Becker's Hospital Review: Real-Time Drug Pricing Access Rule To Take Effect
HHS announced prescription drug reforms are set to take effect Oct. 1, designed to give patients and physicians real-time access to prescription drug costs, insurance coverage details and prior authorization requirements. The rule was issued in July as part of CMS Inpatient Prospective Payment System and Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System final rule. It will require healthcare providers to use certified health IT systems to electronically submit prior authorization requests, check on drug prices during appointments and share prescription information with pharmacies and insurers, according to a Sept. 2 news release from the agency. (Murphy, 9/2)

Stat: Gilead Wants State AIDS Drug Programs To Pay Big Price Hikes For HIV Meds
Gilead Sciences, the largest maker of HIV medicines, is seeking to boost prices significantly for several treatments that are widely distributed by state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs. And the move is adding to financial uncertainty for the programs on top of concerns prompted by Trump administration funding cuts. (Silverman, 9/2)

Becker's Hospital Review: Court Rules Trump Tariffs Unlawful: 6 Things To Know
President Donald Trump’s imposed tariffs on foreign nations have been ruled unlawful by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The court ruled he went too far by declaring national emergencies to justify the duties, CBS News reported Sept. 1. Here are six things to know: The 7-4 decision, rendered Aug. 29, largely sided with a decision made in May by a federal trade court in New York. However, the appeals court decision got rid of a part of the previous ruling that struck down tariffs immediately, allowing time for the Trump administration to appeal to the Supreme Court. (Murphy, 9/2)

In news about medical devices and biotech —

Modern Healthcare: Alphabet’s Verily Ends Medical Devices Program, Cuts Staff
Alphabet’s life sciences company Verily has stopped manufacturing medical devices and laid off staff. The move continues a strategic refocus the company began in 2023 to simplify its business and concentrate resources on precision health, a Verily spokesperson said. The number of employees who were laid off was not disclosed. (Dubinsky, 8/28)

Modern Healthcare: Thermo Fisher Acquires Solventum’s Filtration Unit For $4B
Thermo Fisher Scientific announced Tuesday it acquired Solventum’s purification and filtration business for $4 billion. The unit is now part of Thermo Fisher’s life sciences solutions segment, operating as its filtration and separation business. The business sells purification and filtration technologies used to manufacture medical devices, biologics and industrial products. The technologies are used in devices such as hemodialyzers and blood oxygenators. (Dubinsky, 9/2)

Modern Healthcare: Labcorp's Adam Schechter Expects Tax Law To Boost Lab Sales
Laboratory businesses could see a boost from the new tax law as more hospitals look to sell lab assets and save on operational expenses ahead of cuts, said Labcorp CEO and Chairman Adam Schechter. Health systems and hospitals have already been selling off lab assets to independent labs like Labcorp or Quest Diagnostics, which can often do higher volumes of diagnostic tests at a lower cost. But the tax law, which calls for more than $1.1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid over the next 10 years, is expected to further drive asset sales, Schechter said. (DeSilva, 8/29)

More health industry developments —

Modern Healthcare: Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Sutter See Improved Finances In Q2
Many large health systems are showing strong balance sheets as second-quarter earnings reports roll out, but some analysts say the upswing is likely on a time limit. Talk about major funding cuts related to the new tax law President Donald Trump signed in July are dominating executive board rooms industrywide. However, much of the $1.1 trillion in Medicaid and exchange cuts won’t take effect for a couple of years. (Hudson, 9/2)

Modern Healthcare: Cigna To Sell Evernorth Care Clinics To HonorHealth
Cigna is selling 18 Evernorth Care Group clinics in the Phoenix area to HonorHealth. Upon closing, the Evernorth locations will become part of HonorHealth’s integrated system. The deal is expected to close in January, pending legal and regulatory approvals, according to a Tuesday news release. Evernorth Care Group, formerly Cigna Medical Group, is a subsidiary of The Cigna Group and provides primary care to nearly 80,000 patients. (Hudson, 9/3)

