The Hill: O'Rourke: Decisions On Late-Term Abortions 'Best Left To A Woman And Her Doctor' 
Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), who announced his presidential candidacy last week, said Tuesday he would not infringe on a woman’s right to seek an abortion in a pregnancy’s third trimester. “I think those decisions are best left to a woman and her doctor. I know better than to assume anything about a woman’s decision, an incredibly difficult decision, when it comes to her reproductive rights,” O’Rourke said to applause during a campaign stop at The Pennsylvania State University. (Axelrod, 3/19)

In other news on abortions —

The Associated Press: Mississippi Senate OKs Ban On Abortion After Fetal Heartbeat
Mississippi senators on Tuesday passed the final version of a bill that would ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, about six weeks into pregnancy. Republican Gov. Phil Bryant promises he will sign the bill , which will give Mississippi one of the nation's most restrictive abortion laws. The 34-15 Senate vote was largely along party lines, with most Republicans voting yes and most Democrats voting no. (3/19)

The New York Times: F.D.A. Approves First Drug For Postpartum Depression
The first drug for women suffering postpartum depression received federal approval on Tuesday, a move likely to pave the way for a wave of treatments to address a debilitating condition that is the most common complication of pregnancy. The drug works very quickly, within 48 hours — a significant improvement over currently available antidepressants, which can take two to four weeks to have an effect, if they work at all. (Belluck, 3/19)

The Associated Press: FDA Approves Drug For Treating Postpartum Depression
Sage said Zulresso will cost $34,000 without insurance, plus costs for staying in a hospital or infusion center. Whether the treatment gets covered by insurance is determined by each insurance company, which also sets the out-of-pocket costs, depending on the plan. In a company-funded study of new mothers with moderate or severe postpartum depression, half the women given Zulresso had depression end within 2 ½ days, about double the rate of those in a comparison group given dummy treatments. (3/19)

The Washington Post: First Drug Specifically For Postpartum Depression Is Approved
Tiffany Farchione, acting director of the psychiatry products division at FDA, said in a statement that the medication represented “an important new treatment option” for a potentially life-threatening condition. The drug, she said, is administered intravenously for 60 continuous hours. The approval requires that it be administered under strict safety conditions because of concerns it can cause “excessive sedation and sudden loss of consciousness.” The drug will be available to patients only through a restricted distribution program at certified facilities — such as doctors’ offices or clinics — where health-care providers can carefully monitor the patient. It will carry a “boxed warning,” which is the strongest warning required by the FDA. (McGinley and Bernstein, 3/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Sage Therapeutics’ Drug For Postpartum Depression Gets FDA Nod
This is the second new depression drug the Food and Drug Administration has approved in March after decades that saw no major new treatments. The agency recently cleared Johnson & Johnson’s Spravato, which works differently than older medicines to treat depression in patients who have tried previous treatments but didn’t improve. Zulresso, also known as brexanolone, is designed to work differently than some of the older antidepressants. Studies showed that Zulresso did better at easing depressive symptoms in patients soon after dosing and when measured at 30 days after the treatment, compared with a placebo. (Loftus, 3/19)

Stat: FDA Approves First New Drug Developed For Postpartum Depression 
The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved brexanolone, the first drug specifically targeted to treat postpartum depression — the most common complication of childbirth. Yet it’s a condition that often goes untreated because new mothers fear being stigmatized if they report symptoms. Brexanolone is the first drug developed by and approved from Sage Therapeutics. The Cambridge, Mass.-based biotech company will market the new medicine under the brand name Zulresso. (Feuerstein, 3/19)

In other news —

The New York Times: Reports Of Breast Implant Illnesses Prompt Federal Review
Reports from thousands of women that breast implants are causing problems like debilitating joint pain and fatigue, claims long dismissed by the medical profession, are receiving new attention from the Food and Drug Administration and researchers. This may be a long-awaited moment of validation for tens of thousands of women who have been brushed off as neurotic, looking to cash in on lawsuits or just victims of chance who coincidentally became ill while having implants. (Grady and Rabin, 3/19)

Bloomberg: Scott Gottlieb: FDA May Need To Pull Nicotine Vape Pods 
With weeks to go in his tenure atop the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Scott Gottlieb squared off with two companies at the center of his efforts to halt a surge in teen vaping. Gottlieb, who plans to leave his post April 5, said at an event in Washington that he had a contentious meeting last week with executives from Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc. and Juul Labs Inc. Late last year, Altria took a $12.8 billion stake in Juul, maker of a popular vaping device, at the same time that the companies had promised to increase efforts to keep kids from getting hooked on e-cigarettes. (Edney, 3/19)

Modern Healthcare: More HIV Drug Development Is Focus Of New FDA Policy
The Food and Drug Administration finalized two guidances to support drugmakers developing new versions of HIV antiretroviral medications, HHS Secretary Alex Azar said on Tuesday. Pledging to make eliminating the HIV epidemic a priority of his tenure, Azar said the FDA guidances focus on drugs to treat pediatric HIV infections as well as new long-acting forms of pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. (Johnson, 3/19)

The Associated Press: UN: Gene Editing For Human Reproduction Is 'Irresponsible'
A panel convened by the World Health Organization said it would be "irresponsible" for scientists to use gene editing for reproductive purposes, but stopped short of calling for a ban. The experts also called for the U.N. health agency to create a database of scientists working on gene editing. The recommendation was announced Tuesday after a two-day meeting in Geneva to examine the scientific, ethical, social and legal challenges of such research. (Keaton and Cheng, 3/19)

The New York Times: W.H.O. Panel Demands A Registry For Human Gene Editing
The committee was created in the wake of the birth of the first gene-edited babies — the result of an experiment by a Chinese scientist, He Jiankui, who genetically altered human embryos and implanted them in a woman who gave birth to twins last fall. His actions stirred alarm among other researchers, ethicists and policymakers, because so little is known about the safety and health effects of editing the genome of a human embryo. Many fear that the technology could be misused to create “designer babies” genetically altered to heighten physical features, intelligence or athletic prowess. (Belluck, 3/19)

