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After months of back and forth, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Wednesday advanced the nomination of Monica Bertagnolli to lead the National Institutes of Health by a vote of 15-6, with ranking member Bill Cassidy, R-La., voting for President Joe Biden’s nominee and Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., opposing it. (Cohen, 10/25)

Sen. Bernie Sanders tried to rally Democrats and President Joe Biden to do more to lower drug prices just a year after they ordered Medicare to negotiate with pharma. None showed up. The Vermont independent’s campaign took a blow on Wednesday as Democrats joined forces with Republicans to advance Biden’s pick to lead the National Institutes of Health over Sanders’ objections. (Schumaker, 10/25)

The White House on Wednesday requested $1.55 billion from Congress to address illicit fentanyl driving overdose deaths across the country as part of a broader funding package. ... “As we continue to lose an American life to drug overdose every five minutes around the clock, Congress must come together and take immediate action,” Dr. Rahul Gupta, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said in a statement. (Guilfoil, 10/25)

As billions of dollars for a global HIV/AIDS program credited with saving millions of lives remains in limbo, the George W. Bush Institute is urging the U.S. Congress to keep money flowing for it. In a letter sent to Congress on Wednesday, the former Republican president’s institute pleaded with Congress to keep funding the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR. The program works with nonprofit groups to provide HIV/AIDS medication to millions around the world, fund orphanages and support health systems around the world. (Seitz, 10/25)