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Hello, and all hail Chonkers! Get your Alice Cooper voice ready, because school’s out for summer. But HCI is open year-round, so tell me all about your summer plans and any juicy intel you have on the health care industry: bob.herman@statnews.com.

Radio silence on obesity coverage cost

Medicare is advertising that older adults can get Wegovy and Zepbound, specifically for weight loss, starting this July for $50 a month. But the government still is not sharing how much this will cost taxpayers, who will be footing most of the bill.

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Two years ago, the Food and Drug Administration gave itself a deadline. The agency would eventually decide whether to ban electrical shock devices that have been used for decades to manage self-injurious behavior in people with intellectual disabilities and autism.

The deadline, pegged to the end of May, has now passed without a verdict, leaving disability rights activists and former recipients of these shocks worried that they will continue. The practice — dubbed a form of “torture” by United Nations officials and “punishing” by the American Academy of Pediatrics — has mostly fallen out of favor in the United States in recent decades but is still used at one institution: the Judge Rotenberg Center in Massachusetts.

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The French pharma company Servier said Monday that it would buy Edgewise Therapeutics’ muscular dystrophy business in a deal worth up to $2.65 billion.

The centerpiece of the deal is Edgewise’s sevasemten, which is being studied in a pivotal trial in Becker muscular dystrophy and in a Phase 2 trial in Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The oral drug is designed to protect muscles from the damage that accrues in both rare conditions.

The acquisition includes an upfront payment of $1.55 billion, as well as potential milestone payments of up to $1.1 billion.

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We’re catching up on plenty of ASCO news from over the weekend, including detailed daraxonrasib results in pancreatic cancer, and a Chinese lung cancer therapy that continues to outperform expectations.

Also, a decades-old peptide beloved by biohackers has become a lightning rod in a battle over FDA regulation of these substances.

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Below is a lightly edited, AI-generated transcript of the “First Opinion Podcast” interview with Deva Sharma. Be sure to sign up for the weekly “First Opinion Podcast” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Get alerts about each new episode by signing up for the “First Opinion Podcast” newsletter. And don’t forget to sign up for the First Opinion newsletter, delivered every Sunday.

For many people, there’s something a little unsettling about the idea of a blood transfusion. It’s someone else’s cells becoming part of their body. And in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic, some patients, including parents of patients, are objecting to the idea of a donation from someone who has been vaccinated. But how can and should hospitals respond to these requests?

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Below is a lightly edited, AI-generated transcript of the “First Opinion Podcast” interview with Deva Sharma. Be sure to sign up for the weekly “First Opinion Podcast” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Get alerts about each new episode by signing up for the “First Opinion Podcast” newsletter. And don’t forget to sign up for the First Opinion newsletter, delivered every Sunday.

For many people, there’s something a little unsettling about the idea of a blood transfusion. It’s someone else’s cells becoming part of their body. And in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic, some patients, including parents of patients, are objecting to the idea of a donation from someone who has been vaccinated. But how can and should hospitals respond to these requests?

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Good morning, everyone, and welcome to another working week. We hope the weekend respite was relaxing and invigorating because that oh-too-familiar routine of meetings, deadlines, and the like has returned with a vengeance. You knew this would happen, yes? To cope, we are relying, as always, on a cuppa stimulation. Our choice today is honeybush vanilla turmeric. Feel free to join us. Remember, no prescription is required. Meanwhile, here are some tidbits to help you along. Best of luck accomplishing your goals today, and, of course, do keep in touch. …

Detailed study data for a pancreatic cancer treatment from Revolution Medicines confirmed what was previously announced in April by the company in a press release, STAT tells us. Patients with advanced pancreatic cancer who received daraxonrasib as a second-line treatment achieved a median overall survival of 13.2 months, compared to 6.7 months for patients offered standard chemotherapy. Statistically, the drug reduced the risk of death by 60% compared with chemotherapy. The data were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the study was published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine. Meanwhile, the company has begun sending the experimental treatment to physicians and their patients under an early access program authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

For decades, an annual gathering of oncologists has featured drug trials that were run mainly at American and European hospitals, but at this year’s meeting, the signs are everywhere of China’s ascendance as a powerhouse in drug development — and of the threat that many believe it poses to American biotechnology, The New York Times explains. The clearest sign: In what appears to be a first, one of the conference’s five coveted headliners will be a presentation of a clinical trial conducted only in China. That milestone at the ASCO meeting reflects the dizzying growth of China’s biotechnology sector. In just a few years, it has transformed from a sleepy industry into a juggernaut rapidly inventing and testing cutting-edge medicines.