The Washington Post: Chickenpox Outbreak At Kentucky's Assumption Academy Leads To Religious Freedom Lawsuit
Bill Kunkel used to vaccinate his children, before he read where some vaccines come from. He is skeptical of the pharmaceutical industry’s motives and came across anti-vaxxer theories online, though they aren’t supported by science. But his main objection is about abortion. Decades ago, cells were taken from legally aborted fetuses to create some vaccines. Kunkel is Catholic. Vaccines derived from an abortion are, in his mind but not the church’s, immoral. So he and his wife chose not to vaccinate their fourth child, Jerome. (Mettler, 3/19)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Chickenpox Vaccine And Abortion: A Link From The 1960s Brings Lawsuit
Chickenpox is raging through Assumption Academy in the Boone County city of Walton. Since early February, more than 30 students, or 13 percent of the student body, have developed the highly contagious illness. Officials with Northern Kentucky Health Department ordered school events canceled until the outbreak is brought under control. (Saker, 3/19)

CNN: Her Son Died. And Then Anti-Vaxers Attacked Her
Not long ago, a 4-year-old boy died of the flu. His mother, under doctor's orders, watched his two little brothers like a hawk, terrified they might get sick and die, too. Grieving and frightened, just days after her son's death she checked her Facebook page hoping to read messages of comfort from family and friends. Instead, she found dozens of hateful comments: You're a terrible mother. You killed your child. You deserved what happened to your son. This is all fake - your child doesn't exist. Bewildered and rattled, she closed her Facebook app. (Cohen and Bonifield, 3/19)

And in other news —

Stat: What Was It Like When Mumps Was Rampant? Ask Greg
Today, thanks to vaccines, the number of annual mumps cases ranges from hundreds to a few thousand, depending on whether there’s a big outbreak. Measles, a more dangerous disease, is even more rare — a super bad year, like 2014, saw 667 cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Still, numbers like these make experts worry that the rise of anti-vaccine sentiment is threatening the herd immunity used to keep vaccine-preventable diseases in check. (Branswell, 3/20)

California Healthline: Does It Make Sense To Delay Children’s Vaccines?
When Elyse Imamura’s son was an infant, she and her husband, Robert, chose to spread out his vaccinations at a more gradual pace than the official schedule recommended. “I was thinking, ‘OK, we’re going to do this,’” says Imamura, 39, of Torrance, Calif. “‘But we’re going to do it slower so your body gets acclimated and doesn’t face six different things all of a sudden.’”Seven years later, Imamura says her son, Amaru, is a “very healthy,” active boy who loves to play sports. (Wolfson, 3/19)

The CT Mirror: This Kennedy Embraces Science On Climate, Not Vaccines
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s voice quavered Tuesday as he denounced the makers of childhood vaccines and the institutions he sees as their collaborators. It’s a long list. Among others, it includes the Centers for Disease Control, the World Health Organization, the Food and Drug Administration, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Democratic Party and the media. (Pazniokas, 3/19)

The New York Times: Monsanto Weedkiller Roundup Was ‘Substantial Factor’ In Causing Man’s Cancer, Jury Says
A federal jury found Tuesday that Monsanto’s popular weedkiller Roundup was a “substantial factor” in causing a California man’s cancer, dealing a significant blow to the company as it aggressively defends its products against thousands of similar claims. The six-member jury delivered the unanimous verdict in the United States District Court in San Francisco, months after a groundskeeper who said Roundup caused his cancer was awarded about $80 million in a separate case in California. (Zaveri, 3/19)

Reuters: Second U.S. Jury Finds Bayer's Roundup Caused Cancer
Bayer, which denies allegations that glyphosate or Roundup cause cancer, in a statement on Tuesday said it was disappointed with the jury's initial decision. Bayer acquired Monsanto, the longtime maker of Roundup, for $63 billion last year. "We are confident the evidence in phase two will show that Monsanto's conduct has been appropriate and the company should not be liable for Mr. Hardeman's cancer," the company said. (3/20)

San Francisco Chronicle: Monsanto’s Roundup Found By Jury To Be Likely Cause Of Cancer In Second Bay Area Man
The jury returns Wednesday to hear evidence on whether Monsanto is legally responsible for Hardeman’s cancer and, if so, determine the amount of damages he should receive. The case is one of three “bellwether” trials scheduled before U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria and could establish guidelines for settlements of about 760 cases against Monsanto from around the nation that have been transferred to his court, and more than 10,000 pending elsewhere. (Egelko, 3/19)

St. Louis Public Radio: Federal Jury Finds Bayer's Roundup Weed Killer Caused A California Man’s Cancer
Hardeman’s lawyers plan to discuss research on the harmful effects of glyphosate, the key ingredient in Roundup, in the second phase of the trial. The International Agency for Research on Cancer, a part of the World Health Organization, reported in 2015 that the chemical likely causes cancer. However, the Environmental Protection Agency released an assessment in 2017 that concluded that glyphosate is not carcinogenic. (Chen, 3/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Jury Finds Bayer’s Roundup Weedkiller Caused Man’s Cancer
Analysts and investors had seen Bayer at an advantage in this second trial after U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria agreed to split the evidence into two phases, with the first focusing solely on whether Roundup and its active ingredient, glyphosate, are carcinogenic. In the first phase, jurors didn’t hear allegations that the company hid dangers about its product from the public. Bayer faces lawsuits in the U.S. from about 11,200 farmers, home gardeners and landscapers claiming its glyphosate-based herbicides cause non-Hodgkin lymphoma and other cancers. Six more trials are due to start this year in federal and state courts. (Randazzo and Bender, 3/20)

CNN: Monsanto's Roundup Was Likely The Cause Of A Second Man's Cancer, Jury Says. Thousands More Cases Await Trial
The first was on the state level, when 46-year-old Dewayne Johnson in California received an expedited trial because doctors said his terminal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was bringing him near death. While working as a groundskeeper for a school district near San Francisco, Johnson's attorneys said he applied Roundup weedkiller 20 to 30 times per year and had two accidents that resulted in him being soaked by the product. The first was two years before he was diagnosed with cancer. (Holcombe, 3/20)

