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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) joined President Biden at the White House podium Wednesday, with the president hoping that the fiery Vermont senator can help tap into popular frustrations against pharmaceutical companies and boost a drug-price campaign ignored by many Americans. Biden and Sanders discussed their joint efforts to lower the out-of-pocket cost of inhalers for tens of millions of Americans who rely on the devices to treat asthma and other conditions. (Diamond, 4/3)

“Bernie, you and I have been fighting this for 25 years,” Biden said to Sanders ... “Finally, finally we beat Big Pharma. Finally.” Both men touted the lower health care costs that come through the Democrats’ sweeping climate, health care and tax package that Biden signed into law in 2022. It caps various health care costs for those on Medicare, including $35 a month for insulin and $2,000 a year for prescription drugs. No Republican lawmakers voted for the law. (Superville, 4/3)

Alex Schriver, a spokesperson for trade group PhRMA, defended industry practices, calling the White House event "another missed opportunity to address the real barriers between patients and their medicines." "When companies have introduced lower-priced versions of their medicines, insurers and PBMs (pharmacy benefit managers) have refused to cover them because they make less money," Schriver said. (Holland and Bose, 4/3)

An Alabama hospital said it plans to stop offering in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments at the end of this year due to “litigation concerns” surrounding the therapy. Mobile Infirmary said “it will no longer be able to offer” IVF services in a news release on Wednesday. The decision follows Alabama’s Supreme Court ruling that people who destroy frozen embryos can be liable for wrongful death. (Timotija, 4/3)

Health centers are trying to accommodate as many patients post-six weeks as they can before the ban goes into effect May 1. After that, most patients will have to travel elsewhere. Planned Parenthood officials in Florida say they've been preparing for months for the possibility of a six-week abortion ban. Now that the Florida Supreme Court has upheld the current 15-week ban, the increased abortion restrictions will kick in May 1. (Colombini, 4/3)

The drive to Bristol, Virginia, from Jacksonville, Florida, takes more than eight hours. It’s over 10 from Orlando and closer to 14 from Miami. Despite that distance, Bristol Women’s Health Center is preparing for an influx of women from Florida seeking abortions when a stricter ban kicks in next month. For many people who otherwise would have obtained abortions in Florida, the clinic in southwest Virginia will become the closest practical option. (Mulvihill, 4/3)

It’s a nearly 10-hour car drive from Tampa to a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Wilmington, North Carolina. By plane, it’ll take about two hours to fly to the Washington, D.C., area — then another 20 minutes to drive to an abortion provider in Virginia. It’s a 1,850-mile round trip to get from St. Petersburg to a southern Illinois clinic that offers the surgical procedure. (O'Donnell and Ogozalek, 4/3)

Florida Democrats, fearing politicization will sink a November ballot measure protecting abortion, are warning President Joe Biden’s campaign not to alienate Republicans. Already, the Biden campaign declared Florida “winnable,” launched digital ads in Florida showing Donald Trump bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade and held a call with reporters to put the former president on the spot over the issue. All of it could push away GOP voters crucial to passing the initiative to protect abortion. (Sarkissian and Leonard, 4/3)

Leaders from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration visited St. Louis University on Wednesday to discuss what federal officials could do to reduce the state’s high rate of maternal and infant deaths. Agency officials took part in a discussion with dozens of providers, government officials and patients from around the state who receive federal funding from the agency. (Fentem, 4/3)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Feds Join Ranks Of Employers With Generous Fertility Benefits

Companies have increasingly offered generous fertility benefits to attract and keep top-notch workers. Now, the federal government is getting in on the act. Starting this year, federal employees can choose plans that cover several fertility services, including up to $25,000 annually for in vitro fertilization procedures and up to three artificial insemination cycles each year. With about 2.1 million civilian employees, the federal government is the nation’s largest employer. (Andrews, 4/4)

While the medical community has grown accustomed to a certain level of frustration about this recurring phenomenon, the increasing frequency and scope of the chaos is exacting a meaningful toll across the sector, providers and their representatives said in interviews. When Congress fails to operate predictably, that exacerbates the underlying financial problems already causing burnout and staffing shortages and limiting access to healthcare, particularly in rural and underserved urban areas, they said. (McAuliff, 4/3)