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Health insurers, providers, and consumer advocates praised the Trump administration’s long-awaited fixes to the No Surprises Act’s arbitration process, but some warned they won’t address its most pernicious problem: the provider gaming that’s costing millions. 

The final rule issued Thursday makes changes designed to improve communication between insurers and providers and give Medicare more visibility into their negotiations. Other tweaks are aimed at attacking the problems of ineligible disputes and of arbitration being used as a catch-all instead of a last resort. 

“It does make meaningful progress to reduce burdens and streamline, but we need additional action to address some of the underlying incentives that are driving overuse of the process,” said Jennifer Jones, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association’s senior director of legislative and regulatory policy. “We need more to address the egregious award amounts.” 

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Medicare is advertising that adults 65 and older can get Wegovy and Zepbound, specifically for weight loss, starting in July for $50 a month. But the agency still is not sharing how much this will cost taxpayers, who will foot most of the bill.

There is a lot at stake for the public and Medicare beneficiaries. The temporary coverage of obesity medications, which sidesteps federal law, will unleash millions of new patients and billions of dollars in revenue for the drugs’ manufacturers, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk.

Medicare’s “GLP-1 Bridge” program starts July 1 and runs through Dec. 31, 2027. The Trump administration initially planned on testing coverage of the obesity drugs through Medicare Advantage and prescription drug plans, but the health insurers that run those plans balked at the high potential costs. Instead, the drugs will be covered solely by taxpayers and the beneficiaries who fill prescriptions. 

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COLUMBUS, Ohio — People across northeast Ohio are now receiving AI phone calls to help them prep for surgery and navigate care after they leave the hospital. It’s all part of the “transformation” plan that venture capital firm General Catalyst is implementing at Summa Health, the Akron-based safety-net hospital it bought in October.

In some of the first media interviews since its parent company bought the health system, Health Assurance Transformation Company executives shed light on how the holding company is approaching its “transformation” of the hospital system and planning to share its innovations with more than two dozen of HATCo’s partner health systems.

The firm chose Summa to serve as a proving ground of sorts for health technology tools developed by General Catalyst’s portfolio companies. The purchase, a rare instance of a VC firm buying a hospital, was a response to the frustration that health systems are extremely slow in adopting new technology.

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For more than two decades, medical schools have worked hard to diversify, expanding pipeline programs, scholarships, and recruitment strategies to increase representation among students from historically excluded groups. These efforts have produced measurable gains in medical school enrollment, with the proportion of Black and Latino students increasing over the past decade.

And yet, diversity in the physician workforce has remained relatively unchanged. Black and Latino physicians continue to comprise a disproportionately small share of practicing physicians. 

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The war in Iran has done what years of policy papers could not. It has forced an honest reckoning with American military readiness. While commentators focus on vulnerabilities in industrial capacity and weapons procurement, they consistently omit a critical dimension of readiness: the uniformed medical and technical workforce that makes sustained military operations possible.

Across the tri-service medical corps, encompassing the Army, Navy, and Air Force, the rate of recruitment has consistently struggled to keep pace with separations. A 2024 RAND Corporation study found that a larger-than-expected proportion of physicians are leaving after fulfilling their service obligations, citing pay disparity, administrative burden, and clinical skill degradation as key drivers.

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You’re reading the web edition of ASCO in 30 Seconds, STAT’s guide to the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting. Sign up for email editions here.  

Oncologists are capable of some raucous applause, but they don’t bestow it upon just anyone. Today saw one of those coveted standing ovations, and the hoots and cheers were not held for the end.

The plenary may have passed, but ASCO isn’t over yet— we’ll be back tomorrow with our final newsletter installment, and you can catch our virtual recap on Wednesday.

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JBizNews Desk

A treatment that once required a doctor’s prescription is about to become much easier—and potentially less expensive—for millions of Americans to obtain.

In a May 22 announcement, Galderma, the Switzerland-based dermatology company, said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Differin Epiduo Acne Gel for over-the-counter sale, making it the first prescription-strength combination of adapalene 0.1% and benzoyl peroxide 2.5% available without a prescription for individuals age 12 and older.

