Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Perspectives: Psychedelics Helpful In Behavioral Therapy; SCOTUS Decision Looms Large For FDA
After more than a decade spent working as a peer-support facilitator in suicide prevention and postvention, which involves assisting survivors in the grief process, I slowly became aware of the growing body of evidence supporting psychedelic-assisted therapies as a medical intervention for the types of behavioral health issues I encountered. Like many, I was skeptical. (Brandon Kapelow, 3/26)
In its current term, the US Supreme Court will decide Food and Drug Administration (FDA) v Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (AHM), a case challenging FDA鈥檚 regulation of mifepristone, a drug involved in more than half of US abortions. Many have drawn attention to the case鈥檚 clear implications for reproductive justice, as well as its potentially destabilizing influence on the drug development and innovation ecosystem. (Holly Fernandez Lynch, JD, MBE1; Aaron S. Kesselheim, MD, JD, MPH2, 3/25)
On March 26, 2024, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case seeking to restrict use of mifepristone for early abortion brought by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (AHM) against the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA originally approved mifepristone in combination with misoprostol for early medication abortion in 2000 with a specific regimen and requirements for use. FDA v AHM seeks to roll back evidence-based modifications the FDA made in 2016, 2019, and 2021, to improve the effectiveness of the medication regimen and expand access through removal of the in-clinic dispensing requirement, removal of the physician-only administration requirement, and through direct pharmacy access. (Eve Espey, MD, MPH1; Tiffany Hailstorks, MD, MPH2; Lisa Hofler, MD, MPH, MBA1, 3/25)