North Carolina Health News: ECU Health, For-Profit Acadia Open New Psych Hospital 
A new psychiatric hospital in Greenville will begin serving patients in eastern North Carolina later this month. ECU Health Behavioral Health Hospital is a new 144-bed facility intended to provide inpatient and intensive outpatient psychiatric services to adults and children; it will open with a 24-bed unit designated for pediatric patients. (Knopf, 9/3)

WUSF: Memorial Healthcare, Florida Blue Fail To Reach Deal, Leaving 31,000 In Broward Out Of Network 
Memorial Healthcare is now out of network for about 31,000 Florida Blue members in Broward County after the hospital system and insurer failed to reach a new contract by a Monday deadline. Florida Blue customers must pay higher rates for some services through Memorial's hospitals, urgent care centers, specialty facilities and affiliated physicians. (Mayer, 9/2)

Chicago Tribune: Nurses At Howard Brown Health Move Toward A Possible Strike
Nurses at Howard Brown Health have voted to allow their bargaining team to call a strike amid contract talks and concerns about staffing and pay, according to their union. (Schencker, 9/2)

KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest 'KFF Health News Minute'
Aug. 28: Sam Whitehead reads the week’s news: Emergency rooms with no doctor on staff are becoming more common in rural areas, and higher costs for Affordable Care Act plans could hit early retirees and small-business owners hard next year. Aug. 21: Zach Dyer reads the week’s news: Some doctors are changing how they talk to patients about immunizations because of changes to federal vaccine policy, and 26 is the age with the highest uninsured rate. (Cook, 9/2)

Axios: Trump Admin Agrees To Restore Public Health Webpages
The Trump administration agreed to restore scores of health agency webpages and datasets that went dark to comply with executive orders on diversity, equity and inclusion and gender identity, under a court settlement announced on Tuesday. (Reed, 9/2)

On HHS funding and foreign aid —

Stat: House Bill On HHS Budget: NIH Funding Maintained, Deep CDC Cuts 
House appropriators advanced legislation on Tuesday that is a mixed bag for researchers. While the Republican bill rejects President Trump’s proposal to slash the National Institutes of Health budget, it proposes deep cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health agencies. (Wilkerson and Wosen, 9/2)

Stat: NIH Grant Cuts: Federal Judge Offers Time For Settlement Talks
A widely watched case against the National Institutes of Health over the termination of hundreds of grants was poised to enter a new phase of arguments Tuesday, centered on what to do with removed notices of funding opportunities. Instead, the plaintiffs indicated that they may be able to settle the case by the end of this week. (Oza, 9/2)

KFF Health News: Changes At NIH Give Political Appointees Greater Power To Fund Or Block Research
The Trump administration has given notice that political appointees, rather than scientists, will ultimately decide who gets grant money from the world’s largest biomedical research funder — the federal government’s National Institutes of Health. In an Aug. 7 executive order, President Donald Trump announced that political officers would have the power to summarily cancel any federal grant, including for scientific work, that is not “consistent with agency priorities.” Senior officials should not “routinely defer” to recommendations from peer reviewers, who have provided the backbone of federal science funding for eight decades. (Allen, 9/3)

Politico: Evangelical Christians Are Lobbying Congress To Restore Foreign Aid Trump Cut 
Evangelical Christians who made an alliance with President Donald Trump to end abortion rights are now seeing how much it’s cost one of their other priorities: caring for the poor. Four in five evangelicals voted for Trump in November. But Trump’s decision to pull back hundreds of millions in foreign aid and shutter the agency that dispensed it have proven costly to evangelicals who run some of the many nonprofits that have long partnered with the U.S. government to provide help to countries that don’t have enough food. (Paun, 9/2)

On Internet rumors that President Trump had died —

The New York Times: President Trump Is Alive. The Internet Was Convinced Otherwise.
President Trump had nothing on his public schedule for three days last week. He is often sporting a large, purple bruise on his right hand, which he sometimes slathers with makeup. His ankles are swollen. He is the oldest person to be elected president. For a swath of hyper-online Americans over the long Labor Day weekend, all of this was explanation enough: The president was either dead or about to be. (Rogers, 9/2)

