���ϳԹ���

���ϳԹ��� News: Biden Administration Advances Plan To Remove Medical Debt From Credit Scores

Americans would no longer have to worry about medical debts dragging down their credit scores under federal regulations proposed Tuesday by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. If enacted, the rules would dramatically expand protections for tens of millions of Americans burdened by medical bills they can’t afford. The regulations would also fulfill a pledge by the Biden administration to address the scourge of health care debt, a uniquely American problem that touches an estimated 100 million people. (Levey, 6/11)

“Medical debt makes it more difficult for millions of Americans to be approved for a car loan, a home loan or a small business loan, all of which in turn makes it more difficult to just get by, much less get ahead, and that is simply not fair. Especially when we know that people with medical debt are no less likely to repay a loan than those without medical debt,” Vice President Kamala Harris said Tuesday. “No one should be denied access to economic opportunity simply because they experienced a medical emergency.” (Davis, 6/11)

Government researchers hoped to attract a more diverse group of patients for clinical research by paying for the travel expenses of cancer patients seeking to volunteer for trials. It didn’t work. (Wilkerson, 6/12)

Facing a worsening cybersecurity crisis in health care, the Biden administration has followed a familiar political playbook: Call the biggest names in technology and secure promises, and money, to fix the problem. (Ross and Ravindranath, 6/12)

President Joe Biden kept his distance from the courtroom where his son Hunter Biden stood trial on felony gun charges to avoid any appearance of meddling but his quick statement reacting to the jury’s guilty verdict Tuesday spoke to where his heart has been all along. “Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today,” Biden wrote. “So many families who have had loved ones battle addiction understand the feeling of pride seeing someone you love come out the other side and be so strong and resilient in recovery.” (Long, Miller and Madhani, 6/11)

Massachusetts Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, both Democrats, introduced legislation Tuesday that would result in prison time for violators of "corporate greed" in health care. The Corporate Crimes Against Health Care Act would also offer state attorneys general and the U.S. Justice Department more tools to go after health care executives accused of corporate exploitation for endangering patient safety and access to health care, according to a press release. Warren delivered remarks in front of Steward’s St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Brighton, taking issue with the financial management of Steward under CEO Ralph de la Torre. (Mion, 6/12)

Steward Health Care System LLC has lined up $225 million in emergency financing, a lifeline the bankrupt hospital operator said is needed to avoid closing and depriving care to millions of patients. The biggest private for-profit hospital chain in the country needed the infusion as hospital landlord Medical Properties Trust Inc. declined to advance more than an initial $75 million Chapter 11 loan, Steward Chief Restructuring Officer John Castellano said in a sworn statement Tuesday. (Randles, 6/11)

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' efforts to halt Medicare Advantage and Part D marketing practices it deems "predatory" have landed the agency in court. In April, CMS published a final rule that limits how, and how much, health insurance companies may compensate brokers, independent agents and other third-party marketers for guiding enrollees toward Medicare Advantage and Part D plans. The people whose pay got cut objected, and a growing number have sued to stop the regulation. (Tepper, 6/11)

A U.S. district judge Tuesday denied another motion from the Federal Trade Commission to block Novant Health's acquisition of two North Carolina hospitals from Community Health Systems while the case is being appealed. Judge Kenneth Bell did, however, extend a temporary restraining order on the transaction until 12 p.m. June 21, giving the FTC time to request a similar injunction from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Novant and Community Health Systems had previously been authorized to close the deal Wednesday. (Hudson, 6/11)

A project to build a modern UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland has gained a major milestone through a key jobs deal to prioritize hiring local workers for the $1.6 billion plan. The Building and Construction Trades Council of Alameda County, a major East Bay labor organization, and Rudolph and Sletten, a big-time construction firm that is the general contractor for the project, have crafted a jobs deal for the project. (Avalos, 6/11)

Waystar's initial public offering could lead to a wave of digital health companies going public. Waystar was the first digital health company to go public since August 2022. Companies have been hesitant to enter the public markets but analysts said the tide is beginning to turn, albeit slowly, starting with Waystar's Nasdaq debut Friday. (Turner, 6/11)

Two Pasadena doctors are facing allegations from the California Medical Board that they negligently prescribed painkillers and other potentially dangerous narcotics to patients. Officials are seeking to revoke or suspend the medical licenses of Dr. Elisa Cuellar Alvarado and Dr. Robert D. Siew, according to two separate accusations filed this year. Both doctors practice internal medicine and are permitted to see patients at Huntington Hospital, according to their bios. (Fry, 6/11)