Tensions between hospitals and Medicare Advantage insurers are poised to keep growing as the program gets larger and the federal government takes a harder line on health plans. Why it matters: How hospitals and insurers respond to financial threats could ultimately affect the care received by more than half of seniors now enrolled in the program — whether it means reduced benefits, fewer provider choices or higher costs. (Owens, 4/4)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: End Of Internet Subsidies For Low-Income Households Threatens Telehealth Access

For Cindy Westman, $30 buys a week’s worth of gas to drive to medical appointments and run errands. It’s also how much she spent on her monthly internet bill before the federal Affordable Connectivity Program stepped in and covered her payments. “When you have low income and you are living on disability and your daughter’s disabled, every dollar counts,” said Westman, who lives in rural Illinois. (Tribble, 4/4)

The U.S. health regulator approved Basilea Pharmaceutica's (BSLN.S) antibiotic for bacterial infections including multidrug-resistant strains, the FDA said on Wednesday. The Switzerland-based company was seeking approval of its antibiotic ceftobiprole for the treatment of three conditions - Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (SAB), acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections, and community-acquired bacterial pneumonia. (Roy and L, 4/3)

Bobby Reddy Jr. roamed a hospital as he built his start-up ... an artificial intelligence tool that would individualize treatment. Now, the Food and Drug Administration has greenlighted such a test developed by Reddy’s company, Chicago-based Prenosis, to predict the risk of sepsis — a complex condition that contributes to at least 350,000 deaths a year in the United States. It is the first algorithmic, AI-driven diagnostic tool for sepsis to receive the FDA’s go-ahead, the company said in a statement Wednesday. (Gilbert and Roubein, 4/3)

In the next 24 hours, more than 130 people will die from opioid-related drug overdoses. That will happen again tomorrow and the next day. Each year, the U.S. is losing roughly 110,000 people to these deaths of addiction, mostly from illicit opioids like heroin and fentanyl. Under pressure to help combat this public health crisis, the Food and Drug Administration has begun taking steps intended to reduce overdoses and opioid use disorder. Last year, it approved selling the overdose-reversing naloxone nasal spray without a prescription, and in December, the agency approved a DNA test to help guide physicians’ opioid-prescribing decisions. (Molteni, 4/4)

Sanofi (SASY.PA) has reached an agreement in principle to settle 4,000 U.S. lawsuits linking the discontinued heartburn drug Zantac to cancer, the company said on Wednesday. Sanofi did not disclose the financial terms of the deal. The agreement, which still needs to be finalized, will resolve most of the lawsuits against the French pharmaceutical company in U.S. state courts, with the exception of Delaware where the majority of the cases are pending. (Knauth, 4/4)

Former President Trump's surgeon general is advocating for conservative states to back needle exchanges as a strategy to reduce transmission of infectious diseases like HIV and hepatitis C and save lives while the fentanyl epidemic rages on. Why it matters: Making illicit drug use easier may seem counterintuitive, but it's been shown to improve public health and reduce societal costs, Jerome Adams argued in an opinion piece he co-authored in USA Today. (Bettelheim, 4/4)

Former President Donald Trump wants to reinstate a controversial drug-pricing policy stymied during his administration’s final months if he wins the election in November. The policy, which could save the government billions, was halted in 2020 before it could be implemented and would likely be challenged again by the pharma industry. It aims to reduce prices by requiring Medicare to pay no more than what other developed countries pay for the top 50 drugs that physicians administer to patients, such as cancer drug infusions. (Lim, 4/3)

Just more than 20 percent of Americans indicated violence may be necessary to secure political objectives in 2024, according to an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll released Wednesday. Roughly equivalent portions of Democratic and independent respondents said they see violence as an option, with 28 percent of Republicans agreeing violence may be a political strategy. (Vickers, 4/3)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last night released a detailed analysis of H5N1 avian flu samples taken from a patient in Texas who was exposed to sick cows, which suggests that the infection might involve the eyes but perhaps not the upper respiratory tract. Also, when CDC scientists compared the human H5N1 samples to viruses from cattle, wild birds, and poultry, they found in the human sample a mutation with known links to host adaptation. (Schnirring, 4/3)

All Things Considered host Ari Shapiro spoke to Dr. Mandy Cohen, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about the potential risks and the government's response. (4/3)