The Hill: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Defends CDC Changes, Cites Measles Success
The largest single measles outbreak the country has endured in more than 30 years is being hailed as a success story by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In a Wall Street Journal opinion article published Tuesday defending his overhaul of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Kennedy said the administration’s response to the outbreak that began in West Texas is a testament to what a “focused CDC can achieve.” (Weixel, 9/2)

The Hill: More Than 1,000 HHS Staff Call On RFK Jr. To Resign
More than 1,000 current and former employees of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are demanding that Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. resign, following his ousting of the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other actions they say are “compromising the health of the nation.” (Weixel, 9/3)

NBC News: Key GOP Senator Declines To Elaborate On Planned 'Oversight' Of RFK Jr. After CDC Exodus
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., the chair of the health committee, is holding his cards close to the vest, declining to elaborate after he said he will conduct “oversight” of the country's top health official and a recent shake-up at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cassidy, a doctor who has been supportive of vaccines, is in a delicate position as the top Republican on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee who provided a pivotal vote to confirm Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after he secured assurances about vaccines. Cassidy is also running for re-election next year. (Kapur, Leach and Thorp V, 9/3)

The Washington Post: Paul Offit, Prominent RFK Jr. Critic, Blocked From FDA Vaccine Committee
Paul Offit, a pediatrician who has sparred with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over childhood vaccination, has been blocked from participating in a vaccine advisory committee for the Food and Drug Administration. An HHS spokesman said Offit was among a dozen members of eight FDA advisory panels who were notified they can no longer participate because their terms as special government employees expired. (Roubein, 9/2)

The Hill: Rand Paul: Gay CDC Director’s ‘Lifestyle’ Disqualified Him From Government
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Tuesday said a gay leader at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) who resigned last week in protest of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had “no business being in government” due to the “lifestyle” he led. Demetre Daskalakis, former director of the CDC’s Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, was among the four CDC leaders who resigned last week, saying in their resignations that the changes under Kennedy were preventing them from carrying out the agency’s public health mission. (Choi, 9/2)

KFF Health News: At CDC, Worries Mount That Agency Has Taken Anti-Science Turn
Public health and access to lifesaving vaccines are on the line in a high-stakes leadership battle at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s push to fire CDC director Susan Monarez is more than an administrative shake-up. The firing marks a major offensive by Kennedy to seize control of the agency and impose an anti-vaccine, anti-science agenda that will have profound effects on the lives and health of all Americans, public health leaders say. (Armour, 9/3)

In related news about the covid vaccine —

The New York Times: Trump Wants Proof That Covid Vaccines Work. It’s Easy To Find. 
In a message on social media that baffled many scientists, President Trump questioned the effectiveness of the Covid vaccines and demanded that the makers prove that they work. It is unclear what data Mr. Trump was referring to. Hundreds of reports have tracked the efficacy of the vaccines since they first debuted in 2021. The shots have saved millions of lives in the United States and elsewhere, dozens of studies have estimated. Still, in some ways, Mr. Trump’s demand for data is a welcome change from what administration officials have been saying recently about vaccines, said John Wherry, director of the Institute for Immunology and Immune Health at the University of Pennsylvania. (Mandavilli and Zimmer, 9/2)

KFF Health News: Do Pediatricians Recommend Vaccines To Make A Profit? There’s Not Much Money In It
It makes sense to approach some marketing efforts with skepticism. Scams, deepfakes, and deceptive social media posts are common, with people you don’t know seeking to profit from your behavior. But should people extend this same skepticism to pediatricians who advise vaccines for children? Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said financial bonuses are driving such recommendations. (Czopek, 9/3)

