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Good morning. You may have noticed (did you??) that this newsletter was sent a little later than usual this morning. That’s because of some big breaking news in the first item. Take a look!
Cancer ‘vaccine’ successfully slowed melanoma
When added to an existing treatment, a personalized mRNA cancer vaccine slowed the return of melanoma and its spread to other parts of the body in a late-stage clinical trial, the drugmakers Merck and Moderna announced today.
In 2024, early data on the vaccine served as a turning point for the floundering field. If the latest results hold up — the drugmakers did not immediately release detailed data — they could herald a new, powerful approach in oncology. Read more from STAT’s Matt Herper on what we know and what comes next.
Public health body weighs altering equity standards
In 2019, the accrediting body for the country’s public health schools highlighted in a blog post the way that the organization’s core requirements were directly relevant to current events dominating national headlines. One such example: A requirement that schools teach on structural bias, social inequities, and racism. Seven years later, “DEI” is in the news again, but this time as a target of the second Trump administration. Now, the accreditor is considering removing the requirement on equity.
Some public health experts are disappointed by the potential change, which they see as a sort of “anticipatory compliance” to the Trump administration. But others say the move would be reasonable. Read more from STAT’s Anil Oza on what the changes could look like.
How weed is marketed to youth
Earlier this month, Congress passed a funding bill that included a monthlong delay to a national ban on a swath of high-inducing hemp products. Some lawmakers expressed disapproval of the move, asserting that these products often fall into the hands of minors. A new study, published this morning in the journal Addiction, supports the argument that these products are marketed toward young people.
Researchers assessed more than 800 Instagram posts from nine major brands that sell cannabinoids like Delta-8 THC. Nearly half (very nearly: 49.6%) included youth-oriented imagery and cues, such as movie or music references, cartoons, influencers, celebrities, memes, and more. Just 2.5% of posts included health and age warnings.
An immunologist who grew up unvaccinated
Liz Marnik grew up in an anti-science household. Creation, she was told, occurred over the course of seven days, literally. Scientists who said otherwise were not to be trusted. She never received any vaccines until age 23, when she went to a doctor and requested them herself. By then, she’d realized she was a natural at science, and had begun pursuing a graduate degree. And then, in 2020, her worlds collided.
“All of the people who were spreading misinformation about Covid-19 were people like my family that I had grown up with,” Marnik told STAT contributor Felice J. Freyer. “I felt a responsibility to kind of try to help navigate this moment.” Read more on how Marnik’s experience informs her work as a science communicator fighting misinformation.
A 2016 law requires that electronic health records such as imaging, lab work, and other test results be released to patients as soon as they’re available. Survey data published yesterday in JAMA Network Open found that about 69% of patients look at those results before their provider reaches out about them, but not everyone fully understands what they’re looking at.
Nearly 7% of survey respondents reported a poor understanding of test results, while 27% reported understanding fairly well, 32% well, and 35% very well. People who reported a poor understanding of their results were more likely to live in the Midwest or South, and to report experiencing discrimination in medical care.
Dissecting Chinese trial strategy in wake of deaths
In the last month, the world has learned about three deaths in Chinese gene or cell therapy trials. All three projects were investigator-initiated trials, a loosened regulatory pathway that has allowed Chinese physicians and companies to test new experimental medicine without sign-off from central regulators.
STAT’s Jason Mast asked several gene-editing and muscle-disorder experts to review early data from one company running a Duchenne muscular dystrophy trial in which a young boy died. The researchers came away divided on the quality of the science and the wisdom of the approach. “I’m not sure it was unreasonable to try,” one expert said. “Their data repeatedly violate the central dogma of molecular biology,” said another. Read more on how outsiders have dissected the data, and what it means for Chinese clinical trials broadly.
What we’re reading
- Trump expected to pick White House adviser Heidi Overton to lead FDA, STAT
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The little-known link between dementia and epilepsy, the New York Times
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Drive for nuclear power boosts uranium industry — and tribal health concerns in Southwest, KFF Health News
- Fauci adviser David Morens pleads guilty to avoiding records requests, conspiracy to defraud government, STAT
- The CDC has zombie programs. Congress funds them, but few people are left to do the work, AP
- The White House declares ‘promises made, promises kept’ on lowering drug prices. Nice try, STAT