Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Let's Keep Realistic CRISPR Expectations; 'Most Favored Nation' Drug Pricing Falls Short
CRISPR is not a miracle product that can magically cure cancer. It is, however, an exceptionally powerful tool that is creating entirely new possibilities in cancer treatment. (Kelly Banas and Eric B. Kmiec, 4/14)
The administration is exploring so-called 鈥渕ost-favored nation鈥 (MFN) pricing, which pegs U.S. drug prices to the lowest level paid by comparable countries. At the end of his first term, President Trump ordered Medicare to implement such an MFN policy, only to have the order blocked by the Biden administration.聽(Darius Lakdawalla and Dana P. Goldman, 4/14)
Some 10,000 federal health workers lost their jobs earlier this month 鈥 among them, a group of regulators who help new medicines get approved. If Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. doesn鈥檛 reverse course, American patients will suffer and half a century of US leadership in pharmaceutical innovation could come to a precipitous end. (4/14)
When Donald Trump accepted the 2024 GOP nomination for president, he included in his speech the importance of American leadership in biomedical innovation. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to get to the cure for cancer and Alzheimer鈥檚 and so many other things,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e so close to doing something great. But we need a leader that will let it be done.鈥 (Fred Upton and Diana DeGette, 4/14)
By the time their spending accounts were reactivated on Thursday, some scientists at the National Institutes of Health said they were running on fumes. (Jeneen Interlani, 4/11)
According to the CDC, RSV is the leading cause of infant hospitalization in the U.S. It鈥檚 estimated that 58,000-80,000 children younger than five years old are hospitalized each year due to RSV. What鈥檚 so scary about RSV is that babies and kids are dying from this virus. (Sophia Bechenek, 4/14)