Bloomberg: Bayer Slumps After Second Ruling Links Weed Killer To Cancer 
Bayer AG slumped after a second major defeat in U.S. litigation over claims that its Roundup weed killer causes cancer, shaving almost $8 billion from its market value and raising the likelihood of a costly settlement. The legal woes Bayer inherited with its acquisition of Monsanto Co. have hammered the company’s share price, which has dropped almost 30 percent since the $63 billion transaction was clinched in June, even as the company insists that the active ingredient in the herbicide is safe. (Rosenblatt and Loh, 3/19)

The Associated Press: Smoking Strong Pot Daily Raises Psychosis Risk, Study Finds
Smoking high-potency marijuana every day could increase the chances of developing psychosis by nearly five times, according to the biggest-ever study to examine the impact of pot on psychotic disorder rates. The research adds to previous studies that have found links between marijuana and mental health problems, but still does not definitively pinpoint marijuana as the cause. (3/19)

NPR: More Evidence Links Marijuana Use And Psychosis
Several past studies have found that more frequent use of pot is associated with a higher risk of psychosis, that is, when someone loses touch with reality. Now a new study published Tuesday in the The Lancet Psychiatry shows that consuming pot on a daily basis and especially using high potency cannabis increases the odds of having a psychotic episode later. "This is more evidence that the link between cannabis and psychosis matters," says Krista M. Lisdahl, a clinical neuropsychologist at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, who wasn't involved in the study. (Chatterjee, 3/19)

CNN: Using Cannabis Daily Or Using High Potency Weed Increases Your Risk Of Psychotic Disorder, Study Finds
"Psychotic disorder," precisely, is what was studied, said Dr. Marta Di Forti, lead author and a clinician scientist at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London. "We are talking about people who meet diagnostic criteria [and] come to the attention of mental health services to receive treatment for psychosis. So they have to have symptoms of psychosis across the spectrum -- so hallucination, delusion -- that have lasted at least for a week." (Scutti, 3/19)

Stat: Patients With FOP, A Grim Genetic Disease, See Hope On The Horizon
For decades, [fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva] was a medical curiosity, a disease without a treatment or even a biological explanation. But thanks to a well-organized patient group, some dedicated researchers, and a fair amount of scientific serendipity, the future of FOP could be unprecedentedly bright. ... There are three medicines now in human trials, the most advanced of which could win Food and Drug Administration approval next year. A community once relegated to what Kaplan calls “the backwaters of medicine” now sees a future in which a cocktail of therapies might arrest unwanted bone growth and halt FOP. (Garde, 3/20)

The New York Times: Why Lifting Weights Can Be So Potent For Aging Well
Weight training by older people may build not only strength and muscle mass but also motivation and confidence, potentially spurring them to continue exercising, according to an interesting new study of the emotional impacts of lifting weights. The findings intimate that people worried that they might be too old or inept to start resistance training should perhaps try it, to see how their bodies and minds respond. (Reynolds, 3/20)

NPR: Frans De Waal Explores Primate Emotions In 'Mama's Last Hug'
When Frans de Waal started studying nonhuman primates, in the Netherlands more than 40 years ago, he was told not to consider the emotions of the animals he was observing. "Thoughts and feelings — the mental processes basically — were off limits," he says. "We were told not to talk about them, because they were considered by many scientists as 'inner states' and you only were allowed to talk about 'outer states.' " (Gross, 3/19)

CNN: The 'Bliss Point,' Or Why You Can't Just Eat One Cookie Or Potato Chip
Have you ever found yourself staring at an empty bag of cookies you just devoured? Don't beat yourself up. Your brain is wired to eat that cookie -- and the next 10. It's as automatic a response as running away from a loud noise. But resisting the cookies (or chips, or cakes, or chocolate-covered pretzels) doesn't have to feel like a constant cage match between willpower and craving. You can use the same science that food manufacturers use to make junk foods biologically irresistible to your advantage. (Gillespie, 3/19)

The New York Times: Psychic Mediums Are The New Wellness Coaches
“Intuition is magical, but it’s not reserved for a couple of people,” said Laura Lynne Jackson, 46. She’s from Commack, N.Y., and makes her living as a psychic medium, and she was talking to hundreds who attended this year’s In Goop Health Summit in New York City (tickets start at $1000) who were there to learn how to tap into their inner intuition. “It’s for all of you,” she said. (Held, 3/19)

The New York Times: British Gallery Turns Down $1.3 Million Sackler Donation
Britain’s National Portrait Gallery said Tuesday that it was not accepting a long-discussed $1.3 million donation from a charitable arm of the Sackler family. The decision, reached by mutual agreement between the gallery and the Britain-based Sackler Trust, is the latest sign of the changing climate in the art world toward the family, which has links to the opioid crisis. Members of the family own Purdue Pharma, which makes OxyContin. (Marshall, 3/19)

The Wall Street Journal: London Museum Will Forgo Donation From Purdue Pharma’s Sackler Family
The London gallery had been reviewing the pledge, which was originally granted in 2016, as part of its standard process, a spokeswoman said. On Tuesday, the gallery, home to one of the largest collections of portraits in the world, and the trust said in a statement that the funding wouldn’t go forward. It had been intended for the Inspiring People project, the largest fundraising and development effort since the gallery’s building opened in 1896. “It has become evident that recent reporting of allegations made against Sackler family members may cause this new donation to deflect the National Portrait Gallery from its important work. The allegations against family members are vigorously denied, but to avoid being a distraction for the NPG, we have decided not to proceed at this time with the donation,” a representative for the trust said in a statement on the gallery’s website. (Hopkins, 3/19)

Stat: Plan For Sackler Family Gift To London National Portrait Gallery Is Dropped
Museums have faced increasing pressure over their acceptance of money from the Sackler family. Activist and photographer Nan Goldin, who has staged high-profile protests at museums and galleries bearing the Sackler name, has said she would not work with the National Portrait Gallery on a possible project if it took money from the Sackler Trust. At a protest last month at the Sackler Center for Arts Education at the Guggenheim in New York City, activists handed out fake prescriptions featuring emails from Richard Sackler, Purdue’s former president. The emails were uncovered amid an ongoing lawsuit by the state of Massachusetts against Purdue and some of the Sackler family. (Thielking, 3/19)

