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Good morning. Lately, I’ve been listening to the “I Love Boosters” score when I need to focus at the office. The Tune-Yards-composed music is kooky, manic, and sort of makes my heart rate go up. I love it.
Diabetes experts in an uproar over meeting expulsions
Five days ago, security officers escorted five diabetes experts out of the American Diabetes Association meeting for handing out copies of an editorial criticizing federal research cuts. Criticism of that move from members of the organization continues to pile in, STAT’s Elizabeth Cooney reports. And for many people, the way ADA leadership has defended itself is only making matters worse.
“To me, it was inconceivable,” said John Buse, a former ADA president and co-author of the editorial in question. He wasn’t necessarily surprised by the idea that leadership might approach the members and ask them to stop handing out materials. But getting officers involved was “shocking,” he said. Read more from Liz about what sort of resolution people want to see.
A new era of American sunscreen
If you’ve ever heard a friend wax poetic about the superiority of Korean skin care, then you know how big a deal this is: The FDA has approved the first new sunscreen ingredient for the U.S. in more than 25 years. The ingredient, bemotrizinol, has long been used in sunscreens made around the world, while new American sunscreens got bogged down by FDA bureaucracy.
This doesn’t mean you’ll immediately see Beauty of Joseon sunscreen products in the locked cabinets of American pharmacies. A Dutch manufacturer will get an 18-month exclusivity period to sell sunscreen with bemotrizinol after initially submitting a request for approval to the FDA in 2024. Read more on the decision from the AP. And for a refresher on why people favor this chemical ingredient in sunscreen, revisit this First Opinion essay from last spring.
NIAID taps new acting director
The NIH has appointed researcher John Powers III to lead its infectious disease institute on an acting basis. For weeks the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has been in leadership limbo after reports that the previous director, Jeffery Taubenberger, stepped down.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) expressed concern last month about the lack of leadership: “With less funding, and fewer staff, and stalled research, can you credibly tell us that we are better prepared for public health threats than we were a year ago?” Read more from Anil Oza and Helen Branswell.
Reviving an old debate on opioid treatment
Medical and public health leaders in the U.S., unlike peer nations, have been historically suspicious of medication-assisted treatment for opioid addiction. But as overdoses and deaths persisted in recent years, evidence-based medications have finally garnered more consistent support across the political spectrum. When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took over as federal health secretary, he explicitly confirmed that drugs like suboxone and methadone would remain essential components of the country’s response to the overdose crisis.
But in the past year, the Trump administration has taken a decidedly more negative approach to these medications, setting off alarm bells among public health experts, addiction doctors, and patient groups. Read more from STAT’s Lev Facher on the changing winds and what the implications could be.
DOJ reaches second settlement on youth gender care
The Justice Department has reached another settlement deal with a U.S. hospital to stop providing pediatric gender-affirming care, according to an agency press release from Friday. Cleveland Clinic, which has not admitted any wrongdoing, has made a “decades-long” commitment not to provide gender-affirming care, including puberty blockers and hormones, to any minors. The facility also committed $2 million to support “detransitioners,” meaning anyone who might change their mind about receiving such care. (Existing research shows this is rare.)
Keep in mind: The actual text of the settlement has not been made public. (If anyone has it, please DM me! I’m theresagaff.97 on Signal.) “A DOJ press release should be read as their spin and viewed with skepticism,” lawyer and independent journalist Chris Geidner noted on Friday. Still, it’s the second such agreement after Texas Children’s Hospital agreed to “permanently” cease pediatric gender-affirming care and create a clinic for detransition care, per the DOJ. The news arrives amid a slew of court battles over Justice Department subpoenas into transgender health care, in which many judges are siding with hospitals and families.
The abortion barriers faced by teens
Following the Dobbs decision in 2022, 10 states voted to enshrine abortion rights in their state constitutions. Seven of these states have parental consent and notification laws for minors seeking abortions. But the tide may be turning on this type of law. Last month, the Nevada Supreme Court decided to halt enforcement of the state’s parental notification law. In Colorado, a physician filed a lawsuit against a similar law.
The motion “marks a momentous step in addressing the current barriers to abortion access for teens even in abortion-protective states,” pediatric resident Sunaya Krishnapura writes in a new First Opinion essay. Read more about why she believes teens deserve the right to pursue abortion without parental involvement, and how health care providers should contribute to advocacy efforts.
What we’re reading
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These popular snacks contain high levels of additives and contaminants, Consumer Reports
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Anguished parents, crying doctors: Life amid Utah’s measles outbreak, Wired
- The shortage of many medicines in the U.S. remains a ‘systemic’ problem, a new analysis finds, STAT
- He profits off raw milk that’s making people sick. The government isn’t stopping him, ProPublica
- As the U.S. looks on, European countries feel growing pressure on drug prices, STAT