A singer who joined the storied Motown group the Four Tops in 2018 sued a Michigan hospital on Monday, accusing its staff of placing him in restraints and ordering a psychological evaluation because they did not believe he was part of the band. The singer, Alexander Morris, who is Black, filed a lawsuit accusing Ascension Macomb-Oakland Hospital of racial discrimination and two employees of negligence for an incident in April 2023, when he was taken there by ambulance with chest pain and difficulty breathing. (Jacobs, 6/11)

A federal judge has ruled that Florida’s new restrictions on gender-affirming treatment for children are unconstitutional, and that Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republican lawmakers who supported them were not acting in the interest of public health. By refusing to allow children to access treatments, Tallahassee-based district court Judge Robert L. Hinkle wrote in a ruling handed down Tuesday that DeSantis and Republicans who voted for the measure responded in a way that was similar to racism and misogyny. (Sarkissian, 6/11)

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued the Biden administration over a new federal rule that he says would require states to pay for gender care procedures for transgender people through their Medicaid programs and require health care providers to perform them. (Salinas II, 6/11)

San Francisco leaders declared the city a sanctuary for transgender people Tuesday, becoming one of the first in the nation to do so amid a push by some conservative states to limit trans rights. The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously to declare San Francisco a sanctuary city for transgender, gender nonconforming, nonbinary and Two-Spirit people — a Pan-Indian term that describes those who are neither male nor female — to provide a place of safety for that community and providers of gender affirming care. (Toledo, 6/11)

Mental health diagnoses in children have skyrocketed since the COVID pandemic — led by gender dysphoria and eating disorders, according to a new report. LexisNexis Risk Solutions analyzed medical claims data submitted between 2019 and 2023 for patients under age 18. Overall, mental health claims rose 83% among young people in that time frame. (Rudy, 6/11)

TikTok has briefly suspended the account of Hey Jane, a prominent telemedicine abortion service, four times without explanation. Instagram has suspended Mayday Health, a nonprofit that provides information about abortion pill access, without explanation as well. And the search engine Bing has erroneously flagged the website for Aid Access, a major seller of abortion pills online, as unsafe. The groups and women’s health advocates say these examples, all from recent months, show why they are increasingly confused and frustrated by how major technology platforms moderate posts about abortion services. (Schmall and Maheshwari, 6/11)

Gov. Jay Inslee on Tuesday said Washington will spell out in state law that hospitals must provide abortions if needed to stabilize patients, a step that comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule this month on whether conservative states can bar abortions during some medical emergencies. There is no indication that patients have been denied emergency abortions in Washington, but the Democrat said during a news conference in Seattle he wanted to remove any doubt that hospitals were required to provide those services if necessary. (Johnson, 6/11)

Planned Parenthood clinics in Illinois are treating a record number of patients as the anniversary approaches for the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. More patients are also traveling greater distances to get abortions in Illinois, Planned Parenthood of Illinois reported Monday. (Washburn, 6/12)

As Democratic lawmakers in several states worked to enact shield laws to protect doctors offering telehealth abortion services to patients in states where abortion is banned or restricted, an unexpected hurdle emerged: Planned Parenthood. The abortion rights group privately lobbied officials in California, New York and Massachusetts against the novel state laws, saying they could be risky for providers and damaging to efforts to protect existing abortion care. (Stein, 6/11)

Like any other virtual visit, doctors in a handful of states log onto their computers, call patients and prescribe medication. Except their patients live in other states — and in some ways, another world. The medical providers — fewer than two dozen of them, only two of whom live in California — prescribe medication abortions for people who live in states that restrict or ban it. (Stein, 6/12)

Since it was first discovered in birds in 1996, H5N1 has shown itself to be a Swiss Army Knife of a virus, evolving the necessary tools to break into the cells of a growing list of species. So far, it has infected and killed millions of wild and farmed birds. It’s also been found in at least 26 different kinds of mammals, including, most recently in the United States — cows, cats and house mice. The voraciousness of the virus prompted Dr. Jeremy Farrar, chief scientist of the World Health Organization in April to call it “a global zoonotic animal pandemic.” (Goodman, 6/11)

The Wyoming Livestock Board announced last week that bird flu has been found in a herd of dairy cattle in Wyoming. It's the first confirmed case of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in the Cowboy State. (Dudley, 6/11)