In other news on the epidemic —

NPR: Addiction Medicine Lures A New Generation Of Idealistic Doctors
The U.S. surgeon general's office estimates that more than 20 million people have a substance-use disorder. Meanwhile, the nation's drug overdose crisis shows no sign of slowing. Yet, by all accounts, there aren't nearly enough physicians who specialize in treating addiction — doctors with extensive clinical training who are board certified in addiction medicine. The opioid epidemic has made this doctor deficit painfully apparent. And it's spurring medical institutions across the United States to create fellowships for aspiring doctors who want to treat substance-use disorders with the same precision and science as other diseases. (Stone, 3/19)

Columbus Dispatch: Advocates Blast Licking County Health Board's Decision To Ban Needle-Exchange Programs
Protesters questioned the Licking County Board of Health on Tuesday night about why the board suddenly voted last month to ban all needle-exchange programs in the county. On Feb. 19, the board voted 8-0, with two members absent, to ban programs countywide after holding an executive session. The needle-exchange program was not on the meeting’s agenda, and there was no public discussion on the issue at the meeting. (Hendrix, 3/19)

St. Louis Public Radio: St. Louis Group Uses Retired Ambulance To Fight Addiction On The Street
The Missouri Network For Opiate Reform and Recovery will use the vehicle to dispense the overdose-reversal drug naloxone to active drug users and those in recovery. It also provides testing for sexually transmitted diseases such as hepatitis C and HIV and information about treatment programs. (Fentem, 3/19)

The New York Times: Wendy Williams Announces On TV She Is ‘Living In A Sober House’
The daytime talk show host Wendy Williams announced on her show on Tuesday that she was in rehab and staying in a sober-living facility. “You know me for being a very open and truthful person, and I’ve got more to the story for you,” Ms. Williams said to the camera, her voice breaking, while standing in the audience. “For some time now, and even today and beyond, I have been living in a sober house,” Ms. Williams said, holding back tears. (Garcia, 3/19)

ProPublica: University Of Illinois At Chicago Missed Warning Signs Of Research Going Awry, Letters Show
For a year, the University of Illinois at Chicago has downplayed its shortcomings in overseeing the work of a prominent child psychiatrist who violated research protocols and put vulnerable children with bipolar disorder at risk. But documents newly obtained by ProPublica Illinois show that UIC acknowledged to federal officials that it had missed several warning signs that Dr. Mani Pavuluri’s clinical trial on lithium had gone off track, eventually requiring the university to pay an unprecedented $3.1 million penalty to the federal government. (Cohen, 3/20)

In other news —

Modern Healthcare: Psychiatric Facilities Spend $1.7 Billion Complying With Regulations
Inpatient psychiatric facilities across the country face $1.7 billion a year in compliance costs stemming from outdated regulations and inconsistent surveys from private and state agencies, according to a new industry report released Tuesday. The biggest driver of regulatory costs for facilities is meeting requirements to lower ligature-risk points, which are areas where a patient can try to strangle themselves. (King, 3/19)

The CT Mirror: Public Option Health Insurance Bills Clear Committee
Legislation that would extend state health benefits to small businesses, nonprofits and individuals cleared a key hurdle Tuesday, winning a favorable vote from the Insurance and Real Estate Committee. Under two proposals, officials would open the state health plan to nonprofits and small companies – those with 50 or fewer employees – and form an advisory council to guide the development of a public option. (Carlesso, 3/19)

The CT Mirror: Undocumented Families, Advocates Press For Expansion Of State-Funded Health Care
Since she arrived in the United States two months ago, Gislene Batista has been unable to find work and has had no permanent place to live. But a more pressing issue has consumed her: Getting her 11-year daughter Emily, who has cerebral palsy, access to quality health care. (Carlesso, 3/19)

Georgia Health News: Improving Kids’ Bodies — And Minds — By Requiring Recess
House Bill 83 would make each elementary school establish daily recess for students in kindergarten through Grade 5. The bill “encourages’’ schools to make recess 30 minutes long.The recess proposal, though, has stalled in the General Assembly in previous years. (Miller, 3/19)

Boston Globe: Windfall, They Said. Why Massachusetts Marijuana Tax Collections Are Disappointing
Government leaders throughout Massachusetts envisioned dollar signs when marijuana legalization passed. Taxes would help fund the subway, police, and schools. But because of the slow rollout of pot stores and their far-flung locations, tax revenues have been disappointing so far. (Martin, 3/20)

The New York Times: How PG&E Ignored California Fire Risks In Favor Of Profits
Tower 27/222 looms almost 100 feet tall in the Sierra Nevada foothills, a hunk of steel that has endured through 18 United States presidents. The transmission lines that it supports keep electricity flowing to much of California. On the morning of Nov. 8, a live wire broke free of its grip. A power failure occurred on the line, affecting a single customer. But 15 minutes later, a fire was observed nearby. Within hours, flames engulfed the region, ultimately killing 85 and destroying the town of Paradise. The equipment belonged to the state’s biggest utility, Pacific Gas and Electric. To the company’s critics, the tower and its vulnerability reflect a broken safety culture. (Penn, Eavis and Glanz, 3/18)

The Associated Press: San Francisco Floats Ban On E-Cigarettes Pending US Review
San Francisco is trying to crack down on electronic cigarettes that critics say aggressively target kids, with an official on Tuesday proposed what's believed to be the first U.S. ban on their sale until the federal government regulates vaping products. City Attorney Dennis Herrera said San Francisco, Chicago and New York sent a joint letter demanding that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration evaluate the effect of e-cigarettes on public health. (3/19)

KQED: San Francisco Officials Propose Sweeping New E-Cigarette Restrictions
“These companies may hide behind the veneer of harm reduction, but let’s be clear, their product is addiction," said Herrera. "They’re in the business of getting people addicted or keeping them addicted.” ...The bill's authors emphasize that it would not be an outright ban on e-cigarettes, but rather a "prohibition" against products that "haven’t been reviewed by the FDA to confirm that they are appropriate for the protection of public health." (Wolfe and Green, 3/19)