The outbreak, it turns out, is proving to be especially costly for American taxpayers. Last year, the Department of Agriculture paid poultry producers more than half a billion dollars for the turkeys, chickens and egg-laying hens they were forced to kill after the flu strain, H5N1, was detected on their farms. (Jacobs, 4/3)

The EU's Food Safety Agency (EFSA) warned on Wednesday of a large-scale bird flu pandemic if the virus becomes transmissible between people as humans lack immunity against the virus. ... The spread of bird flu is a concern for governments and the poultry industry due to the devastation it can cause to flocks, and a risk of human transmission. (De La Hamaide, 4/3)

New U.S. hepatitis C infections dropped slightly in 2022, a surprising improvement after more than a decade of steady increases, federal health officials said Wednesday. Experts are not sure whether the 6% decline is a statistical blip or the start of a downward trend. Seeing 2023 and 2024 data, when it’s available, will help public health officials understand what’s going on, said Daniel Raymond, director of policy at the National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable, an advocacy organization. (Stobbe, 4/3)

According to new research, being around grandchildren has its risks, too. The bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae, or pneumococcus, is a common and contagious microorganism responsible for a range of mild and severe infections, including pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis. ... The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that roughly 5 to 10 percent of adults are thought to be asymptomatic carriers of these microbes. However, in children, this number rises to between 20 and 60 percent. (Dewan, 4/3)

Working long hours earlier in life may be linked to worse health as you age, a study has found. ... The study found that those who had more erratic work schedules when they were younger—for example, those who worked evenings, nights and variable hours—slept less, had lower sleep quality and were more likely to report depressive symptoms at age 50, compared to people who worked traditional daytime hours. (Smith, 4/3)

For the first time, researchers have directly linked glasses and income.The study – published Wednesday in PLOS ONE – found a dramatic increase in earnings with a very low-cost change: a new pair of reading glasses. The researchers went to 56 villages in Bangladesh, ... the researchers found that income grew by 33% for those with glasses. (Emanuel, 4/3)

Jaye Rochon struggled to lose weight for years. But she felt as if a burden had lifted when she discovered YouTube influencers advocating “health at every size” — urging her to stop dieting and start listening to her “mental hunger.” ... As her weight neared 300 pounds, she began to worry about her health. The videos that Rochon encountered are part of the “anti-diet” movement, a social media juggernaut that began as an effort to combat weight stigma and an unhealthy obsession with thinness. But now global food marketers are seeking to cash in on the trend. (Chavkin, Gilbert, Tsui and O’Connor, 4/3)

Shares of Moderna (MRNA.O) fell 4% on Wednesday after a U.S. judge issued an order that strengthened Arbutus' arguments in a patent infringement lawsuit related to Moderna's blockbuster COVID-19 vaccines. ... In a so-called "claim construction order", U.S. District Judge Mitchell Goldberg interpreted parts of the patents in ways that strengthened Arbutus' case, rejecting Moderna's proposed definitions. (4/3)

A drugmaker in China has developed a biosimilar version of Novo Nordisk's (NOVOb.CO) popular diabetes drug Ozempic and applied for approval to sell it there, in a potential challenge to Novo's expansion plans in the country. Hangzhou Jiuyuan Gene Engineering said on Wednesday in a post on its official social media account that it was seeking approval to sell the drug, which it calls Jiyoutai, to control blood sugar in patients with type 2 diabetes. (Silver and Burger, 4/3)

Value-based care was thrust into the spotlight as Kaiser Permanente closed its acquisition of Geisinger Health, solidifying plans for a new network that will focus on creating more value for patients. Kaiser will fold Geisinger into a nonprofit entity it created called Risant Health, and there are plans to add several other health systems to the network within the next five years. (Hudson, 4/3)

Pacs Group, an operator of skilled care nursing facilities, filed plans for an initial public offering and seeks to raise almost $400 million. The company, which has more than 200 skilled nursing facilities and other post-acute operations across nine states, seeks to offer just over 19 million shares at a price between $20 to $22 per share, according to a filing this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission. (DeSilva, 4/3)

Walmart Health is pulling back on parts of its plan to open dozens of new health centers this year. The mega-retailer said last year it would add more than 30 health centers across four states in 2024, but that number has since been reduced to 22 in two states, a spokesperson said Wednesday. Walmart is set to open four health centers in the Houston area this month and will roll out more clinics throughout the summer and fall, the spokesperson said. (Hudson, 4/3)