The product is expected to arrive at major retailers, including Walmart, Target, Ulta Beauty, and Amazon, beginning this summer.

For consumers, the approval represents a significant shift in acne treatment accessibility. For Galderma, it opens a major new growth opportunity in one of the largest segments of the skincare market.

A Dermatologist Favorite Moves to the Drugstore

For more than 15 years, dermatologists have prescribed the Epiduo formulation to patients struggling with acne. The treatment combines two well-established ingredients that attack acne from different directions.

Adapalene, a retinoid, helps prevent clogged pores and promotes skin-cell turnover, while benzoyl peroxide targets acne-causing bacteria and reduces inflammation.

Used together, the combination addresses multiple causes of acne simultaneously rather than focusing on a single trigger.

According to clinical studies cited by Galderma, the dual-action treatment consistently outperformed either ingredient used alone. Research showed reductions in inflammatory acne lesions of up to 70.3% after 12 weeks of treatment, with improvements maintained through long-term use.

For patients, the key distinction is that the over-the-counter version is not a weaker adaptation of the prescription product. It contains the same active ingredients and strengths previously available only through a healthcare provider.

Why the FDA Decision Matters

Acne is among the most common skin conditions in the United States, affecting an estimated 50 million Americans annually, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.

While many consumers rely on cleansers, spot treatments, and over-the-counter products containing a single active ingredient, more persistent cases often require prescription medications that involve physician visits, insurance approvals, and pharmacy costs.

The FDA approval removes several of those barriers.

Instead of scheduling a dermatologist appointment and obtaining a prescription, consumers will be able to purchase the treatment directly from retail shelves.

That change could save both time and money, particularly for teenagers, young adults, and families managing recurring acne treatment costs.

The Business Behind the Approval

The decision also represents an important commercial opportunity for Galderma.

The company reported strong growth in early 2026, driven by demand for dermatology products and aesthetic treatments. Expanding a long-established prescription brand into the retail market significantly increases its potential customer base.

Industry analysts often describe these transitions as “Rx-to-OTC switches,” referring to products that move from prescription-only status to over-the-counter availability after demonstrating strong safety and effectiveness records.

Such switches can transform a specialized medical product into a mainstream consumer brand.

For Galderma, the strategy allows the company to leverage years of physician trust and patient familiarity while expanding distribution into mass retail channels.

The move could also intensify competition throughout the acne-care market, where consumers spend billions of dollars annually on treatments, cleansers, creams, and skincare products.

What Consumers Should Know

Medical experts note that while the approval increases access, it does not eliminate the need for professional care in every situation.

Individuals experiencing severe, cystic, or scarring acne may still require prescription therapies or specialized dermatological treatment. Pregnant women and patients with complex skin conditions should also consult healthcare providers before beginning new treatment regimens.

Like many retinoid-based products, adapalene can initially cause dryness, redness, or irritation as the skin adjusts. Dermatologists generally recommend gradual use and consistent sunscreen application when starting treatment.

The FDA approval currently applies only to the United States market. In many other countries, the product remains available by prescription only.

A Growing Trend in Consumer Healthcare

The approval reflects a broader trend toward expanding consumer access to established treatments that have demonstrated long-term safety and effectiveness.

In recent years, regulators have approved over-the-counter access for a growing number of products that were once available only through healthcare providers, giving consumers greater control over routine health and wellness decisions.

For millions of Americans dealing with acne, the change means a treatment that once required a doctor’s signature can soon be purchased during a routine trip to the store.

And for Galderma, it means bringing one of dermatology’s most recognized prescription brands directly into the highly competitive retail skincare aisle.

JBizNews Desk

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By JBizNews Desk

May 31, 2026

UnitedHealthcare announced a significant reduction in prior authorization requirements for pediatric health services, marking one of the largest recent efforts by a major U.S. insurer to streamline access to care for children and reduce administrative burdens on physicians and families.

The company said it will eliminate prior authorization requirements for several pediatric services, allowing doctors to move forward with treatment plans more quickly without waiting for insurer approval. The changes are expected to affect thousands of pediatric patients and providers across the country.

Prior authorization has long been one of the most controversial practices in American healthcare. Under the system, physicians must obtain approval from an insurer before certain treatments, tests, medications, or procedures can be provided. Insurers argue the process helps control costs and prevent unnecessary care, while doctors and patient advocates contend it can delay treatment and create significant administrative burdens.