Modern Healthcare: CHI Franciscan Settles Antitrust Lawsuit With Washington
Tacoma-based CHI Franciscan and the state of Washington settled an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the not-for-profit health system's affiliation with two Kitsap County physician groups raised prices and decreased competition, according to court records. Details of the settlement have not been formalized, but CHI Franciscan said in a statement that its affiliations with WestSound Orthopaedics and the Doctors Clinic will remain in place. The court removed WestSound from the lawsuit, per a March 1 filing, and officially ended the trial March 15. (Kacik, 3/19)

Wyoming Public Radio: Wyoming's Flu Season Isn't Over Yet
Kim Deti with the Wyoming Department of Health said there's a continued high level of flu activity around the state. There have been flu-related hospitalizations and outbreaks in long-term care facilities, like nursing homes, Deti said. (Wheeler, 3/19)

KCUR: In Wyandotte County, Housing Is Eating Up Paychecks And Harming Health 
It turns out that nearly one in six Wyandotte County households spend more than half their income on housing, compared with just one in 11 Johnson County households. In Kansas as a whole, about one in 10 households spend more than half their income on housing costs. The figures come courtesy of the latest County Health Rankings report released Tuesday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. The report looks at more than 30 measures to assess the overall health of nearly every county in the country. (Margolies, 3/19)

Los Angeles Times: Border Patrol Says Detention Centers Are Full — And Starts Releasing Migrants
The Border Patrol released 50 recently apprehended migrants here Tuesday, the first of several hundred border-crossers who officials say will soon be freed because there is no room to hold them. Normally, the Border Patrol would transfer the migrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be “processed” and in many cases placed in detention facilities. But officials said that both agencies have run out of space due to a recent influx of Central American families. (Hennessy-Fiske and O'Toole, 3/19)

Detroit Free Press: Beaumont Leads Henry Ford Health In Race To Build Hospital In Oxford
State regulators are allowing only one hospital to be built in Oxford, and Beaumont Health appears to be winning the race to build it. Beaumont Health has submitted a "certificate of need" application with the State of Michigan seeking approval to construct a $140-million, five-story, 117-bed hospital in the Oakland County community. The application's deadline was Feb. 1. (Reindl, 3/19)

Sacramento Bee: University Of California Workers To Strike For 3rd Time In 11 Months
Thousands of University of California workers are launching their third strike in less than a year Wednesday at 10 campuses and five medical centers statewide, saying their labor contract negotiations have stalled because UC leaders are not willing to address wage inequality and job security. Picketers will be marching all day at the UC Davis Medical Center campus along Sacramento’s Stockton Boulevard and near Toomey Field on the UC Davis campus. (Anderson, 3/19)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: More Moms And Kids Withdrawing From Nutrition Program Because Of Deportation Fears, Administrators Say
Low-income immigrant mothers are skipping the chance to get nutritious foods and help for their infants from a federal program because they fear deportation, or the loss of their children, according to the agencies that distribute those benefits. (Lubrano, 3/20)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Inmate Who Died In Detention Facility Complained Of Lack Of Care
A handwritten note complaining of a lack of care was found in the cell of an inmate who died at the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility, according to a medical examiner's report. William Leary, 51, was pronounced dead shortly after 3 p.m. Sunday at the state-run facility at 1015 N. 10th St. about two hours after being examined by a nurse, according to the report. (Garza, 3/19)

Arizona Republic: Hacienda Rape Suspect To Fight Court-Ordered HIV, STD Testing
The former Hacienda nurse accused of raping and impregnating an incapacitated woman plans to fight court-ordered testing for HIV and sexually transmitted diseases. Nathan Sutherland, who will turn 37 this month, stood silently beside his new attorney, Edward Molina, during what was essentially a housekeeping hearing Tuesday morning in Maricopa County Superior Court. (Burkitt, 3/19)

Miami Herald: 8 Florida Nurses Disciplined In March Over Alcohol Or Drugs
Substance abuse problems cost eight registered nurses or licensed practical nurses their licenses in the first 12 days of March, according to a Miami Herald check of Florida Department of Health discipline records. Licenses received either an emergency restriction order (ERO) or emergency suspension order (ESO). While an ERO usually isn’t as serious as an ESO, in these cases, each action prevented the person from legally working as a nurse. (Neal, 3/20)

San Jose Mercury News: San Jose Still Not Answering Emergency Calls Fast Enough
Despite some improvement in the past couple of years, San Jose’s fire and police departments still aren’t answering emergency calls fast enough. And when they do pick up the phone quickly, it comes at a cost: lots of overtime. That’s according to a recent audit from city auditor Sharon Erickson, who laid out a series of recommendations for improving emergency call answering times in a city grappling with both an increasing volume of reports and job vacancies that have proven tough to fill. (DeRuy, 3/19)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Akron’s Infant Mortality Rate Has Decreased By Nearly 9 Percent Since 2016, City Says
Greater Akron’s campaign against infant mortality, Full Term First Birthday, has released its three-year plan focusing on the social influences on health and the uncoordinated agendas of health-related agencies and community organizations. The plan was unveiled Tuesday at Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan’s third annual Health Equity Summit at the John S. Knight Center. (Goist, 3/19)

The Associated Press: Doctor Who Cheated Medicaid Of $5M Gets 7 Years In Prison
A Connecticut doctor who bilked Medicaid out of nearly $5 million and stashed some of the stolen money in a Swiss bank account has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison. Federal prosecutors say 49-year-old Ramil Mansourov was also ordered in federal court in New Haven on Monday to repay the money and surrender his federal controlled substances registration. (3/19)

The Washington Post: Fetal Macrosomia: Joy Buckley Gave Birth To A 15-Pound Baby In New York
In the final weeks of her pregnancy, Joy Buckley had been sleeping on the couch to avoid climbing the stairs to the bedroom. It had become harder to breathe. Her bladder was being squished. And, she said, she had to eat eight small meals a day because she could not fit much food in her stomach at one time. She knew her soon-to-be born daughter, Harper, was going to be large — the baby had run out of room, and Buckley had no more to give her. (Bever, 3/19)

