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Morning. In the same way that Athena orchestrated the logistics around Telemachus’s journey in the first three books of “The Odyssey,” I hope some gods out there are coordinating a “Survivor” season 50 win for Cirie Fields. She’s earning it, but I wouldn’t mind some divine intervention to make sure.
Top Fauci adviser indicted re: Covid origins
David Morens, a former top National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases official, was indicted yesterday on allegations that he concealed records from Freedom of Information Act requests. In the legal filing, Trump administration officials claim that Morens hid and falsified records to undermine debate about the origins of the virus that spurred the Covid-19 pandemic — and received kickbacks for doing so.
Morens’ indictment comes after lengthy congressional investigations into the Department of Health and Human Services’ handling of the pandemic — especially issues related to the origins of the virus. Read more on the details of the indictment from STAT’s Washington team.
Autism advisory committee finally meets again
STAT’s O. Rose Broderick spent yesterday in Maryland at the first meeting in 19 months of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, a federal advisory committee that health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reformatted with 21 new members in January.
Much of the substantive discussion revolved around how to define the category of profound autism, roughly 25% of the broader spectrum representing a diverse group of people with unique behaviors and needs who often require round-the-clock care, have higher rates of self-injurious behavior, and are excluded from much of the existing scientific literature. As Rose writes, the meeting was mostly a polite affair — until it wasn’t. Read more to learn about what happened.
Food safety experts warn of USDA brain drain
The USDA announced last week that it’s relocating about 200 positions in its Food Safety and Inspection Service from Washington, D.C., to cities in Iowa, Georgia, and Colorado — a move that experts warn will lead to brain drain among agency leaders who would rather quit than uproot their lives and families.
Leading nutrition expert Marion Nestle has some helpful context on the plunge in productivity after the USDA did something similar under the first Trump administration with its Economic Research Service. Based on recent history, she writes, “the moves will gut the agency, destroy its expertise, and disable it for years to come.” Meanwhile, the advocacy group Consumer Federation of America warns: “In all likelihood, further brain drain at FSIS will further delay long overdue reforms on issues like Salmonella.” — Sarah Todd
‘Oh my gosh, it’s about to get so much worse’
That was what political scientist Miranda Yaver thought to herself when she saw a new report from the Commonwealth Fund on health care inequities between five racial and ethnic groups. The report, which covers 2022 – 2024, finds promising signs for minimizing health disparities. But, given the upheaval and attacks on DEI over the last year, many experts fear the documented gains may be short lived. Read more from STAT’s Anil Oza.
Who is prescribing antipsychotics to people with dementia?
For older adults, medications like antipsychotics come with a heightened risk of delirium or a fall. Despite this, prescriptions of drugs that affect cognition are surging among seniors. A study published yesterday in JAMA Network Open analyzed data from 2008 to 2021 to identify where it’s happening. Researchers found that older adults are disproportionately prescribed these meds in acute and post-acute care settings like emergency rooms and inpatient facilities. This was particularly true for people with dementia — over the study period, 43% of antipsychotic prescriptions for people with dementia were initiated in acute or post-acute settings, despite the fact that those visits made up a much smaller percentage of total clinical encounters.
There is a caveat: researchers assumed where the prescription was made based on the patient’s most recent clinical visit. Still, the data also showed that once people were prescribed antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, nonbenzodiazepine hypnotics, or anticholinergics, more than half continued to take them a year later. The authors believe their findings show that efforts to reduce these prescriptions should focus on acute and post-acute settings.
Supreme Court hears case on ‘skinny labeling’
Today, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on a wonky but important controversy known as “skinny labeling.” As STAT’s Ed Silverman explains, it’s basically a carve-out tactic used by generic drug companies seeking regulatory approval to market a medicine for a specific use, but not other patented uses for which a brand-name drug is prescribed.
Wonky indeed, but it’s a problem that could have a real impact on health care — without skinny labeling, some experts predict that patients could face higher drug prices for longer, ultimately leading to worse health outcomes. Read more from Ed on what you should know ahead of today’s arguments.
What we’re reading
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The Trump administration aims to penalize disabled adults who live with their families, ProPublica
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Facebook has a health scam problem, New York Times
- Opinion: Why alternative medicine can feel so much better than mainstream health care, STAT
- An urgent care treated her allergic reaction. An ER monitored her — for $6,700, KFF Health News
- AIDS group sues Trump administration over undisclosed agreement with Gilead, STAT