The state Health Department has returned Mount Sinai’s hotly contested application to shutter Beth Israel, after regulators determined it was missing key information to support the stated rationale for the closure. Regulators also argued the private medical center failed to adequately prove availability of emergency care post-closure, according to court records made public Wednesday. (Kaufman, 4/3)

The first patient to receive a kidney transplanted from a genetically modified pig has fared so well that he was discharged from the hospital on Wednesday, just two weeks after the groundbreaking surgery. The transplant and its encouraging outcome represent a remarkable moment in medicine, scientists say, possibly heralding an era of cross-species organ transplantation. (Caryn Rabin, 4/3)

Scientists may be one step closer to a new treatment for Alzheimer's disease, with the help of our brain's own cellular cleanup crew. Alzheimer's affects roughly 5.8 million Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ... In a new study, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, researchers from Washington University in St. Louis used mice and human brain tissue to investigate how these microglia are controlled at a cellular level, and how this control changes during Alzheimer's. (Dewan, 4/3)

After four decades of unsuccessful clinical trials, a group of French researchers reports the first glimmer of success — a modest slowing of the disease in a one-year study. And the drug they used? A so-called GLP-1 receptor agonist, similar to the wildly popular drugs Ozempic, for diabetes, and Wegovy, for obesity. (Kolata, 4/3)

A new study by researchers with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has found significant and persistent racial disparities in tuberculosis (TB) incidence among US-born residents. The findings were published yesterday in the Annals of Internal Medicine. ... Among the 31,938 TB cases in US-born patients analyzed, researchers found substantially higher incidence among racial/ethnic minority populations. (Dall, 4/3)

A California Department of Public Health review of 109 cases of healthcare professionals (HCP) with lab-confirmed mpox published last week in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology found that 90% had nonoccupational risk factor exposures, and only 1 case was tied to workplace exposure, likely from a sharps injury. ... Of the 109 infected HCP, 102 (94%) were men and 98 (90%) identified as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. (Wappes, 4/3)

The leading causes of death haven’t changed since 1990 — with one glaring, pandemic-sized exception. According to the latest analysis of the Global Burden of Disease study, which reviewed deaths from 288 causes in over 200 states and territories, Covid-19 was the only condition that broke into the ranks — if only for two years — of the global population’s traditional top five killers: ischemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2020 and 2021, Covid-19 was the second-leading cause, pushing stroke to third position. (Merelli, 4/3)

Wastewater testing has become a hallmark of viral surveillance during the COVID-19 pandemic, and a new study looking at samples collected near homeless encampments reveals novel viral mutations and transmission patterns and 26% of water samples containing SARS-CoV-2 genetic material. The study was published today in Environmental Science & Technology Letters. (Soucheray, 4/3)

Treatment with the antiviral drug remdesivir does not increase the risk of adverse cardiac events in patients hospitalized with COVID-19, according to newly published results of the DisCoVeRy Trial, a randomized control trial of outcome seen in patients hospitalized for COVID-19 infections. ... By day 29 of the trial, 11.2% in the remdesivir group and 11.3% in the control group experienced an adverse cardiac event, representing no statistical difference. (Soucheray, 4/3)

North Carolina’s regional managed care organizations that will administer specialized Medicaid plans for people with complex needs say they’re ready for the plans — which have had multiple delays — to finally go live on July 1. CEOs for the four organizations, known as LME-MCOs, appeared Tuesday before the state legislature’s Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Medicaid. They assured lawmakers that the so-called “tailored plans,” which are expected to cover about 150,000 Medicaid participants, will launch on that schedule. (Baxley, 4/4)

As lawmakers in a nearby hearing room debated last month whether to support her legislation to expand Medicaid, Gov. Laura Kelly of Kansas dared the state’s Republican House speaker to hold a vote. “If he thinks he can kill it, bring it,” Ms. Kelly, a soft-spoken moderate Democrat, said in an interview in her sprawling office suite at the State Capitol in Topeka. The next morning, in his own office off the House floor, Speaker Dan Hawkins showed no sign of yielding. (Weiland, 4/3)

A Philadelphia health organization does not have the right to operate a facility where people can consume illicit drugs under the supervision of staffers trained to prevent overdoses, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. The decision marks a victory for the Justice Department, which argued that such facilities violate federal law, and for critics who say the centers enable users, increase crime and attract drug dealers. (Ovalle, 4/3)