Georgia Health News: Forsyth Still No. 1 As County Health Rankings Show Familiar Pattern
Once again, Forsyth County ranks as the healthiest county in Georgia. And the next four healthiest — Oconee, Cherokee, Fayette and Gwinnett — are the same as last year’s, in the newly released 2019 County Health Rankings. All five counties are suburban and in the northern half of the state. (Miller, 3/19)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Tulane Lakeside Hospital Changes Name, Adds Services For Adult Patients
Tulane Lakeside Hospital for Women and Children is changing its name and adding more services for adult patients, including a new intensive care unit. The Metairie-based hospital has changed its name to Tulane Lakeside Hospital to better reflect its expanded focus on adult services, according to a press release. Tulane Sports Medicine Institute will have a larger presence in the hospital campus with the development of a total knee and hip replacement center. The hospital is also investing in robotic surgery technology to increase the accuracy and precision of shoulder and knee replacements, according to the press release. (Clark, 3/19)

Texas Tribune: Deer Park Terminal Fire: What You Need To Know
A fire that broke out at a petrochemical storage facility over the weekend in the industrial Houston suburb of Deer Park continued to burn Tuesday after intensifying overnight. Despite the tall black plume that has billowed over the nation's fourth-largest city for two days, state and local officials have emphasized that monitoring data show the air is still safe to breath. (Collier, 3/19)

Stat: A Drug Pricing Mystery: Who's Behind All The Outrage Over Rebates?
The Department of Health and Human Services has already received 18,000 comments on its proposal to end the system of rebates insurers and middlemen use to negotiate drug prices. That is not normal. That’s six times more comments than HHS received on the entire drug pricing plan it released last May. And I’m even more suspicious because almost all the big groups in town — the trade associations, the individual drug companies, the pharmacy benefit managers, and the consumer advocacy groups — told me they haven’t yet submitted their comments, which aren’t due till next month. (Florko, 3/19)

Stat: States Advance Efforts To Import Drugs From Canada, With Florida The Latest
Amid the heated debate over the cost of medicines, various state lawmakers are pushing ahead with legislation that would allow Americans to import drugs from Canada. In Florida, a bill is making its way through the legislature that would establish two programs, one of which would permit the state to import drugs from Canada for Medicaid and state prisoners, while the other would be available to state residents, although these would be administered by different state agencies. (Silverman, 3/18)

The Associated Press: Group With Consumer-Friendly Vibe Pushes Drugmakers’ Message
As ominous music plays in the background, the narrator of a radio ad warns that a Trump administration proposal to apply international pricing to certain Medicare drugs would be a nightmare for seniors. The one-minute spot is the handiwork of the Alliance for Patient Access, a nonprofit group that gives off a consumer-friendly vibe but is bankrolled by the powerful pharmaceutical industry. It’s also closely aligned with a Washington lobbying and public relations firm, Woodberry Associates, whose president, Brian Kennedy, is the nonprofit’s executive director. (Lardner, 3/18)

The Associated Press: Outside Political Groups Not Always What They Appear
As ominous music plays in the background, the narrator of a radio ad echoes objections from drugmakers by warning that a Trump administration proposal to apply international pricing to certain Medicare drugs would be a nightmare for seniors. The one-minute spot is the handiwork of the Alliance for Patient Access, a nonprofit group that gives off a consumer-friendly vibe yet is bankrolled by the powerful pharmaceutical industry. It's also closely aligned with a Washington lobbying and public relations firm, Woodberry Associates, whose president, Brian Kennedy, is the nonprofit's executive director. (3/18)

Modern Healthcare: Insurers Should Move To Biosimilar Drugs, FDA's Gottlieb Says
Insurers must be willing to take a short-term financial loss to get long-term savings from adopting biosimilars, outgoing Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Tuesday. There are major commercial obstacles to getting biosimilars onto the market to replace pricey biologics, Gottlieb said at a Brookings Institution event. Even though the FDA has approved 16 biosimilars, very few are on the market. Gottlieb will leave his post as commissioner early next month to spend more time with his family. (King, 3/19)

Politico Pro: Drugs With A Single Manufacturer Drive Medicare, Medicaid Spending Increases, CMS Says
Drugs for which there is only one manufacturer are responsible for the biggest spending increases in Medicare and Medicaid even when a range of treatments are available for a particular disease, according to updated data CMS released today. The figures raise questions about why there isn't more price competition among branded products, a solution commonly embraced by Republicans and some Democrats in Congress. (Karlin-Smith, Owermohle and Boschma, 3/14)

Reuters: Sanofi Says Working On CEO Succession Plan
Pharmaceuticals group Sanofi is working on a plan to find a new CEO in agreement and consultation with current chief executive Olivier Brandicourt, a spokesman for the French drugmaker told Reuters on Monday. Sanofi has an age limit of 65 for its CEO. Brandicourt will be 65 in February 2021. (3/18)

Stat: Catalyst Says Pricey Drug Doing 'Better Than Expected' Despite Anger
A new and pricey rare-disease drug that angered many patients — and prompted Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to protest its cost — is showing signs of becoming a hit on Wall Street. In a call with analysts, Catalyst Pharmaceuticals (CPRX) chief executive Patrick McEnany disclosed that about 250 patients are being treated with Firdapse, which is used to combat Lambert-Easton myasthenic syndrome, or LEMS, and has a list price of $375,000.  He also reported most patients are paying $10 a month, thanks to assistance programs, and payers are responding “better than expected.” (Silverman, 3/19)

Stat: Can Compounding Make Vasopressin Affordable Again? It's Up To The Courts
When a sepsis patient goes into vasodilatory shock — that is, blood stops flowing to the brain and other vital organs — the intensive care unit springs into action. Alarms blare and frenzied doctors and nurses rush to find a crash cart, scrambling through its contents for a decades-old drug: vasopressin. Until recently, the drug was so vital and so cheap that hospital staffs kept it stashed in every corner of the ICU. In 2011, a box of 25 tiny vials cost less than $200. But after the Food and Drug Administration granted an Endo Pharmaceuticals subsidiary the exclusive right to make the drug in 2014, the price spiked: the same box, now bearing the brand name Vasostrict, cost over $4,000 in 2018. (Florko, 3/15)