In its latest updates, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) reported 36 more H5N1 avian flu detections in house mice, all in the same New Mexico county, as well as four more virus detections in domestic cats. Also today, APHIS reported four more H5N1 detections in domestic cats, including one from Oklahoma, which hasn't recently reported the virus in poultry or in dairy cows. (Schnirring, 6/11)

Officials have confirmed reports of bird flu (H5N1) being detected in wastewater in the Houston area. Harris County Public Health says the Houston area is one of nine Texas cities where H5N1 was detected in wastewater samples conducted by the Texas Epidemic Public Health Institute (TEPHI). The samples were from between March 1 and May 13. (Terry, 6/11)

For weeks now, as the H5N1 bird flu has been spreading into dairy cattle herds in more and more places, one state continues to lead the pack. With reports of infections in 25 herds, Michigan currently accounts for about one-third of the country’s confirmed cases in livestock. And of the three people known to have contracted the H5N1 virus from sick cows since the outbreak began, two of them are farmworkers in Michigan, including one who experienced respiratory symptoms. (Molteni, 6/12)

Mandy Cohen, who led North Carolina’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, is facing her first major test as director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — rising concerns about the spread of avian influenza. (Baxley, 6/12)

India has reported an H9N2 avian flu case involving a child in West Bengal state who was exposed to poultry, marking the country's second such case since 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today in a statement, and China confirmed another pediatric H9N2 infection. The 4-year-old child, who had a history of upper-airway disease, was first hospitalized in February for complications from respiratory virus infections, which included influenza B and adenovirus. In early March, the child was hospitalized again with severe respiratory symptoms, which were positive for unsubtyped influenza A and rhinovirus. (Schnirring, 6/11)

���ϳԹ��� News: Listen To The Latest '���ϳԹ��� News Minute'

“Health Minute” brings original health care and health policy reporting from the ���ϳԹ��� News newsroom to the airwaves each week. (6/11)

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), in response to a request from the US federal government, has published a new consensus diagnosis for long COVID. While working groups, national governments, and health organizations have all offered definition of long COVID, no general consensus exists. The definition, which can be applied to both children and adults, reads: "Long COVID (LC) is an infection-associated chronic condition (IACC) that occurs after SARS-CoV-2 infection and is present for at least 3 months as a continuous, relapsing and remitting, or progressive disease state that affects one or more organ systems." (Soucheray, 6/11)

Headache, fatigue, malaise, and chills after COVID-19 vaccination are signs the immune system is marshalling a strong response against future infection, suggests a study posted today in the Annals of Internal Medicine. "Generally, we found that the higher the number of side effects, the higher the level of antibodies," first author Ethan Dutcher, MD, PhD, said in a UCSF news release. (Van Beusekom, 6/11)

This fall, prepare for the latest round of COVID vaccine Whac-a-Mole.  Like the old arcade game, no matter how many shots we get, the enemy always pops back up. But here’s why the new shot, recommended by FDA advisers last week, makes sense: It targets a new version of the virus, the FDA panel said. It bolsters your body’s ever-growing defense system.  And it’s a lot better than getting very sick or hospitalized. (Krieger, 6/11)

Los Angeles city employees who left or were fired because of noncompliance to the city's 2021 vaccination policy can now reapply for their positions. The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to establish a pathway back to employment to assist some 86 employees who were affected. The council also voted Tuesday to lift the city's policy requiring municipal employees to be vaccinated for COVID-19. (Sharp, 6/11)

COVID-19 markers in California have begun their expected summer uptick, driven by increased travel, indoor activities due to the heat and new coronavirus variants collectively known as FLiRT. These factors prompted a nearly 30% rise in COVID-19 related emergency room visits in California in the last week of May — the most recent reported time period — according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Vaziri, 6/11)

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo faced a tough grilling from House GOP lawmakers Tuesday over his handling of COVID-19 in nursing homes during the height of the pandemic. Cuomo visited Capitol Hill for a closed-door interview with the House select subcommittee investigating the coronavirus pandemic. (Betz, 6/11)

A new study today in JAMA Network Open shows that pediatric hospitalizations for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) doubled during the 2022-2023 season compared to the prior year. (Soucheray, 6/11)

Republican leaders of a prominent committee overseeing federal health agencies are pushing to crack down on certain viral pathogen research with a new oversight panel. (Owermohle, 6/11)