The latest move by UnitedHealthcare, the nation’s largest health insurer, comes amid growing pressure from lawmakers, regulators, hospitals, and physician groups to simplify the process.

Healthcare organizations have increasingly argued that prior authorization requirements consume valuable clinical time that could otherwise be spent treating patients. Pediatric providers, in particular, have raised concerns that delays can be especially disruptive when children require timely therapies, specialty care, diagnostic testing, or behavioral health services.

Industry groups welcomed the announcement as a step toward reducing bureaucracy in healthcare delivery.

The insurer said the changes are intended to improve patient access, reduce paperwork for providers, and allow clinicians to focus more directly on patient care. The company also noted that advances in data analytics and clinical review processes have allowed it to identify areas where prior authorization may no longer be necessary.

The decision reflects a broader shift occurring across the healthcare industry.

Several major insurers have recently announced efforts to simplify authorization requirements as scrutiny intensifies from both federal and state policymakers. Legislators from both parties have introduced proposals aimed at reforming prior authorization practices, citing concerns about treatment delays and growing administrative costs throughout the healthcare system.

For families, the practical impact could be significant.

Parents whose children require specialty care often face uncertainty while waiting for insurance approvals. Eliminating authorization requirements for certain services may shorten wait times, reduce administrative hurdles, and allow treatment plans to begin more quickly.

The announcement could also have broader implications for healthcare costs and insurer-provider relations. Hospitals and physician groups have frequently cited prior authorization as one of the leading sources of friction between healthcare providers and insurers.

Whether other major insurers follow UnitedHealthcare’s lead remains to be seen, but the move signals growing recognition throughout the industry that simplifying access to care may benefit patients, providers, and insurers alike.

As healthcare costs continue to rise and policymakers focus on improving patient access, prior authorization reform is likely to remain a major issue across the healthcare sector.

JBizNews Desk — Healthcare

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CHICAGO — What if the trick to getting cancer immunotherapy to parts of the world that can’t access it is simply lowering the dose?

A lower-cost immunotherapy approach could extend survival for patients with advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma in resource-limited countries, according to results presented Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

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The 2026 FIFA World Cup was supposed to deliver a historic tourism boom across North America — a monthlong economic surge projected by FIFA and host committees to generate roughly $40.9 billion in economic activity while flooding U.S. host cities with international visitors, packed hotels, sold-out flights, and overflowing restaurants.

Instead, less than three weeks before kickoff, parts of the economic story are beginning to fracture.

What is emerging is not one problem but two separate demand shocks hitting simultaneously: weakening international tourism demand tied to inflation, visa restrictions, and political uncertainty, alongside a growing wave of airline disruptions and travel anxiety connected to the Ebola outbreak in Central Africa.

Individually, each issue might have been manageable. Together, they are beginning to threaten one of the core assumptions behind the tournament’s financial projections: that foreign visitors would arrive at massive scale and spend aggressively enough to offset softening U.S. consumer demand.

The first warning signs are already visible in hospitality data.

The American Hotel & Lodging Association reported May 28 that roughly 80% of hoteliers across the 11 U.S. host markets say bookings are tracking materially below initial expectations. That is a remarkable figure given that the World Cup has long been marketed as one of the largest tourism events on earth.

The weakness is not uniform. Premium inventory around major matches — especially the July 19 final near MetLife Stadium in New Jersey — is still commanding extremely elevated pricing, in some cases roughly triple normal summer rates. But pricing power alone does not equal demand strength.

The deeper issue is occupancy.

Group-stage cities that expected weeklong tourism surges are instead seeing meaningful hotel availability remain open deep into late May at rates far closer to a normal summer travel season than the massive compression expected for a global mega-event. Industry analysts say many hotels built pricing models around a demand spike that has not fully materialized.

The causes are broader than sports.

International tourism into the United States has been weakening for months amid higher airfare costs, global economic uncertainty, stronger border restrictions, currency pressures, and growing political friction surrounding travel policies under the Trump administration. Some hospitality analysts have begun referring to the slowdown as a “Trump slump” in inbound travel — particularly from parts of Europe, Latin America, and Africa where visa approvals and travel uncertainty have become increasingly politicized.

That weakening demand was already creating vulnerability.

Then came the airline problem.

