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Good morning. In Monday’s newsletter, Amanda wrote about a study on rising mortality rates for treatable surgical conditions like appendicitis. If you were looking for the right link for that, here it is. Scroll down past the first five abstracts for the research in question.
A grassroots movement goes corporate
Has the Make America Healthy Again movement changed? If yesterday’s MAHA Summit is any indication, STAT’s Isabella Cueto and Daniel Payne write, then the answer is yes.
The movement first coalesced around mistrust of the health system and corporate influence. But yesterday, government officials and private sector leaders mingled in a chandeliered Waldorf Astoria ballroom while reporters were largely excluded. Most panels featured firms from the sponsor page. Some longtime MAHA supporters were appalled.
“There are a lot of people very upset about it,” said Jeffrey Tucker, president and founder of the MAHA-aligned Brownstone Institute. “It’s just this weird attempt to capture the reins of the MAHA label for something that doesn’t seem to have much to do with MAHA.” Read more on how the day played out and what it signals for the future.
CDC measles death count still lags Pennsylvania’s
The CDC has updated its website to show two measles deaths in the U.S. this year. That means the agency is still out of step with Pennsylvania, where officials count four measles-related deaths in a historic outbreak. As The Washington Post reported yesterday, it’s unclear which of those four the CDC added to its count.
A recent First Opinion essay explains the key difference between “dying from” a disease and “dying with” one, including a helpful explanation of how death certificates work. “If we wanted to be literal about it, the cause of death for nearly everyone would be cardiac arrest, since in the end our hearts stop,” the authors wrote. I recommend reading the essay in full.
In the meantime, Americans are confused about health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s stance on the measles vaccine. Kennedy has made misleading claims about shots, including recently at a conference for Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine nonprofit he helped start. According to the latest survey from UPenn’s Annenberg Public Policy Center, 31% of adults believe that Kennedy recommends children be vaccinated against measles. Another 29% believe he doesn’t recommend it, and 40% are unsure.
Lawmakers want Trump to rethink import rules
A growing number of congressional lawmakers are urging the Trump administration to rethink a federal rule going into effect next month over concerns it will prevent Americans from obtaining prescription medicines from licensed international pharmacies.
The pending rule requires medicines mailed from abroad to go through a customs process that includes a licensed customs broker and a financial guarantee in the form of an entry bond. These steps could ultimately add costs the medication recipients will have to pay. STAT’s Ed Silverman wrote about the concerns. Read more.
What’s the right way to regulate kratom?
Pressure for regulatory action on kratom is mounting after two students at the University of Mississippi died this month, with kratom products found on the scene in both cases. (Authorities have not said that kratom contributed to either death.) The DEA recently proposed temporarily designating a kratom derivative, 7-OH, as Schedule I when above a certain threshold of potency. That would put it in the category of drugs that carry the most risk without any medical benefit. The move, which hasn’t been finalized yet, would get certain products off gas station shelves, though milder kratom leaf products would continue to fly under regulatory radar.
I spoke with addiction and policy experts about whether or not this is the right approach. Some people felt strongly that kratom should be banned, while others pushed for a regulated marketplace. And not everyone has the opinion you’d think they would — I spoke to a harm reduction advocate, for example, who supported the DEA’s proposed rule. Read more to find out why.
So what about those mice with half-human brains??
Did stories like “Flowers for Algernon” or the cartoon “Pinky and the Brain” come to mind when you read earlier this month about the “cerebral organoids” (brains) that scientists are growing inside mice? As STAT columnist Paul Knoepfler writes in his latest essay, science is starting to catch up with fiction, and it’s opening up an ethical minefield.
“The biggest question about this kind of research from both a biology and ethics perspective is: What does having all those human brain cells in the cortex do to mice?” Knoefpler writes. Some of the results were expected, but others only created more questions. Read more to process what it all means.
New California laws on food processing, hepatitis C
Gavin Newsom spent Sunday practicing his autograph — the California governor signed more than 200 bills into law over the weekend. This may be of interest to STAT readers:
- One new law makes it illegal for commercial health insurers to require prior authorization for antiviral drugs that treat hepatitis C. “First in the nation!” Infectious disease doctor Jeffrey Klausner posted online. “Let’s build a movement across the US to liberate hepatitis C treatments from the grips of commercial insurers and get people cured.” For more than a decade, people diagnosed with hep C have struggled to access the highly effective medications. But as STAT’s Nicholas Florko reported in 2022, a major part of the problem is prisons’ blatant refusal to test and treat people with the condition.
After resting his hand a bit, Newsom signed some more bills on Monday, including this:
- California will now officially offer a front-of-package seal that manufacturers can place on their products to show that they are not ultra-processed. STAT’s Sarah Todd first wrote about the bill when it was proposed in March. She also profiled state legislator Jesse Gabriel, who introduced the bill alongside a whole suite of proposals aimed at reducing the health harms of ultra-processed foods. “Jesse Gabriel has passed more food policy in three years than most legislators enact in their entire careers,” Scott Faber from the nonprofit Environmental Working Group told Sarah.
What we’re reading
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The babies left behind in America, The Atlantic
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New study finds high rate of cannabis use disorder among adults over 65, WGBH
- Opinion: America’s biotech race with China must be won at home, STAT
- She left after waiting hours in the emergency room. The ER billed her anyway, KFF Health News