CNN: Pentagon Facing Its Own Covid Vaccine Controversy 
Frustration is boiling over among some members of the military community who are unhappy with the Pentagon’s process for reinstating service members discharged under the Biden administration for failing to be vaccinated for Covid-19, saying the process is too slow and the criteria for who can rejoin too narrow. Exasperation over the process has been on full display in heated public exchanges on social media with Trump administration officials in the Pentagon. (Britzky, 9/2)

CIDRAP: New Antiviral Application For COVID-19 Preventive Drug Submitted To FDA
Shionogi has submitted its new drug application (NDA) to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the approval of its oral pill for COVID (ensitrelvir), the first antiviral drug for the prevention of COVID-19 following exposure to an infected person, according to a company news release today. Ensitrelvir, known as Xocova, is already approved for use in Japan. The drug is also available in Singapore and under review in Taiwan. (Soucheray, 9/2)

NBC News: Covid Infection May Be Prevented With A Common Nasal Antihistamine Spray, Trial Shows
An over-the-counter nasal spray which has been used for years as a safe and effective treatment for seasonal allergies could potentially prevent Covid infections, according to clinical trial results released Tuesday. The antihistamine azelastine works as an antiviral against a range of respiratory infections, including influenza, RSV and the virus that causes Covid, a growing number of studies have shown. (Cox, 9/2)

CIDRAP: Metformin May Reduce Risk Of Long COVID By 36% In Overweight Or Obese Adults
A large UK target trial emulation analysis of data from the COVID-OUT trial suggests that early use of the type 2 diabetes drug metformin reduces the risk of long COVID by 36% at 1 year post-infection among overweight or obese adults. The study was conducted by University College London researchers based on data from a 2023 randomized phase 3 trial led by University of Minnesota investigators. That trial concluded that 14-day outpatient metformin treatment lowered the risk of persistent COVID-19 symptoms at 10 months by 63% in overweight or obese patients aged 30 to 85 years when given within 3 days of symptom onset. (Van Beusekom, 9/2)

CIDRAP: In The Wake Of COVID, Osterholm Takes On 'The Big One' In New Book
If you asked most Americans, they'd probably tell you that one global pandemic in a lifetime is one more than they wanted. They'd rather not think about the next one. But for Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) Director Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, the mistakes that were made during the emergency phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the lessons learned, provide an opportunity to explore how a future pandemic caused by an even deadlier virus than SARS-CoV-2 could play out. (Dall, 9/2)

On the flu shot —

MedPage Today: High-Dose Flu Shot May Better Protect Against Heart Inflammation
The high-dose inactivated influenza vaccine may deliver better protection against myocarditis and pericarditis compared with the standard-dose shot in older adults, according to a secondary analysis of the randomized DANFLU-2 trial. (Rudd, 9/2)

The New York Times: Everything You Need To Know About Flu Shots This Fall 
Are there any changes in eligibility this year? No. The Food and Drug Administration determines who is officially eligible for vaccines, and while it has narrowed its approval of Covid shots, it has not done so for flu shots. Experts say the ideal window is from late September through October. “Try to get vaccinated before Halloween,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. That matches guidance from the C.D.C. (Astor, 9/2)

The Washington Post: ChatGPT To Get Parental Controls After Teen User’s Death By Suicide
ChatGPT-maker OpenAI said Tuesday that it will introduce parental controls, a major change to the popular chatbot announced a week after the California family of a teen who died by suicide alleged in a lawsuit that ChatGPT encouraged their son to hide his intentions. OpenAI said in a blog post Tuesday that within the next month it would offer tools that allow parents to set limits for how their teens use the technology and receive notifications if the chatbot detects that they are in “acute distress.” The company said it had been working on the controls since earlier this year. (De Vynck, 9/2)

In other mental health news —

The Colorado Sun: Colorado Suicide Rates: Oldest Residents Three Times Higher Than Teenagers 
Physical decline is a common lead-up to depression among older Coloradans, especially for those who were active on the ski slopes, rivers and hiking trails. It’s also one of the reasons that the suicide rate among older people is higher in Colorado than the rest of the nation, with more than one-third of suicides in Colorado among people age 55 and over. The suicide rate among older Coloradans has not budged in a decade, even as the teen suicide rate has dropped to its lowest in 18 years. It’s a growing concern because Colorado is getting older — by 2050, one-quarter of the population is projected to be over the age of 60. (Brown, 9/2)