The World Health Organization’s emergency declarations tied to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda triggered a chain reaction across global aviation networks. Uganda Airlines suspended flights to and from Kinshasa effective May 23, while Ethiopian Airlines and other regional carriers began adjusting schedules and implementing additional health-related restrictions.

At the same time, the United States imposed strict travel bans barring entry to foreign nationals who had recently been present in Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan.

From a public-health standpoint, the measures are understandable. Ebola remains a highly dangerous disease.

But from an airline economics standpoint, the consequences extend far beyond the directly affected countries.

The global airline industry operates on network psychology as much as epidemiology. Once travel restrictions begin spreading across headlines, demand often weakens far outside the outbreak zone itself. Airlines then respond by trimming routes, consolidating schedules, reducing frequencies, or shifting aircraft to stronger-performing markets.

That secondary reaction matters enormously for the World Cup because the tournament’s economic model depends heavily on long-haul international arrivals.

FIFA projections estimate roughly 1.2 million foreign visitors will attend matches across North America, with average stays approaching 12 days and spending exceeding $400 daily. Much of that money was expected to flow into hotels, restaurants, local transportation, nightlife, retail, and short-term rental platforms.

But those assumptions rely on stable international flight capacity and consumer confidence.

The airline industry is already operating under pressure from elevated fuel prices tied to Middle East instability and rising insurance costs connected to global geopolitical risk. Additional route disruptions tied to outbreak fears or regulatory restrictions increase operational complexity at precisely the wrong moment.

The vulnerability is especially acute in gateway markets like New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Dallas, and Atlanta, where foreign tourism was expected to provide the bulk of incremental economic activity during the tournament.

Around $4.3 billion in direct tourism expenditure is forecast for the World Cup, with more than 80% concentrated in hospitality-related sectors — exactly the industries now facing both weaker-than-expected bookings and growing uncertainty around international air traffic.

The timing could hardly be worse.

Host cities and governments have collectively invested billions into stadium modernization, transportation upgrades, security infrastructure, and tourism preparation. Airbnb hosts across the 16 North American host cities are projected to generate more than $2.6 billion in rental revenue during the tournament.

Much of that projected income now depends on whether international travel confidence stabilizes quickly.

Public-health experts continue emphasizing that Ebola risk to World Cup attendees remains extremely low. The virus spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids and is not airborne. There is no evidence of widespread transmission risk tied to ordinary tourism activity.

But economic damage rarely waits for scientific nuance.

In travel markets, perception often moves faster than facts. Once flight cancellations begin, travelers reconsider plans. Reduced bookings then pressure airlines further, which can produce additional schedule cuts and weaker demand in a self-reinforcing cycle.

That feedback loop is now becoming visible just as the world’s largest sporting event approaches.

The World Cup’s economic promise always depended on converting a global audience into real-world tourism spending. What host cities are discovering now is that mega-events remain deeply exposed to forces far beyond sports itself: geopolitics, public-health fears, visa policy, airline economics, and consumer psychology.

And in a fragile global economy already showing signs of softer discretionary spending, even modest disruptions can quickly reshape the financial outcome of an event expected to redefine North American tourism.

New York — JBizNews Desk

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CHICAGO — Patients with high risk prostate cancer that hasn’t spread typically have two standard treatment paths before them. Remove the prostate surgically, or do a combination of radiation therapy and hormone therapy. Now, with the results of a new phase 3 clinical trial, some oncologists believe a third option may soon be laid on the table: surgery with hormone therapy both before and after the operation.

The study, called the PROTEUS trial, found that combining two hormone therapies both before and after surgery was superior to just one hormone therapy before and after surgery in high risk, early stage prostate cases. 

There is a range in how prostate cancer experts are interpreting the results, however. Many told STAT that they believed it would lead to a new standard of care, with Emmanual Antonarakis, a genitourinary medical oncologist at the University of Minnesota, calling it a “watershed moment” in prostate cancer in a New England Journal of Medicine editorial.

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CHICAGO — Ivonescimab, a drug that combines the activity of two of the best-selling cancer medicines, reduced the risk of death in patients with squamous non-small cell lung cancer by 34% compared to a standard treatment in a clinical trial conducted entirely in China by the drug’s developer, Akeso Therapeutics, according to data presented Sunday.

The result, oncologists say, exceeded their expectations, and it appears it could generate optimism for the drug, which is being developed outside China by Summit Therapeutics. But the data also are likely to fuel debate on issues like the role of China in drug development and the future of cancer treatments. The results were presented here at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and are being published simultaneously in The Lancet.