U.S. District Judge Gerald McHugh in Philadelphia said ... "The noble intentions of Safehouse and its founders are self-evident, and the public health crisis they seek to address continues unabated, but their religious inspiration does not provide a shield against prosecution for violation of a federal criminal statute barring its operation." The judge dismissed its claims that its religious rights were being violated under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the U.S. Constitution's 1st Amendment, which protects the right to free exercise of religion. (Raymond, 4/3)

After a while, she says, you get used to the screams. You learn which patient shrieks when it’s time for his insulin shot, which woman wails every time a worker wheels her to the shower. “Some people,” Barbara Lee says, “just like to yell.” It’s a cool, dreary morning. In the parking lot off 66th Street North, Lee grabs a banana from her car and pauses to pray for peace for her residents. (DeGregory, 4/3)

Henrico County plans to open a 24-hour treatment center for people in a mental health crisis or who need detoxification treatment for substance abuse. The center will be at the county’s Eastern Government Center. It will include 16 crisis stabilization unit beds, for short-term, mainly overnight crisis care, as well as 16 detoxification beds. Both are intended for people who need medical care, whether to adjust psychiatric medication or to deal with the physical symptoms of withdrawal. (Ress, 4/3)

Tucked away inside the teachers lounge at a New Hampshire elementary school, Amber Warner was having her teeth checked out for the first time. ... The portable clinic is part of a cavity prevention program developed by NYU College of Dentistry and being rolled out in Concord and two other New Hampshire districts. CariedAway New Hampshire hopes to expand to Maine and Vermont — and eventually nationwide — as part of a growing effort to improve pediatric oral health, especially in children from lower-income families. (Casey, 4/3)

Idaho lawmakers have passed a series of bills targeting LGBTQ+ residents this year, including two this week that prevent public employees from being required to use someone’s preferred pronouns and redefine gender as being synonymous with sex. On Wednesday, the Senate approved a bill allowing people to sue schools and libraries over books deemed harmful to minors, sending it to Republican Gov. Brad Little. (4/4)

Children visiting the emergency department (ED) for mental health crises during the pandemic had longer stays and more severe diagnoses, according to a new study in Academic Emergency Medicine. (Soucheray, 4/2)

US states with a 10% increase in Republican voting reported a 5% increase in COVID-19 vaccine–related adverse events (AEs), a 25% increase in severe AEs, and a 21% higher proportion of AEs characterized as severe, with more pronounced associations in older people, a study today in JAMA Network Open concludes. (Van Beusekom, 3/29)

A recent collaborative study has discovered rare variants in the YKT6 gene as the cause of a new neurological disorder characterized by developmental delays along with severe progressive liver disease and a potential risk for liver cancer. (Texas Children's Hospital, 4/2)

Twenty months ago, in July 2022, I wrote a long essay sketching what I called the “pretty brutal” endemic future for Covid: probably about 100,000 deaths annually, at least for the next few years. The number was just a ballpark estimate, drawn from modeling by the epidemiologist Trevor Bedford. But as it is turning out, it looks to have been almost exactly right. (David Wallace-Wells, 4/3)

A Pew Research Center poll last year found that 53% of Americans think medication abortion should be legal in their state, with only 22% saying it should not be. Voters in seven states, including red ones such as Kansas and Ohio, have had the chance to vote on ballot initiatives involving abortion rights — and abortion rights have won every time. (Steve Chapman, 4/4)

In December, the Texas Supreme Court threw up its hands when asked whether the case of Kate Cox qualified for an exception under the state’s near-total abortion ban. Cox argued in a lawsuit that her health and her ability to have children in the future were at risk if she was forced to continue her pregnancy after doctors diagnosed her fetus with full trisomy 18, a chromosomal abnormality that’s nearly always fatal. (4/2)

Trauma exposure is widespread, affecting 70 percent of Americans, but getting help is not easy. Eighty percent of consumers consider mental health care too costly and less than half of those who do seek help for trauma get well. (Adrienne Heinz and Karolina Komarnicka, 4/3)

It can seem counterintuitive to provide clean syringes to individuals who inject drugs. After all, why make it easier to consume illicit substances that are increasingly resulting in overdoses? (Dr. Jerome Adams and Mazen Saleh, 4/3)