Bloomberg: One In Five U.S. Adults Ask Doctor For Lower Cost Medication 
Over one third of U.S. adults aged 18-64, without health insurance, did not take their prescription medication as prescribed in the past 12 months in order to reduce costs, according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among, all adults, including those with insurance, on Medicaid and the uninsured, about one in five asked their doctor for alternative medication to lower the cost. (Tanzi, 2/19)

The Hill: Survey: About 1 In 10 US Adults Rationing Medicine In Effort To Lower Costs 
New survey data shows that 11.4 percent of U.S. adults did not take their medication as prescribed in an effort to reduce costs. The survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that those adults, aged 18 to 64, either skipped doses, took less medicine than prescribed or delayed filling a prescription because of the cost of the drugs in the past 12 months. (Sullivan, 3/19)

Modern Healthcare: AbbVie Sued Over Humira Patents Blocking Competition
Drugmaker AbbVie is facing a putative class-action lawsuit over its array of patents shielding the blockbuster drug Humira from U.S. competition until 2023. The complaint, filed Monday in a U.S. District Court in Illinois, alleged the company has "abused the patent system." Seven additional manufacturers are co-defendants in the case because of their patent settlements with AbbVie that delayed competitive products from entering the market. (Luthi, 3/19)

Stat: Tiny PhaseBio Gets The NEJM Spotlight. Can Its Shares Rebound? 
PhaseBio, a small biotechnology firm based in Malvern, Pa., is not loved by investors. Its shares are down 25 percent from their October 2018 initial public offering, and the company has a market capitalization of just $89 million. So it’s a bit of a surprise to see the company’s experimental drug highlighted in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study, also being presented here at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology, tested PhaseBio’s drug, PB2452, as a way to reverse the effects of Brilinta, an AstraZeneca drug that is used to prevent blood from clotting in heart patients, including those who have received stents to prop open clogged arteries. (Herper, 3/17)

Bloomberg: Biotech Investors Zero In On Gene Therapy As Next Big Frontier 
Biotech investors are bullish on the market for gene therapies, even though actual sales of a few existing drugs have so far failed to impress some Wall Street analysts. Fund managers and venture capitalists discussed their outlook for the technology in interviews in Boston, where investors gathered for the Cowen health-care conference. Investor interest in gene-therapy stocks is high, as investing has paid off this year. Roche Holding AG and Biogen Inc. recently snapped up a pair of drug developers, boosting speculation of more deals. (Darie, 3/15)

Stat: Vivek Ramaswamy Finds Success With Overactive Bladder Drug
Vivek Ramaswamy, the hedge fund manager turned biotech entrepreneur, has raised billions of dollars to create a constellation of “Vant” companies that license and develop drugs from other firms. Five years and one spectacular Alzheimer’s drug blowup later, Ramaswamy finally notched a late-stage clinical trial win. It comes courtesy of Urovant, the urology-focused spinout from his Roivant Sciences mothership. On Tuesday, Urovant said its lead pipeline drug, vibregon, achieved all the treatment goals in a Phase 3 clinical trial involving patients with overactive bladder. (Feuerstein, 3/19)

Miami Herald: Legacy Recalls 43 Lots Of Losartan For NMBA Impurity
In two different recalls Friday, Legacy Pharmaceutical Packaging recalled 43 lots of heart and hypertension medication losartan for the presence of possible carcinogen NMBA. This especially affects those who you get their medication at Walmart, Sam’s Club or pharmacies in supermarkets owned by the Kroger, Co.: Kroger, Ralphs, City Market, Dillons, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, King Soopers, QFC, Harris Teeter and Smith’s Food and Drug. (Neal, 3/16)

The Associated Press: More Charges In $50M State Benefits Prescription Drug Probe
A police officer and three firefighters were among seven people indicted this week in an alleged $50 million prescription drug scheme involving public employees, the latest charges in an investigation that has already produced nearly two dozen guilty pleas. A 50-count indictment unsealed Friday by the U.S. attorney's office in Camden, New Jersey, charged the seven with health care fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy. Twenty-three people already have pleaded guilty in connection with the investigation, according to the U.S. attorney's office. (3/15)

The Hill: Washington Must Change The System That Encourages High Drug Prices
“Take away our rebates? We’ll just up premiums.” This is the threat from pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and insurers if rebates are passed back to seniors in Medicare. PBMs determine the formularies for Medicare beneficiaries, thus controlling what drugs they can get, where they can get them and how much they will pay for them. Ideally, placement on the preferred formulary should be based on efficacy, safety and lowest list price. However, preferred status is determined by highest price concessions from manufacturers in the form of rebates and administration fees. (Madelaine Feldman, 3/18)

The Hill: Drug Development Is Failing Because It's Too Expensive And Takes Too Long
Innovative new drugs can be miraculous, often representing quantum advances in health. Recent examples include the unprecedented benefits of antiviral drugs to treat hepatitis C, gene therapy, checkpoint inhibitors and CAR T-cells for cancer. Many drug developers are working on complementary products and technologies to make these recent advances even better, as well as new innovative approaches. Often, however, they are monumentally expensive, with a course of treatment running into the hundreds of thousands of dollars per patient. (Jacob J. Gottlieb and Joseph Gulfo, 3/18)

Stat: The Not-For-Profit Civica Rx Will Disrupt The Generic Drug Industry
The generic drug industry should cause prices for medications to drop. But lately it has been engaging in price gouging and making it difficult to obtaining some vital medications. You’ve heard the stories: a 5,000 percent increase by Turing Pharmaceuticals for one tablet of generic pyrimethamine, which is used to treat toxoplasmosis, a rare infection; a 2,800 percent price increase in a single year for digoxin, a commonly prescribed heart medication. (Marc Harrison, 3/14)

