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good morning. It’s amazing what two days of sun and spring-like warmth can do for my mental health. For a more metaphorical change in weather, read Rose’s story below about the administration’s change in policy regarding leucovorin. Scroll further down to learn more about Epstein.
Mainly leucovorin
Nearly six months after top health officials touted leucovorin as a drug that could help “hundreds of thousands” of children with autism, the FDA approved the generic drug yesterday. Except that it wasn’t approved to treat autism, but rather cerebral folate deficiency, a rare brain disease that resembles autism.
As STAT’s O. Rose Broderick writes, the approval is welcome news for the (approximately) 1 in 1 million Americans who live with this rare disease that limits the delivery of folic acid, a type of B vitamin, to the brain. It also signals that the Trump administration is backing away from the idea that the drug holds great promise as a treatment for autism. Read more about Rose’s current situation here.
Red states hit hardest by NIH funding cuts
For the past few months, NIH Director Jay Bhattacharyya has talked about expanding NIH funding across the country and shifting funding away from elite universities on the coasts. While this is not a new idea (some in academia have been calling for spending diversification for years), many researchers are interpreting the Trump administration’s transition as a way to direct more money to red states.
But a new report from United for Medical Research shows that over the past year, red states were hit harder by a decline in 2025 awards. A report on the economic benefits of NIH funding found that each dollar invested by NIH stimulates approximately $2.5 in economic activity. However, in 2025, the number of awards decreased by more than 10% in 19 states and Washington, DC. Of those 20, 16 voted for Trump in the 2024 election.
You can read part of STAT’s previous report here about why states that were generally red did not reinstate canceled subsidies and how that affected researchers who were already maxed out. I also wrote here about the difficulty of measuring the economic benefits of NIH funding and how that makes it difficult for advocates to communicate the impact of NIH disruption. —Anil Oza
Do medical schools teach preventive care?
When Lauren Rice entered medical school, she was excited to learn how she could shape patient health through nutrition, lifestyle, and preventive medicine. However, almost finishing medical school, she realized that these topics were largely absent from her training.
“As I approach graduation, I feel unprepared to deal with the chronic illnesses that will soon impact the patients I care for,” Rice writes in a new First Opinion essay. In other words, Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may have a point when he claims that medical training doesn’t pay enough attention to nutrition and lifestyle. Read more from a frontline medical student about what she feels is a missed opportunity to introduce evidence-based education in preventive and lifestyle medicine.
Epstein’s ‘great friend’ returns to biotech world
Boris Nikolic was Bill Gates’ top scientific advisor when he was introduced to Jeffrey Epstein in 2009, a year after Epstein was convicted of sexual solicitation of a minor. Mr. Epstein quickly brought Mr. Nikolic under his wing, encouraging his new friend to begin managing Mr. Gates’ biotech investments.
The relationship started from there. Many of the Justice Department records, reported for the first time by STAT, show how Epstein helped Nikolic make a career move to become a well-connected biotech investor. The two also developed a close personal relationship, with Nikolic and her now-husband repeatedly sending Epstein photos of young women and offering to introduce them. Epstein also advised Nikolic during a heated prenuptial relationship.
Details about Nikolic’s relationship with a convicted sex offender were revealed in 2019, and his career seemed to be derailed. His story related to STAT’s interests could have ended there. But as Damian Garde reports, one of the industry’s most influential venture capitalists has quietly remained loyal to Nikolic in the meantime.
“I wish I had known in 2019 or 2024 what I know now,” investor Alexis Borisy said in a statement. Borisy helped Nikolic set up the fund and used his high-profile venture to vouch for the outcasts. “But because I didn’t know it at the time, I stand by my actions to not react to the impulses of cancel culture.” Read more about the web of connections from Damien and where Nikolic, who denies any wrongdoing, landed.
New study analyzes gender differences in suicide
This is sometimes called the gender paradox in suicide. Women are more likely to have suicidal thoughts and attempt suicide than men, but men are more likely to die by suicide. To analyze potential genetic influences on these disparities, researchers analyzed data on 3.1 million people born between 1963 and 1998 in Sweden. The study, published yesterday in the journal BMJ Mental Health, found that while genes play an important role in a person’s overall suicide risk, they do not appear to be important when it comes to differences between genders.
Records linked each patient to their parents, as well as siblings and half-siblings. In general, the risk of attempting suicide was higher for people who had relatives who had also attempted suicide. This increased risk was even higher among first-degree relatives, that is, parents and biological siblings, than among half-siblings. However, these familial risk groups were particularly dangerous for women. For example, in mother-daughter pairs, if one partner attempted suicide, the risk of the other attempting suicide was higher than in father-son pairs. Risk was highest among sisters and was virtually similar.
What does that mean? Basically, genetics does not explain the gender paradox in suicide. The study authors believe that social factors and “potential gender-specific influences due to common family environment” play a larger role. As always, further research is needed.
what we are reading
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More and more children are being admitted to emergency departments with tooth pain. President Trump’s cuts and RFK Jr.’s anti-fluoride fight are useless, KFF Health News
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Cancer infests neighbors in Canada’s oil sands wasteland, New York Times
- AI agents are rapidly gaining popularity in the medical field, but validation is lacking, STAT
- Texas ban on transgender care for minors hurts treatment of transgender people in El Paso, Texas Tribune
- Dana-Farber and Brigham are on good terms again after fight over cancer clinician, says Boston Globe