The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer: Ohio Courts See A Jump In Mentally Ill Defendants, Leading To Calls For Greater Services 
Court dockets have ballooned in recent years with cases involving the mentally ill, forcing judges into roles of overseeing defendants who have long struggled. Specialty courts aimed at specifically helping those with mental health issues have also seen a jump in cases. The effects are widespread. Last year, 1 in 4 Ohio prisoners suffered from a form of mental illness. The costs to care for them reached $72.4 million, according to a state report. (Gambino, 9/2)

MedPage Today: Preschoolers Are Prescribed ADHD Meds Too Soon, Study Suggests
Preschoolers with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were often prescribed medication shortly after diagnosis, despite guidelines that recommend 6 months of behavior therapy before pharmaceutical interventions, according to a retrospective analysis. (Robertson, 9/2)

Phys.Org: Spouses Show Consistent Similarities Across Nine Psychiatric Disorders Over Generations
A multinational collaboration of researchers report that psychiatric spousal resemblance across nine psychiatric disorders appears consistent and persists across birth cohorts for roughly 90 years in a sample of over 14 million. Previous small-scale marriage registry studies have reported spousal similarities for several disorders and related psychiatric traits. A larger, population-based comparison across cultures and generations was needed to assess how widespread the phenomenon extends. (Jackson, 9/2)

On military mental health care —

Military.com: Pentagon To Begin Screening For 'Magic Mushroom' Use
U.S. service members may be drug-tested for suspected use of “magic mushrooms” under a new policy announced by the Pentagon last week. A memo issued Aug. 18 by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness said that, starting Oct. 1, troops may be screened for psilocin, the hallucinogen in psilocybin mushrooms. (Kime, 9/2)

The War Horse: Veterans' Mental Health Is Being Capped, VA Therapists Say
Mental health providers in five states tell The War Horse that VA medical centers across the country have been instituting similar limits on one-on-one mental health therapy in recent years and transitioning veterans to lower levels of treatment. The trend has led to anxiety—and great debate—among both providers and patients. ... Yet when asked about the therapists’ concerns, a VA spokesperson insisted the claims of widespread caps on individual mental health sessions are untrue. (Rosenbaum, 8/26)

AP: Survivors Of Maine Mass Shooting And Victims’ Relatives Sue US Government Alleging Negligence
Survivors of Maine’s deadliest mass shooting and relatives of victims are suing the federal government, alleging that the U.S. Army could and should have stopped one of its reservists from carrying out what they call “one of the most preventable mass tragedies in American history.” (Whittle and Ramer, 9/3)

The Washington Examiner: Trump Says 'Distinguished' Ex-Military Teachers Could Carry Guns
President Donald Trump suggested Tuesday that teachers who previously served as “distinguished” military service members should be able to carry weapons at schools in the event of a shooting. The president’s statement comes less than a week after the deadly mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and its affiliated school in Minneapolis. "We have great teachers that love our children," Trump said in the Oval Office during a Space Force-related announcement. "If you took a small percentage of those teachers that were in the military, that were distinguished in the military, that were in the National Guard ... and you let them carry, that's something that a lot of people like. I sort of liked it." (Zimmermann, 9/2)

AP: Gov. Tim Walz Pushes For Special Session On Gun Laws After Minneapolis School Shooting
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz plans to call a special legislative session to consider tougher gun laws following a shooting last week at a Catholic school in Minneapolis that left two children dead and 21 people injured. The Democrat told reporters Tuesday, after welcoming children back to a public school in the Minneapolis suburb of Eagan, that he’ll be making calls to lawmakers and working on a plan over the next couple of days. Walz said he intends to propose a “very comprehensive” package that could include an assault-weapons ban. (Karnowski, 9/3)