Stat: Drug Shortages Jeopardize The Lives Of Children With Cancer
Alice, a preteen with newly diagnosed leukemia, and her parents were understandably distraught when she was diagnosed with cancer. As I sat down to discuss treatment options with Alice’s parents, I was glad I had something positive to share with them: A recent clinical trial showed that adding the drug nelarabine to standard chemotherapy led to a significant improvement in survival for children with Alice’s form of leukemia. Unfortunately, a national shortage of nelarabine meant that for Alice — I’ve used a pseudonym — the chances for a cure were suddenly less clear. (Yoram Unguru, 3/19)

Bloomberg: A Price War In China's Pharma Industry Could Bring Cheaper Drugs
For a country whose GDP per capita is only 15 percent that of the U.S., consumers in China are paying remarkably high drug prices. The U.S. isn’t famed for its low-cost pharmaceuticals – but prices of generics are on average only 55 percent of those in China, according to a recent Credit Suisse Group AG report. For instance, Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine Co.’s Docetaxel, a chemotherapy medication that treats a number of cancers, costs one-third less in the U.S. Or consider Levamlodipine, a cardiovascular drug. If CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. charged prices similar to those prevailing in the U.S., it would see 5 percent of its annual revenue gone. (Shuli Ren, 3/18)

Stat: Value Extends Beyond The Cost Of Drugs And Health Care
In the ongoing debate about value in health care, the narrative in the media, political campaigns, and congressional hearings has consistently focused on the relatively narrow issue of drug pricing.We are squandering time and resources trying to find a neat answer to “what is value?” by focusing on the cost of drugs without tackling other hard questions at the heart of measuring value across health care interventions. (Jennifer Bright and Mark Linthicum, 3/14)

Bloomberg: FDA Vaping Proposal Doesn't Go Far Enough
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb recently proposed new limits on sales of many fruit- and candy-flavored e-cigarettes. If the new rules are adopted, convenience stores and gas stations won’t be able to sell them unless they set up separate rooms that bar entry to anyone under 18. This is meant to stop the indiscriminate sales that have helped enable an alarming 3.6 million high school and middle school students to vape in 2018. And it is a step in the right direction. But it’s hardly the crackdown that the Food and Drug Administration is making it out to be. (3/19)

The Washington Post: Democrats Have Figured Out Where They’re Going On Health Care
Something quite remarkable is happening right now among Democrats on the issue of health care: After an intense period in which rhetoric, policy and politics were all seemingly in flux, the party is rapidly moving toward something like consensus on where it ought to go next on its most critical domestic priority. As you may know, almost every Democrat running for president has said he or she supports Medicare-for-all, but most of them (with the exception of Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has been proposing a single-payer plan for years) have been vague about what that might mean. (Paul Waldman, 3/19)

The Hill: ACA Anniversary — Let's Work To Strengthen It, Not Throw It Out
This week marks the ninth anniversary of the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a landmark piece of legislation which has extended coverage to over 20 million Americans. As the debate over America’s health-care future continues to make headlines, now is a critical moment to reflect on the progress we have made and continue working together to extend quality, affordable health care to millions more Americans. (Lauren Crawford Shaver, 3/19)

USA Today: New Zealand Attacks Unite Leaders On Gun Control. USA Stands Divided.
The United States, Australia and New Zealand share a historical heritage of frontier adventurism — the kind that bred a familiarity with firearms as tools for putting food on the table, or later as a sporting pastime. But the similarity ends abruptly when the evildoers of those societies use semi-automatic weapons to commit slaughter — as happened Friday in Christchurch, New Zealand, where a gunman killed 50 worshipers at two mosques. In the wake of that horror, the New Zealand government moved rapidly to announce that by next Monday, it will unveil plans for tightening gun laws that could potentially include a ban on military-style rifles and require registration of all guns. (3/19)

Bloomberg: Green New Deal, Air Pollution And Inequality 
Many advocates of a Green New Deal insist that air pollution and racial justice are related and must be addressed simultaneously. In 2018, they point out, researchers from the Environmental Protection Agency concluded that black Americans suffer disproportionately from exposure to emissions. More recent research does not merely provide fresh details about the relationship between environmental degradation and racial justice. It adds disturbing new findings about apparent inequities across racial lines. In brief: African-Americans and Hispanics are subject to far more air pollution than they cause by their consumption choices. By contrast, white people are subject to far less air pollution than they cause by their consumption choices. (Cass R. Sunstein, 3/19)

The Washington Post: Tech Addiction Is Real. We Psychologists Need To Take It Seriously.
Last summer, the World Health Organization recognized Internet gaming as a diagnosable addiction. This was an important step in aligning practice with research, but we need to go further. Psychologists and other mental-health professionals must begin to acknowledge that technology use has the potential to become addictive and impact individuals and communities — sometimes with dire consequences. The research is clear: Americans spend most of their waking hours interacting with screens. Studies from the nonprofit group Common Sense Media show that U.S. teens average approximately nine hours per day with digital media, tweens spend six hours, and even our youngest — ages zero to 8 — are spending 2 1 / 2 hours daily in front of a screen. (Doreen Dodgen-Magee, 3/18)

Bloomberg: Are Eggs Unhealthy? It Depends What The Alternative Is
When the news broke last week that a new study has nutritionists again claiming eggs are unhealthy, I considered whether I needed to recant a 2016 column. There, I argued that declaring eggs and other real foods unhealthy back in the 1990s had driven people to make poorer food choices. Ditching eggs meant eating more cereal, muffins or oversized bagels with fake cream cheese. But when I perused the results of the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, I couldn’t see any evidence that eggs are worse than other things Americans tend to eat for breakfast. (Faye Flam, 3/19)

The Wall Street Journal: College Scammers Hurt The Disabled
In the college cheating scandal exposed last week, some parents allegedly had their children “purport to have learning disabilities” to get extra time on standardized tests. Part of the damage these parents have done is to contribute to the perception that disability accommodations confer unfair advantages. Accommodations in school or in the workplace are not “special privileges.” They do not give disabled people an advantage or a head start. They level the playing field and allow those of us with disabilities the same opportunity and access to education, work and other essentials of life as everyone else. (Karin Hitselberger, 3/16)