people aged 65 and older and its specialty businesses. (2/23)

AP: Insurer Humana Lays Out Employer-Sponsored Coverage Exit
The health insurer Humana will stop providing employer-sponsored commercial coverage as it focuses on bigger parts of its business, like Medicare Advantage. The insurer said Thursday it will leave the business over the next 18 to 24 months. It includes medical coverage provided through private companies and for federal government employees. (Murphy, 2/23)

Meanwhile, in other industry news —

Modern Healthcare: Amazon Evolved Its Healthcare Strategy. Here's How It Happened
Amazon has not been shy about its intentions to disrupt healthcare. The tech giant’s $3.9 billion acquisition of primary care company One Medical, which closed Wednesday, is the latest in a series of moves from a company determined to stake its claim in healthcare. (Turner and Hudson, 2/23)

Fierce Healthcare: SimpliFed Teams Up With National Breast Pump Provider Byram To Expand Access
SimpliFed, a virtual platform for baby feeding services, has teamed up with Byram Healthcare, a supplier of breast pumps, to expand access to breastfeeding support. Through the partnership, new and expecting parents will have access to virtual support to navigate breast pump selection and use as well as for breastfeeding. (Gliadkovskaya, 2/23)

Stat: DaVita Faces Another Probe Over Ties To Kidney Care Charity 
The Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia is investigating DaVita, one of the largest dialysis providers in the country, and its ties to the nonprofit American Kidney Fund. (Herman, 2/23)

Fierce Healthcare: Teladoc Sinks $13.7B Loss In 2022 Tied To Plummeting Value Of Livongo Acquisition
Teladoc Health reported a historic loss of $13.7 billion in 2022, mostly from a write-off related to the plummeting value of its Livongo acquisition. The telehealth company pulled in $2.4 billion in 2022 revenue, up 18% from $2 billion in revenue the prior year, executives reported during its fourth-quarter earnings call on Wednesday. By comparison, in 2021, Teladoc posted a net loss of $429 million. (Landi, 2/23)

Reuters: Biotech Firms Redx Pharma And Jounce Therapeutics To Merge In $425 Mln Deal
British biotech firm Redx Pharma plc and U.S.-based Jounce Therapeutics Inc will merge to create a $425 million entity specialised in treating cancer and fibrotic disease. (2/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Moderna’s Earnings, Revenue Fall On Fewer Covid Vaccine Sales
The pharmaceutical company, based in Cambridge, Mass., on Thursday said a decrease in volumes for its Covid-19 vaccine pushed sales 29% lower to $5.1 billion in the last three months of 2022, which still topped analyst expectations for $5.02 billion, according to FactSet. (Loftus and Seal, 2/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Waning Covid Fears Push Test Maker Lucira To File For Bankruptcy
Lucira Health Inc., a publicly traded maker of at-home Covid-19 testing kits, has filed for bankruptcy, saying an easing of pandemic restrictions has lowered demand for its products. Lucira, which lists $145.9 million in assets and $84.7 million in debt, said Wednesday it will look for a buyer while continuing to serve customers during chapter 11 proceedings in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. (Yerak, 2/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Israel-Based Healthcare Investor AMoon Expands To Boston, Is Raising Growth Fund
AMoon Fund, an Israel-based venture investor that has backed high-profile U.S. healthcare companies such as Ultima Genomics Inc., has opened a Boston office and raised $340 million toward its second growth fund. (Gormley, 2/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Wall Street Backs New Class Of Psychedelic Drugs
Transcend Therapeutics Inc. raised $40 million from venture-capital investors in January to develop a post-traumatic stress disorder treatment that its 29-year-old CEO Blake Mandell says would require about half the amount of therapy as MDMA, or ecstasy, a popular hallucinogen. Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Lusaris Therapeutics Inc. have announced capital raises of about $100 million since November for similar products addressing depression.  (Wirz, 2/23)

St. Louis Public Radio: Wash U Medicine And Race Forum To Focus On Health Disparities
Doctors and scholars in the St. Louis region say medical professionals must acknowledge the area’s racist history to help eliminate health care inequities. St. Louis’ history of racism, health disparities and the use of activism and art in medicine are among the topics that researchers, doctors, scholars and community leaders will discuss Saturday at the Medicine, Race, and Ethnicity in St. Louis forum at Washington University in St. Louis. (Henderson, 2/24)

