Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Trump Admin Plan Would Limit Scholarly Research In Favor Of AI
President Trump’s science adviser told lawmakers on Wednesday that the Trump administration intended to drastically overhaul the country’s approach to scientific research, including by shifting research funding away from universities toward individual researchers and private companies. At a House hearing, Michael Kratsios echoed points he laid out in a report released Tuesday, titled “Science: A New Golden Age.” He said the administration would prioritize artificial intelligence, robotics and nuclear energy while reducing the government’s focus on what he called “life sciences.” (Flavelle and Stolberg, 7/22)
More than a quarter of physician-industry interactions for research funding also involved the doctor receiving general payments from that same sponsor, an analysis of CMS data showed. In an analysis of nearly 60,000 physician-industry interactions, those payments peaked around the time the research began, Alon Bergman, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues reported in JAMA Network Open. (Clark, 7/22)
Texas spent billions recruiting scientists from around the world to turn the state into a cancer-research powerhouse. Now, nearly six months after Gov. Greg Abbott restricted public institutions’ use of the H-1B visa program, cancer advocates and immigration attorneys warn the policy could undercut that strategy. (Priest and Ngo, 7/22)
In other news about the Trump administration —
A slate of experimental peptide therapies are under scrutiny today in what marks the beginning of a two-day meeting to help determine whether the compounds will become available from specialized pharmacies. The panel of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration is considering the evidence for seven compounds including some of the most sought-after: TB-500, BPC-157 and MOTs-C. (Stone, 7/23)
The Trump administration will appeal a Georgia court ruling that triggered a broad recalculation of insurers' Medicare Advantage star rating scores for 2026. In court documents filed Tuesday, federal agencies said they would appeal the ruling to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. In late May, a judge in Georgia's Southern District Court came down in favor of Clover Health, tossing 20 measures that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services used to calculate its scores. (Minemyer, 7/22)
ϳԹ News: Public Health Improvements Stall Amid Trump’s DEI Crackdown
As Earl Williams drove through a historic Black neighborhood known as Dewey City in his hometown, he hardly recognized what he saw. Homes that once belonged to friends, family, and neighbors had siding covered in mold. Some were boarded up. Others had holes in their roofs. (Lumpkins, 7/23)
On the dismantling of USAID —
She paces the side of the darkened highway in central Nepal, just enough light from the trucks roaring past to illuminate her painted face to the men rolling in on rickshaws and motorbikes. She knows that every stranger who pays for her body could end her life. But she also knows their money is the only thing preventing her death. This spot, littered in condom wrappers and fringed by jungle, is familiar to her. Rubi Lama once came here not as a sex worker, but as an aid worker who helped sex workers. (Gelineau, 7/23)
