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Tomorrow is my birthday.
What is your favorite whimsical birthday anthem?I loved this version of Black Country, New Road that I listened to the other day.
Trump moves to eradicate marijuana, psychedelics signal new era in Republican drug policy
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
Last week, President Trump upended U.S. drug policy, increasing the availability of certain psychedelics and reclassifying medical marijuana in a major policy shift that advocates have long sought.
Although the president did not legalize psychedelics or marijuana, his orders changed how these drugs are regulated. For cannabis, the move moves state-licensed medical marijuana from Schedule I, which is limited to drugs with no medical use and a high potential for abuse, to Schedule III, which is less tightly regulated. It also eases some barriers to cannabis research. For psychedelic substances, this change will also increase access to research into these substances, which have shown promise in treating a variety of mental health conditions.
Is this the most pro-drug administration thing? Did this all start with a text from podcaster Joe Rogan? Read more from STAT’s Lev Facher and Isabella Cueto.
Expedited reimbursement for medical devices by CMS, FDA
Drug policy wasn’t the only thing that changed significantly yesterday. Federal regulators announced a new Medicare reimbursement pathway for devices deemed breakthrough by the Food and Drug Administration, addressing longstanding industry complaints that Medicare payments for innovative technologies take too long.
The new pathway is intended to synchronize the Food and Drug Administration’s premarket review process, which determines whether a product is safe and effective, with Medicare’s independent process, which determines whether payment for a device is reasonable and necessary. If finalized, this pathway would create a faster path to permanent coverage for device developers while addressing concerns about Medicare paying for unproven technology.
However, not everyone was relieved by the announcement. STAT’s Mario Aguilar and Katie Palmer explain the new pathway and detail why some experts are skeptical about improving the medical device pipeline problem.
I keep beating — keep beating
Why does cancer rarely take hold in the heart? Take a peek at the beat.
Preliminary research in mice suggests that the thousands of heartbeats and gallons of blood pumped a day put constant pressure on organs, which may create an environment less likely for cancer to develop.
To test their hypothesis, the researchers transplanted second hearts into mice. Yes, you read that correctly. There are two hearts and one mouse. The transplanted heart was under less mechanical stress, meaning it pumped less blood. They then injected cancer cells into both hearts and found that the cancer spread rapidly in the transplanted heart, which was under less stress, whereas the cancer spread almost never in the native heart.
STAT’s Anil Oza has written a great article about this study, and its findings could lead to new approaches to cancer treatment.
Molly, mushrooms, and ibogaine — oh my!
Until I saw this video, I had no idea how to pronounce “ibogaine,” the psychedelic that excites Joe Rogan. Do you also want to learn how to pronounce the podcaster’s favorite words? Or perhaps more importantly, understand what message Rogan is sending to Trump? Learn more in the latest STATus report. Alex Hogan and Daniel Payne dig deeper into President Trump’s recent actions on psychedelic policy and what it means for mental health treatment.
Regeneron signs drug pricing agreement, secures gene therapy approval
Regeneron had a busy Thursday.
Pharmaceutical companies have entered into private drug pricing agreements with the Trump administration that would lower drug prices to Medicaid, the last of 17 agreements the White House originally sought last year. The company also agreed to invest $27 billion in drug development in the United States. Health authorities have promised to conclude more drug price agreements in the near future, especially targeting small pharmaceutical companies.
Regeneron also announced FDA approval of Otarmeni, the first gene therapy to be greenlit under the FDA’s new National Priority Voucher Program. In early trials, the drug produced modest hearing improvements in people with a rare type of hearing loss, but its development has faced pushback from some in the deaf community. Regeneron plans to make the drug free to patients in the United States.
Read more from STAT’s Daniel Payne and me.
International pediatric vaccine campaign expands
A multi-year campaign to redress the damage the COVID-19 pandemic has caused to immunization efforts in developing countries has delivered more than 100 million vaccine doses to 36 countries.
New data released on Thursday suggests the Big Catch-up campaign has vaccinated at least 18.3 million children under five and appears on track to reach its goal of 21 million children at final count. Importantly, 12.3 million of those children were so-called “zero-dose children” – children who had not previously been vaccinated. The program, which began in 2023, was implemented by the WHO. Gavi, Vaccine Alliance. And UNICEF.
Kate O’Brien, WHO’s director of immunization, vaccination and biologicals, said one of the benefits of the campaign was that countries were now monitoring vaccination coverage among children up to the age of five. Previously, many countries stopped monitoring after the age of two, an approach that almost guaranteed that children who missed the first two years of life would not be vaccinated. — Helen Branswell
what we are reading
- ‘Make America Healthy Again’ movement cools over Trump and Republican influence, New York Times
- Weekly emergency department visits for tick bites are higher than usual, CDC says
- ‘Punch in the gut’: After years of waiting, many opioid victims will be barred from Purdue colony, ProPublica
- Food stamp work rules don’t increase employment, researchers say, KFF Health News
What word? Test your knowledge with today’s STAT Mini crossword.