On new FDA approvals for treatments —

Reuters: U.S. FDA Approves Sanofi's Bleeding Disorder Therapy
U.S. health regulators have approved Sanofi SA's therapy to treat a type of inherited bleeding disorder known as hemophilia A, the French drugmaker said on Thursday, and expects to launch it in the United States in April. With the Food and Drug Administration's approval, Sanofi's replacement therapy – brand named Altuviiio – enters a market dominated by rivals like Shire, Bayer AG and Novo Nordisk which sell factor replacement therapies that have been the standard treatment for decades. (Roy and Mandowara, 2/23)

FiercePharma: Sanofi And Sobi's Altuviiio Scores FDA Nod For Hemophilia A
Sanofi and partner Sobi are coming back to the hemophilia A market with a vengeance after Roche’s Hemlibra ate up sales of their aging Eloctate. Thursday, the duo scored an FDA approval for hemophilia A treatment Altuviiio almost a week ahead of schedule. (Becker, 2/23)

Axios: Primary Care Shortages Persist, Widening Workforce Gaps
Medical students aren't flocking to primary care, despite an uptick in applicants to schools and congressional efforts to boost residency slots, data show. While the pandemic drove home the importance of preventive care, many residents continue to flock to higher-paying specialties, potentially leaving gaps in care and big holes in the medical workforce. (Dreher, 2/23)

Modern Healthcare: Kaiser Permanente’s Consolidation Plan Relocates 1,200 Employees
Kaiser Permanente is relocating 10% of its workforce -- about 1,200 employees -- from its regional headquarters in Oakland, California, as part of a larger office consolidation plan, the system confirmed Thursday. The integrated nonprofit said it will move the employees to its campus in Pleasanton, California, in early 2024, significantly reducing annual costs. Most of the administrative employees at Kaiser's regional office will continue to work remotely. The main headquarters will remain in downtown Oakland, where other national employees will be centralized. (Hudson, 2/23)

Yahoo News: 1600 Frontline Doctors Seek To Unionize To Bolster Patient Care
More than a thousand frontline doctors in New York and California say their ability to deliver quality patient care is suffering amid burnout caused by poor working conditions, low wages, excessive workloads, and unaddressed mental health needs—a major cause of soaring doctor suicides. (2/23)

Buffalo News: 'Overworked And Underpaid': University At Buffalo Resident Doctors And Fellows Launch Union Campaign
Medical residencies have always been known for long hours, grueling conditions and comparatively low pay as physicians-in-training gain crucial experience and find the specialty that is right for them. But all across the country, resident physicians are starting to organize in an effort to improve their working conditions and boost patient care. That movement has now come to Buffalo. (Harris, 2/22)

Meanwhile, in news on nursing home staffing —

KHN: California Dangles Bonuses For Nursing Homes That Add Staff
California is revamping how it rewards nursing homes to get them to improve patient care. Rather than limit bonuses to top-performing facilities, the state will hand out additional Medicaid payments next year to nursing homes — even low-rated ones — that hire additional workers, reduce staff turnover, or improve quality of care. Facilities will be scored on their performance so facilities that do more will earn larger bonuses. And to ensure an acceptable level of care, the state will sanction facilities that fail to meet clinical and quality standards for patients. (Young, 2/24)

KHN: Montana Seeks To Insulate Nursing Homes From Future Financial Crises
Wes Thompson, administrator of Valley View Home in the northeastern Montana town of Glasgow, believes the only reasons his skilled nursing facility has avoided the fate of the 11 nursing homes that closed in the state last year are local tax levies and luck. (Larson, 2/24)

The Hill: Ohio Lieutenant Governor To East Palestine Residents: ‘If You Feel Unsafe, You Should Drink Bottled Water’
“If you feel unsafe, you should drink bottled water,” Husted said on “CNN This Morning.” “I was there, talked with the mayor, the fire chief, the police chief, all the first responders who are right there on the scene. The fire station is literally within within a stone’s throw of the railroad itself. And they were concerned about misinformation about their water.” (Sforza, 2/23)