Massachusetts House leaders are pushing a proposal that would free doctors, hospital officials, and others from requirements to report suspected neglect to child welfare officials solely because a baby is born exposed to drugs, offering a dramatic shift in the state’s approach to child welfare reporting. The measure is expected to pass the House on Thursday as part of a wide-ranging bill intended to address the state’s still-raging opioid epidemic. (Stout, 6/11)

A new initiative dubbed The Commonwealth Project, based in Massachusetts, aims to integrate medical cannabis into traditional health care for seniors. "People 65 and over are the fastest-growing segment using cannabis, but they're using it for ailments of aging, [for] relief," Howard Kessler, the group’s founder, told Fox News. Medical marijuana is legal in 37 states, four U.S. territories and Washington, D.C. (Baier and Munneke, 6/11)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom last year agreed to a tax increase that aimed to do two things: Help balance a budget with a multibillion-dollar shortfall, and pay doctors more money to treat patients covered by Medicaid — the taxpayer-funded health insurance program for people with low incomes that now covers one out of every three people in the state. A year later, California is relying on this tax more than ever. Newsom raised it again in March to help cover another multibillion-dollar shortfall this year. And he’s proposing to raise it a third time to generate even more money as the deficit has continued to grow. (Beam, 6/12)

Raquel Richardson arrived for work at the Johnston Square Apartments in East Baltimore this February expecting to have just another Tuesday. The 31-year-old typically spends her days solving residents’ problems, answering questions at reception and making maintenance rounds. That day, however, she noticed a team offering free blood pressure checks in the lobby — and decided to sit for one too. (Walker and Gorenstein, 6/11)

Researchers at Colorado State University are nearing completion of an effort to create and develop rapid at-home tests for HIV. The staff and students in Fort Collins are using technology and science developed during the COVID-19 pandemic to now create the HIV testing devices. The National Institute of Health has awarded CSU $2.9 million to try and create more accurate and reliable at-home tests for HIV. (Thomas, 6/11)

U.S. manufacturing and chemical industry groups have filed a lawsuit seeking to block a federal rule announced this year setting the first-ever drinking water standard to protect people against toxic "forever chemicals." The rule is intended to reduce exposure to the group of 15,000 chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) for approximately 100 million people. It would avoid deaths that have been linked to PFAS, according to the EPA. (Pierson, 6/11)

The toxic gas ethylene oxide (EtO) is detectable in southeastern Louisiana at levels a thousand times higher than what is considered safe, according to a new study. EtO emissions largely come from petrochemical manufacturing, and southeastern Louisiana has a high density of facilities that use or manufacture petrochemicals. (Lapid, 6/11)

Greg Hess deals with death day in, day out. Hess is the medical examiner for Pima County, Ariz., a region along the United States-Mexico border. His office handles some 3,000 deaths each year — quiet deaths, overdoses, gruesome deaths, tragic ones. From April through October every year, Hess is confronted with an increasingly obvious and dramatic problem: His morgue drawers fill with people who died sooner than they should have because of Arizona’s suffocating heat. (Borunda, 6/11)

Violent crime fell in the first quarter of 2024 by more than 15%, continuing its postpandemic decline nationwide, according to data released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Homicides and reported rapes both declined about 26% in the first three months of 2024 compared with a year earlier, data from the FBI’s quarterly uniform crime report showed. Robberies were down about 18% and aggravated assault fell by about 13%, the FBI said. Reported property crime declined about 15%. (Hatcher and Barba, 6/11)

They served in police departments big and small. They were new recruits and seasoned veterans, patrol officers and chiefs of police. They understood the power of their guns and badges. In many cases, they used that very power to find and silence their victims. A Washington Post investigation has found that over the past two decades, hundreds of law enforcement officers in the United States have sexually abused children while officials at every level of the criminal justice system have failed to protect kids, punish abusers and prevent additional crimes. (Contrera, Abelson, Harden, Godfrey and Jones, /12)

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths, and now new studies are showing how important screenings are to catching lung cancer early. Only 18 percent of people who are eligible and need lung cancer screenings are getting them. That's according to a new study led by American Cancer Society researchers. (Guay, 6/11)

A growing body of evidence suggests the effects of mental health has a disproportionate impact on women’s bodies. Recent findings presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session in April indicate that depression and anxiety accelerate the development of new cardiovascular disease risk factors, particularly among young and middle-aged women. The researchers followed 71,214 people participating in the Mass General Brigham Biobank for 10 years. Those with a history of anxiety or depression before the study were about 55 percent more likely to develop high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes compared to those without. The finding was most pronounced among women with anxiety or depression who were under 50, who were nearly twice as likely to develop cardiovascular risk factors compared with any other group. (Beard, 6/11)

