Good morning and happy Friday. I’m off today, but I’ll talk next week.
Highlights from yesterday’s summit
For me, the best moment of yesterday’s event may have been the few seconds of silence after STAT’s Lizzie Lawrence asked Medicare Director Chris Klomp how he and other HHS leaders are combating the high levels of turnover and dissatisfaction at the FDA.
“Great people take time to develop, and great teams take time to work together,” Klomp ultimately said. Read more about what else Klomp said about drug pricing and Medicare Advantage in a conversation with Mario Aguilar by STAT’s Tara Banau. And here are some other great quotes of the day.
- “You know what would happen if the FDA were a company? People would short the stock,” said Stelios Papadopoulos, Exelixis’ chairman of the board and the godfather of biotechnology. (It was a lively conversation, and Papadopoulos also spoke passionately about Klomp. “This guy is amazing,” he said. “He’s my hero.”)
- “Whether we like it or not, social media is the primary source of news for many people, and it’s the format in which people want to receive information,” said epidemiologist and science communicator Jessica Malati Rivera.
- Robert Califf is also a Klomp fan. “I would work for that person,” he told Lizzie. Read more about the conversation from Daniel.
- And of course there was the topic of China. “I think we should adapt our systems and regain some competitiveness with China,” said Michel Sadran, head of the Colombia Initiative in Cell Engineering and Therapeutics. “And I hope we see an evolution soon that will allow us to do that.” Read more of what Megan had to say on that panel.
Judge will rule to invalidate Kennedy’s gender-affirming care declaration
A federal judge in Oregon said he is reversing a declaration late last year by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that said gender-affirming care for transgender youth did not meet medical standards.
“The declaration itself is not just an opinion,” Justice Mustafa T. Kasbai said at the end of Thursday’s oral argument. A formal written decision is expected to be announced soon.
After the proclamation was issued in December, a coalition of states immediately sued Kennedy for overstepping his authority over the proclamation. Regulation of drugs is largely left to the states, and federal rules are subject to a public notice and comment period. Read more from me to find out what arguments were made and what the judges had to say about it.
Doctors want to make IUD insertion less painful
Obstetrician-gynecologist Marilu Sakkeim can see the worried expressions on women’s faces as soon as they enter her office. In recent years, the pain associated with IUD insertion and other gynecological procedures has received increasing attention. But in his new First Opinion essay, Sackheim emphasizes that many doctors can and want to address the pain.
“I was not only a female doctor, but also a patient,” she writes. Mr. Sackheim experienced the placement and removal of an IUD. She has had two C-section deliveries, had eggs collected for IVF, and had a hysterectomy. “I know firsthand that this pain is real,” she wrote. Read more about how she approaches pain management for her patients.
Square the tobacco boost by the MAHA value
Ed Reinke/AP
A low-profile amendment to the 2026 Farm Bill moving through Congress would make tobacco farmers eligible for funding from certain federal aid programs that they have been excluded from since the federal tobacco program ended more than two decades ago. Not exactly aligned with MAHA’s goal of reducing chronic disease rates in the United States
Nonprofit attorney Kelsey Romeo Stappy said the amendment’s overall impact would be relatively small, but it would be “the equivalent of subsidizing a product that kills half a million Americans every year.” Despite the conflict with MAHA’s goals, the amendments, if included in the final bill, would be another victory for an industry that has thrived under the Trump administration. For more information, read Sarah Todd’s article at STAT.
The majority of Americans associate alcohol with cancer.
Quick: When you think of the latest dietary guidelines for Americans, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Probably not alcohol.
Think of the upside-down food pyramid in the 2025-2030 guidelines, with steak, sticks of butter, broccoli, frozen peas and carrots topped by a herd of turkeys. What’s missing from that image is alcohol. The final version, released in January, had only two bullet points on this topic. “Reduce your alcohol intake to improve your overall health,” and avoid alcohol if you’re pregnant, have an alcohol use disorder, or are taking certain medications.
Still, in both February 2025 and February 2026, more than half of Americans said drinking alcohol increases their risk of cancer, the Annenberg Center for Public Policy reported yesterday. This is a sharp increase from September 2024, when just 40% said they knew about the connection.
why? The 2025 study comes a month after U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called for updated warning labels to warn consumers of the increased risk of at least seven types of cancer. The Annenberg Center connected the dots. — Elizabeth Cooney
Eating meat and the risk of dementia?
As Liz mentioned, the new steak-topped dietary guidelines drew mixed reactions from experts. Many were particularly troubled by the meat recommendation, as it is important to limit saturated fat. A study published yesterday in JAMA Network Open on meat consumption and Alzheimer’s disease risk adds some interesting early data to the discussion, but it must be considered with nuance.
Analyzing data from more than 2,100 Swedish residents aged 60 and older, researchers found that eating more meat was associated with better cognitive outcomes for people with important genetic mutations (APOE 3/4 and 4/4) that increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. However, that positive association was not observed in everyone else.
“Our findings suggest that conventional dietary advice may be disadvantageous for genetically defined subgroups of the population,” lead author Jakob Norgren said in a press release. Norgren acknowledged that this was just an observational study, and that there hasn’t been much research into the link between diet and brain health. So before you order a big steak, you should do some more research.
what we are reading
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The fight to hold AI companies responsible for children’s deaths, Wired
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Americans are losing HIV care. What Real Housewives Need to Know Part 19
- Independent Autism Commission launches effort to take on RFK Jr. and influence Congress, STAT
- Clinics closed, care canceled: New data shows the impact of One Big Beautiful Bill’s attack on family planning, MS Now
- Congress needs to fix anti-surprise laws before bankrupting patients and employers, STAT
What word? Test your knowledge with today’s STAT Mini crossword.