Politico: Overheated Wheels: Feds Release Preliminary Report On Toxic Train Crash
No one died in the wreck, and there were no serious injuries, but the fire and the Biden administration’s response have become a political flashpoint. More than a thousand people were evacuated; residents and local officials remain concerned about the long-term health effects of the chemicals that were spilled into a creek and released into the air during the fire. (Lee, 2/23)

On developments in New York —

Politico: Adams’ Mental Health Agenda To Focus On Harm Reduction And Nontraditional Approaches
Mayor Eric Adams is poised to roll out a wide-ranging mental health plan that would triple the capacity of so-called clubhouses for people with severe mental illness, launch a virtual mental health care platform for teens and bolster harm reduction services in neighborhoods like the South Bronx and upper Manhattan. (Kaufman, 2/23)

Politico: Only Half Of NYC Toddlers Received Timely Services For Developmental Delays, Report Says
Just half of New York City children under age three received timely early intervention services for developmental delays, according to a new analysis. (Touré, 2/23)

In other health-related news from across the country —

Reuters: Ransomware Gang Leaked Los Angeles Student Health Records Online
Health records for about 2,000 current and former Los Angeles school students have been published to the dark web following a ransomware attack last year, the school district said in a statement on Wednesday.vThe "assessment records," which could include mental health, attendance, disciplinary and academic results, were stolen in a September 2022 cyber attack, Jack Kelanic, a senior IT administrator for the district, told Reuters after an education news site posted redacted copies of purported student mental health records online. (Smalley, 2/23)

Reuters: First Zantac Cancer Risk Trial In California Postponed By Months
The first scheduled trial over claims that GSK Plc's (GSK.L) heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer, which had been set to begin Monday, has been postponed, likely by several months. (Pierson, 2/23)

The Texas Tribune: Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan Releases First 2023 Legislative Priorities
House Speaker Dade Phelan on Thursday unveiled four of his priority bills for the legislative session, which included Democratic goals like the expansion of Medicaid eligibility for new mothers to one year and the exemption of feminine hygiene products and diapers from sales taxes, in a nod to the bipartisan tone he has set for the chamber. (Barragan, 2/23)

North Carolina Health News: Medicaid Expansion Could Help Uninsured Former Inmates
The memory of a patient who visited Prospect Hill Community Health Center in 2015 for a medical appointment has stayed with family medicine doctor Evan Ashkin all these years. He was a Black man, in his mid-30s, who’d been brought to see Ashkin by a concerned aunt. The patient had been incarcerated for several years, and the visit was his first connection to health care since his release — two years earlier. (Crumpler, 2/24)

Politico: Air Quality Worries Spur Push To Freeze N.M. Oil, Gas Permits
A Western environmental group is seeking a freeze on new oil and gas production and processing permits in New Mexico after EPA recently objected to the use of one common feature in the state's handling of emission limits. Should state regulators grant the group's request, it could at least temporarily chill booming energy development in the state, which ranks near the top nationally in both oil and gas production. (Reilly, 2/23)

Kansas City Star: KS Senate Passes Bill Limiting Power Of Public Health Officials
The Kansas Senate Thursday voted to pass a bill which would restrict the power of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to enforce and adopt rules and regulations to prevent the spread of disease. The KDHE secretary would only be able to recommend rules and regulations. (Barackman, 2/23)

Connecticut Public: CT Emergency Rooms Are Overcrowded. Lawmakers Want To Study It
A temporary structure set up to manage overcrowding at emergency departments remains in place nearly two years later at Yale New Haven Hospital and Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital. It’s a result of an overcrowding problem, and it’s affecting hospitals across Connecticut, physicians say. (Srinivasan, 2/23)

Reuters: Tennessee Takes Lead In Republican Effort To Restrict Drag Shows
The lawmakers also voted to send a bill to the governor that bans doctors from providing gender-affirming medical treatment such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery, for transgender minors. Tennessee, like other states, already has public indecency and obscenity laws that ban excessively violent or sexual performances in front of minors, regardless of the performer's gender. Drag performances typically do not involve nudity or stripping. (Allen, 2/23)