Swapping out time in front of the TV for physical activity might not sound like the most fun trade, but it is associated with significantly better chances of healthy aging, according to a new study. (Holcombe, 6/11)

���ϳԹ��� News: Many Young Adults Who Began Vaping As Teens Can’t Shake The Habit

G Kumar’s vaping addiction peaked in college at the University of Colorado, when flavored, disposable vapes were taking off. “I’d go through, let’s say, 1,200 puffs in a week,” Kumar said. Vaping became a crutch for them. Like losing a cellphone, losing a vape pen would set off a mad scramble. “It needs to be right next to my head when I fall asleep at night, and then in the morning, I have to thrash through the sheets and pick it up and find it,” Kumar recalled. (Daley, 6/12)

���ϳԹ��� News: ‘I Try To Stay Strong’: Mom Struggles To Get Diagnosis For Son’s Developmental Problems

Four-year-old Ahmeir Diaz-Thornton couldn’t sit still in class and rarely ate his lunch. While his preschool classmates spoke in perfect sentences, Ahmeir had trouble pronouncing words. Ahmeir’s preschool teacher relayed her concerns to his mother, Kanika Thornton, who was already worried about Ahmeir’s refusal to eat anything but yogurt, Chef Boyardee spaghetti, oatmeal, and applesauce. He also sometimes hit himself and others to cope with the frustration of not being able to communicate, she said. (Parekh, 6/12)

Former President Carter is “experiencing the world as best he can,” while he is no longer awake every day in hospice care, his grandson revealed in an interview late last week. Jason Carter, the oldest of the Carter grandchildren, spoke to Southern Living magazine about his grandfather’s condition as he approaches his 16th month in hospice care in Plains, Ga. Carter entered hospice care in February 2023, forgoing additional medical intervention to spend his remaining time at his Georgia home with his family. At 99 years old, he has lived longer than any other U.S. president. (Nazzaro, 6/11)

Morrie Markoff, a supercentenarian blogger and scrap-metal sculptor who was believed to be the oldest man in the United States and whose brain has been donated for research on what is known as super-aging, died on June 3 at his home in downtown Los Angeles. He was 110. He had two strokes in recent weeks, his daughter, Judith Markoff Hansen, said in confirming his death. (Williams, 6/11)

A bipartisan group of state attorneys general is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review a case they allege wrongfully limits states' ability to police pharmacy benefit managers. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) led a group of 32 attorneys general who filed an amicus brief with the high court Monday, asking justices to reconsider an August 2023 ruling that found federal laws supersede state laws regarding PBMs. (Tepper, 6/11)

The point of prescription drugs is to help people improve their quality of life. When a doctor writes a prescription and sends it along to the pharmacy, oftentimes they’re more focused on the drug’s effectiveness than its cost. But when a patient picks up that drug, the price they will be asked to pay at the counter takes center stage — and it depends on a complex combination of factors. (Yeo, 6/12)

Prescription drug costs are remarkably higher in the United States than in other countries, so it’s no surprise that more than half of U.S. adults say they are worried about being able to afford their medications. These high costs have led many people to skip doses, take less than the prescribed amount, delay filling prescriptions, and even go without treatment altogether. (Yeo, 6/12)

There’s no such thing as a miracle cure for weight loss, but the latest obesity drugs seem to come pretty close. People who take Ozempic or other weekly shots belonging to a class known as GLP-1 agonists, after the gut hormone they mimic, can lose a fifth or more of their body weight in a year. Incessant “food noise” fueling the urge to eat suddenly goes silent. In recent months, the mystique of these drugs has only grown. (Tayag, 6/11)

"Consumers rely on accurate information when making decisions about which products to purchase for their families," Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, one of 43 attorneys general involved in the lawsuit, said in a statement Tuesday. "Any company — no matter how large — must be held accountable when laws protecting consumers are broken and their trust is violated." (Brooks, 6/11)

Lawyers for Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and company President Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani on Tuesday urged a federal appeals court to overturn their convictions for defrauding investors in the failed blood testing startup, which was once valued at $9 billion. Amy Saharia, Holmes' lawyer, told a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco that Holmes believed she was telling the truth when she told investors that Theranos' miniature blood testing device could accurately run a broad array of medical diagnostic tests on a small amount of blood. (Pierson, 6/11)