The Washington Post: RFK Jr. Links SSRIs And Mass Shootings. What Does Science Say?
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s top health official, suggested Thursday that psychiatric drugs may have played a role in the Minnesota Catholic school shooting — a statement widely criticized as unsupported by science. During an appearance on “Fox & Friends,” co-host Brian Kilmeade asked Kennedy whether the government was investigating the role of medications that treat gender dysphoria in crimes such as this one. (Eunjung Cha, 8/29)

Colorado Public Radio: Lawsuit Challenges Colorado Law Banning Manufacture, Drastically Limiting Sale Of Many Semiautomatic Guns 
One of Colorado’s newest and most restrictive gun-control measures is facing a federal lawsuit from the Colorado State Shooting Association, the state’s official National Rifle Association group. (Woods, 9/2)

KOMO News: Seattle Sues Glock Over Illegal Devices That Modify Guns To Allow Automatic Firing
The Seattle City Attorney’s Office has filed a lawsuit against gun manufacturer Glock, alleging the design of its handguns makes them vulnerable to illegal modifications that allow fully-automatic gunfire. City Attorney Ann Davison says illegal devices known as ‘Glock Switches’ are responsible for a dramatic rise in the number of shots being fired in Seattle. (Harris, 9/2)

ABC News: US Prostate Cancer Rates Rose Annually Over The Past Decade, New Report Finds
Prostate cancer rates have risen in recent years, with a sharp increase in cases diagnosed in advanced stages, the American Cancer Society said Tuesday. Diagnoses of prostate cancer rose 3% annually starting in 2014, after declining 6.4% per year in the decade before, according to the ACS' annual prostate cancer statistics report. The steepest increases were seen for advanced-stage disease — up to 6.2% annually with the increases varying by age groups, the report said. (El-Naas, 9/2)

Medical Xpress: Plant-Based Nutrient Can Boost Immune Cells' Ability To Fight Cancer
In a new study, researchers from the University of Chicago discovered that zeaxanthin, a plant-derived carotenoid best known for protecting vision, may also act as an immune-boosting compound by strengthening the cancer-fighting activity of immune cells. The findings, which are published in Cell Reports Medicine, highlight the potential of zeaxanthin as a widely available supplement to improve the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapies. (Abburi, 9/2)

On Alzheimer's —

Fox News: New 3-Minute Brain Test Detects Early Alzheimer's Signs At Home Using EEG
A new brainwave test could detect early signs of Alzheimer’s years before diagnosis — in just three minutes. That’s according to researchers at the University of Bath and the University of Bristol, who recently tested the new technology — called Fastball EEG — in patients’ homes. The three-minute test records electrical activity in the brain as the person looks at a series of images. It is designed to pick up on signs of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which often precedes Alzheimer’s. (Rudy, 9/2)

NPR: These Scientists Found Alzheimer’s In Their Genes. Here’s What They Did Next
People who inherit two copies of a gene variant called APOE4 have a 60% chance of developing Alzheimer's by age 85. Only about 2% to 3% of people in the U.S. have this genetic profile, and most of them don't know it because they've never sought genetic testing. But three scientists are among those who did get tested, and learned that they are in the high-risk group. Now, each is making an effort to protect not only their own brain, but the brains of others with the genotype known as APOE4-4. (Hamilton, 9/2)

More health and wellness news —

Medical Xpress: Dad's Childhood Passive Smoking May Confer Lifelong Poor Lung Health Onto His Kids
A father's exposure to passive smoking as a child may impair the lifelong lung function of his children, putting them at risk of COPD—a risk that is heightened further if they are childhood passive smokers themselves—finds research published online in the respiratory journal Thorax. The findings highlight the intergenerational harms of smoking, say the researchers, who urge fathers to intercept this harmful legacy by avoiding smoking around their children. (9/2)