AP: Indiana House Advances Bill That Could Out Trans Students
Indiana House Republicans advanced a bill Thursday that would require public school teachers to tell parents about students’ social transitions and pronoun changes — a bill that some worry would erode student-teacher trust and force children to come out to their parents prematurely. Republicans — who say the bill expands parents’ ability to decide how their children are raised — pushed ahead with the bill while all Democrats voted against it. (Rodgers, 2/23)

AP: Utah Lawmakers Punt On Magic Mushroom Therapy Proposal
A pilot program in Utah that would have allowed thousands of patients to consume psychedelic mushrooms for therapeutic use failed to advance in the state Senate on Wednesday, effectively ending its chances of passage as lawmakers prepare to adjourn for the year next week. The Senate’s health and human services committee neither advanced nor rejected the measure, with Republican leaders proposing more time to examine the issue. (Metz, 2/23)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Department Of Health To Close State Center COVID-19 Testing And Vaccination Site
The COVID-19 testing and vaccination site at Baltimore’s State Center complex will close after Saturday as the Maryland Department of Health scales back services offered throughout the nearly three years of the pandemic. The site in Madison Park, the only state-run testing and vaccination site in Baltimore, has completed more than 40,000 COVID tests and more than 12,000 vaccinations over the past 16 months, according to a news release from MDH announcing the close. (Belson, 2/22)

The Washington Post: Key Lessons From Recent Measles And Marburg Outbreaks
Measles is one of the most contagious respiratory viruses — even more so than the highly transmissible coronavirus variants. An unvaccinated person has a 90 percent chance of contracting measles if they are around someone infected with it. (Leana S. Wen, 2/23)

The Tennessean: Tennessee’s Near-Complete Abortion Ban Is Dangerous
Tennessee's near-complete abortion ban is creating shockwaves throughout the health care provider community. (Carole R. Myers and Tracey Stansberry, 2/23)

Dallas Morning News: Texas Lawmakers Can Make Employer-Provided Health Insurance More Affordable
As the chief executive of the Texas Association of Business, I continually hear from employers that the rising cost of health care is unsustainable and it is an ongoing barrier to providing health insurance to employees. It’s been the top concern of small business owners since 1986. (Glan Hamer, 2/24)

Stat: To Fix U.S. Public Health, Physicians Need To Take A Backseat
A classic warning in public health goes like this: “A society that spends so much on health care that it cannot or will not spend adequately on other health enhancing activities may actually be reducing the health of its population. ”No nation is as guilty of this practice as the United States, with its extremely high health expenditures alongside abysmal population-level health outcomes. (Eric Reinhart, 2/24)

Stat: Getting Health Companies To Play Fair With Patient Data 
As a health policy wonk and health economist who has worked in pharmaceutical companies in the United States, Latin America, and Europe, I’ve seen vast volumes of data generated, gathered, aggregated, analyzed, shared, and resold by health care companies and organizations. In my studies with the world’s top medical statistics experts at the University of Oxford’s Centre for Evidence Based Medicine, I’ve also seen how flawed many datasets are, missing critical data pieces and definitions, and yet still used by the industry to make key decisions. (Jennifer Hinkel, 2/24)

The New York Times: Don’t Let Politics Cloud Your View Of What’s Going On With Teens And Depression 
Last year, a study came out showing that left-leaning adolescents were experiencing a greater increase in depression than their more conservative peers. Indeed, while girls are more likely to be depressed than boys, the study, by a group of epidemiologists at Columbia, showed that liberal boys had higher rates of depression than conservative girls. (Michelle Goldberg, 2/24)

Chicago Tribune: Teenage Mental Health Crisis: The Kids Are Not OK 
In October 2021, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Children’s Hospital Association declared a national emergency in children’s mental health, citing the serious toll of the pandemic on top of other challenges. (Stephen J. Lyons, 2/24)

Dallas Morning News: Teen Girls Are Reporting Record Rates Of Depression
A study from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention this month revealed some alarming statistics about the rapidly declining mental health of teenage girls, stating that nearly 3 in 5 U.S. teen girls felt persistently sad or hopeless in 2021. (Doug Newton, 2/23)

The Tennessean: Why Behavioral Health Care Remains A Struggle For Some Tennesseans
Many Black Americans are at increased risk for depression, stress and anxiety. However, the idea of seeking behavioral health services like therapy and medication may not receive a warm reception in some African-American families. (Andrea Willis, 2/24)