Akira Endo, a Japanese biochemist whose fascination with the internal workings of fungi underpinned research that discovered cholesterol-lowering statins in blue mold, a find that revolutionized cardiovascular care and became one of the world’s most widely used drugs, died June 5 at age 90. No cause was given. (Murphy, 6/11)

The U.S. Senate health panel said on Tuesday it would vote this month on whether to subpoena Novo Nordisk to answer questions about U.S. prices for weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, which are far higher than those in other countries. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, which is investigating the drugs' costs, said in a statement that at its June 18 meeting it will weigh a subpoena requiring Novo Nordisk Inc President Doug Langa to testify at a July 10 hearing. (Aboulenein and Erman, 6/11)

The Global Antibiotic Research & Development Partnership (GARDP) today announced an agreement with Indian pharmaceutical company Bugworks Research Inc. to co-develop a new broad-spectrum antibiotic that targets some of the most difficult-to-treat bacterial pathogens. (Dall, 6/11)

An analysis of US emergency department (ED) visits for pediatric urinary tract infections (UTIs) provides some new insight into antibiotic prescribing practices, researchers reported today in Pediatrics. Led by researchers from Boston Children's Hospital, the analysis aimed to evaluate changes in antibiotic prescribing at US ED visits for pediatric UTIs from 2011 to 2020 using nationally representative data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS). A previous analysis of NHAMCS data found that, from 1998 to 2007, there was a decline in use of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) for pediatric UTIs amid rising resistance rates and a significant increase in the use of enteral third-generation cephalosporins (e3GC). That finding raised concerns. (Dall, 6/11)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted accelerated approval to French drugmakers Ipsen and Genfit's drug for a chronic inflammatory liver disease, Iqirvo, the companies said on Monday. Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) causes inflammation of the small bile ducts in the liver and eventually destroys them. It primarily affects women aged 30 to 60, impacting 75,000 in the United States. (Singh and Sunny, 6/11)

Merck is focused on second- and third-generation opportunities in the cardiometabolic drugs market, which includes weight-loss treatments, the company said on Tuesday. "We think more in terms of small-molecule orals, versus injectables. That's the preferred route," CEO Robert Davis said at the Goldman Sachs Global Healthcare Conference. (Sunny and S K, 6/11)

The ongoing legal dispute involving Johnson & Johnson has again thrust the topic of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) into the spotlight. Ann Lewandowski, a J&J employee, sued the company for overpaying for its employees’ prescription drugs through its PBM, Express Scripts, claiming that these overpayments resulted in higher health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket drug costs for employees. (Jake Frenz, 6/12)

In the face of a growing childhood obesity epidemic, some parents and clinicians are turning to new tools such as GLP-1 receptor agonists. (6/5)

The subtype of bird flu that is going around is more accurately called H5N1, and the current outbreak in dairy cows has escalated to an alarming level. The H5N1 virus is now infecting humans, with many field reports of human illness on dairy farms and three documented cases in people, including one with respiratory symptoms. (Kay Russo, Michelle Kromm, and Carol Cardona, 6/11)

A dairy worker in Texas contracts H5N1 bird flu after contact with infected cows, and suffers eye inflammation. Weeks later, a dairy worker in Michigan begins to cough and then tests positive for the virus. A ferret in a cage (ferrets are often used as study proxies for humans) becomes infected with the virus by airborne transmission from a sick ferret in a nearby cage. These data and other recent cases of H5N1 suggest that the virus might be evolving to spread more easily to — and among — people. (David Quammen, 6/12)

The fight for reproductive justice is continuing at the federal and state levels, and the Republican Party is determined to prove its dedication to controlling women's bodies and birth control choices. (Sara Pequeno, 6/9)

If it were common knowledge that a company was targeting kids to consume highly addictive and dangerous products, you’d expect the government to do something about it. Yet millions of illegal vapes are being smuggled into the U.S. and sold widely — mainly to kids — and the Food and Drug Administration is doing little about it. (Vallerie Biancaniello, 6/12)

Hunter Biden was found guilty on federal charges Tuesday for lying about his drug use on a gun purchase application in 2018, for lying to the gun dealer and for owning the gun. Yet, Hunter Biden’s drug problem is America’s drug problem. His case reflects the reality of widespread substance abuse in our nation, reinforces harmful behavior through media glamorization of substance use and underscores systemic problems in social services. The case also highlights the need for comprehensive drug reform in the United States.  (Marla Bautista, 6/11)