Robert Duggan, Summit’s co-CEO and chairman, said that the data mean the company has “a very valuable business with a very valuable product that is in its early stages.” Akeso had no comment for this story.

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CHICAGO — Rachna Shroff, a physician and pancreatic cancer expert, was seeing patients at the University of Arizona Cancer Center in April when she heard the striking clinical results about an experimental pill called daraxonrasib. Patients taking the targeted drug lived nearly twice as long as patients offered standard chemotherapy — an outcome never seen before in the pancreatic cancer field. 

“Having treated pancreatic cancer for 16 years, I actually started crying in the clinic,” Shroff said at a media briefing. “This is such an incredibly impactful study for our patients.”

On Sunday, detailed results from the daraxonrasib clinical trial conducted by the drug’s maker, the biotech company Revolution Medicines, were presented here at the plenary session of the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The study was published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine. 

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You’re reading the web edition of ASCO in 30 Seconds, STAT’s guide to the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting. Sign up for email editions here.  

A huge thanks to everyone who attended the jam-packed STAT @ ASCO event last night. The bao buns were incredible. IYKYK.

Don’t forget to sign up for our ASCO virtual recap on Wednesday.

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HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announces new federal actions to combat Lyme disease in Concord, New Hampshire, on Friday, May 29, 2026, as part of his “Take Back Your Health” tour. CSPAN

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced one of the most ambitious federal efforts ever to combat Lyme disease on Friday, May 29, 2026, at a 2:00 p.m. press conference in Room 100 of the New Hampshire State House in Concord. The measures follow the department’s first national Lyme roundtable, held in Washington, D.C., in December 2025, at which HHS formally recognized Lyme — in both its acute and chronic forms — as a serious public-health condition for the first time.

The recognition marks a shift after years in which the federal government had no unified strategy for a disease the CDC says is diagnosed in 476,000 Americans annually, with 5 to 7 million infections over the past decade. Kennedy has acknowledged that the agency once held what he called a deliberate policy of refusing to engage with the Lyme community. Researchers estimate that 10 to 20 percent of patients treated early remain symptomatic, and emergency room visits for tick bites recently reached their highest springtime level in nearly a decade.

“Americans deserve an answer,” Kennedy said from the podium. “They deserve gold-standard science, and a healthcare system that treats suffering seriously.” He recalled that one of his sons suffered facial paralysis for a year after a Lyme diagnosis and noted that President Donald Trump first made Lyme a national priority by signing the Kay Hagan Tick Act in 2019.

In the HHS release issued the same day, Kennedy said millions of Americans with Lyme and other tick-borne illnesses “have spent years searching for answers, treatment, and support,” and described the package as “one of the most ambitious federal efforts ever to combat Lyme disease.” The department reaffirmed a goal of cutting Lyme cases 25 percent by 2035 compared with 2022 levels.

The most consequential change for patients concerns coverage. At the December roundtable, CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz confirmed that Medicare is being updated to explicitly require coverage for extended Lyme treatment, including treatment for associated co-infections — addressing a longstanding gap that has strained patients financially. CMS also issued guidance clarifying support for beneficiaries with Lyme and related conditions through its Chronic Care Management Program.

Dr. Stephanie Haridopolos, Director of National Health Communications for the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General, told the audience that roughly 31 million people are bitten by ticks each year in the United States.

“We’re going to make the invisible diseases visible now,” she said. “We know prevention is key. We can prevent not only Lyme disease, but all the co-infections that go with it.”

Dr. Kristen Honey, the HHS Chief Data Officer now managing public-private partnerships, said the effort originated outside government.

“Let me be clear that this movement did not start in government,” Honey said. “It started with all of you. It started with the patients, it started with the caregivers, it started with the frontline providers and those affected families saying there’s a problem here, and rose up, came together, formed unusual allies.”

She credited participants in the December roundtable — among them Senator Susan Collins, Representative Chris Smith, and Duvi Honig of the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce, along with Olivia Goodreau of LivLyme, Dr. Steve Phillips, and Sam Sofia — saying that without them “none of this would be happening.”

At that session, Collins, author of the Kay Hagan TICK Act, pressed for better diagnostics and cited a Maine clinical trial for a Lyme vaccine; Smith, a 30-year advocate, said Lyme patients “deserve answers”; and Honig called for CDC Updates, Nationwide awareness campaigns, expanded insurance coverage, and increased provider education.