MedPage Today: Brain Tumor Risk Rises With Birth Control Shot
Meningioma was rare but occurred more frequently among women who used depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (Depo-Provera) versus other forms of contraception, an analysis of more than 10 million women in the U.S. showed. Compared with women who did not use hormonal contraception, women who used depot medroxyprogesterone acetate had a relative risk (RR) of 2.43 (95% CI 1.77-3.33) for meningioma, according to Varun Kshettry, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic, and co-authors. (George, 9/2)

Newsweek: Zapping White Blood Cells Makes Them Heal Body Faster
Electrically stimulating key cells in the immune system could "reprogram" them to reduce inflammation and encourage faster and more effective healing in the body. This is the discovery of scientists from Trinity College Dublin in Ireland who say their findings could lead to a powerful therapeutic option to help "boost the body's own repair processes in a huge range of different injury and disease situations." (Millington, 9/2)

Newsweek: Scientists Invent Patch That Makes Pimples 'Disappear' Pain-Free
Pimple patches seem to be soaring in popularity—and a newly invented type that makes zits disappear without pain or irrtitation in mere days could soon be all the rage. Researchers have created a two-stage pimple patch set with an array of tiny spikes that grab onto the pimple and deliver antibacterial or anti-inflammatory compounds. Generally, the small, sticker-like bandages used to cover and heal unwanted spots come in all different shapes and sizes with varying degrees of effectiveness. (Millington, 9/2)

The Wall Street Journal: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: We’re Restoring Public Trust In The CDC 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was once the world’s most trusted guardian of public health. Its mission—protecting Americans from infectious disease—was clear and noble. But over the decades, bureaucratic inertia, politicized science and mission creep have corroded that purpose and squandered public trust. That dysfunction produced irrational policy during Covid: cloth masks on toddlers, arbitrary 6-foot distancing, boosters for healthy children, prolonged school closings, economy-crushing lockdowns, and the suppression of low-cost therapeutics in favor of experimental and ineffective drugs. The toll was devastating. America is home to 4.2% of the world’s population but suffered 19% of Covid deaths. (HHS Chief Robert F. Kennedy Jr., 9/2)

The Boston Globe: Only Congress Can Save The CDC Now
For those of us who work, or have worked, at the CDC, the Aug. 8 attack made one question unavoidable: How do we survive this growing derangement toward public health that is ruthlessly encouraged by our leaders at the highest levels? (Charles LeBaron, 9/2)

Chicago Tribune: The CDC Is Under Siege. The Poor Will Pay The Price.
The CDC, long regarded as the world’s gold standard of epidemiology, is under siege. Programs targeting infant mortality, youth violence, smoking, maternal and child health, mental health, obesity, lead poisoning and infectious disease tracking have been slashed. Surveillance reports and early warning systems have been curtailed, while health promotion and advocacy for communities disproportionately affected by inequity are being censored. Scientists are leaving in droves and being replaced by political loyalists. (Stan Chu Ilo, 9/3)

Stat: Vaccines Are Becoming An Electoral Liability For Republicans 
Democrats are grappling with their lowest approval ratings in 35 years. Voters prefer Republicans on nearly every policy issue, according to new polling by the Wall Street Journal. In fact, voters trust Democrats more than Republicans on only two issues: health care and vaccine policy. (Larry Bucshon and Michael C. Burgess, 9/3)

Bloomberg: Zepbound Or Wegovy Choice Should Be Up To Doctors Not Insurers 
As evidence grows supporting the potential health benefits of obesity drugs like Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly & Co.’s Zepbound, so too— frustratingly — do the barriers to accessing them. (Lisa Jarvis, 9/3)

Stat: Health Insurance Churn Is Killing Americans 
There is a deadly condition in the United States that has received almost no attention and is not being addressed. It is not a disease or sociodemographic characteristic. It is churn. While it might sound like an unpleasant infection or embarrassing skin condition, churn is not a physical ailment at all. Rather, churn is a peculiar predicament that occurs because of the United States’ tremendously fragmented health insurance system. (Ezekiel J. Emanuel and John A. Graves, 9/3)