Honey also framed the challenges in market terms.

“For the first time in four years, open innovation at HHS and LymeX is available to all the public,” she said. “All Americans and U.S. businesses can participate, not just those already in the LymeX pipeline.”

The department detailed three new LymeX challenges totaling up to $2.5 million.

The largest is the TOPx HHS Tech Sprint for AI and Invisible Illness, offering up to $2 million, including a $1 million grand prize, for tools that use artificial intelligence and open data to help patients with Lyme and other “invisible illnesses,” including Long COVID and ME/CFS, get answers and care faster.

“If it’s invisible, you are welcome here,” Honey said.

The LymeX Visible Voices Prize offers up to $250,000 for educational tools and awareness campaigns, while the LymeX Healthathon Innovation Sprint offers another $250,000 for frontline solutions, including new uses of existing medicines.

The broader Friday package, according to the HHS release, also includes a multi-million-dollar tick-control pilot program, new NIH funding to combat Alpha-gal syndrome, and a public-private collaboration to connect patients with experienced providers, all under Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again agenda.

Separately, through the LymeX partnership, HHS is updating its Living Evidence Guidelines for clinicians treating infection-associated chronic conditions, with Version 2.0 launched in May 2026 and scheduled to refresh every six months as new science emerges.

The challenges build on the LymeX Innovation Accelerator, a public-private partnership between HHS and the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation launched during President Trump’s first term. Through LymeX, HHS recently launched a $10 million Diagnostics Prize, and two improved FDA-cleared Lyme tests have reached the market over the past two years.

The National Institutes of Health invests nearly $50 million annually in Lyme research and approximately $122 million annually in broader tick-borne disease research.

The new tick-control pilot, led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and HHS, will begin with researchers at the New England Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases and build on community work with the Indian Health Service and the Wampanoag Tribe in Massachusetts.

HHS also announced action on Alpha-gal syndrome, a tick-linked condition that can trigger serious allergic reactions to red meat. The CDC estimates nearly 500,000 Americans live with the condition.

NIH has identified candidate products that may protect people after a tick bite; private companies would supply the products while NIH funds research to evaluate them.

The department is also partnering with the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society to offer a clinician locator tool through hhs.gov/lyme.

Kennedy reiterated support for reauthorizing the bipartisan Kay Hagan TICK Act, signed by President Trump in 2019, which recently advanced unanimously through the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Officials expect another heavy tick season in 2026. The new programs mark the federal government’s most comprehensive response to Lyme disease to date and represent the first time HHS has formally aligned federal policy, reimbursement, research, innovation incentives, and public-private partnerships around both acute and chronic Lyme disease.

Washington — JBizNews Desk

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CHICAGO — Rick Pazdur, the former top oncology regulator at the Food and Drug Administration, said the damage done under recent political appointees opens a chance for new leadership to fundamentally restructure the FDA, particularly as China’s drug industry grows more competitive. 

Under leaders appointed by the Trump administration, “we’ve had a lot of destruction here, and it doesn’t mean that we have to just go back and say, well, let’s rebuild it as it was,” Pazdur said Friday night at a STAT event during the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. “This gives us a great opportunity of — how we want to build it, what staff we want to have, how we want the administrative structure to be.”

He said the FDA has lost many valuable experts and one way to bolster the workforce is to “think creatively,” such as bringing in academics and people in the drug industry for one- or two-year terms.

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CHICAGO — The biotech company Revolution Medicines has begun sending its experimental, life-extending treatment for pancreatic cancer to physicians and their patients under an early access program authorized by the Food and Drug Administration, the company’s CEO, Mark Goldsmith, told STAT.

“We are now shipping the drug,” he said, speaking Friday evening at a STAT event held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. 

The drug, daraxonrasib, is not yet approved. But patients with pancreatic cancer have been clamoring for it since mid-April, when Revolution reported the striking results of a Phase 3 clinical trial. Patients treated with daraxonrasib lived nearly twice as long as patients offered standard chemotherapy — an outcome unprecedented in the pancreatic cancer field. 

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WASHINGTON — In January 2025, with the Covid-19 pandemic still top of mind, the Biden administration left behind extensive plans for how the federal bureaucracy should work to stop future disease outbreaks.

The plans were hundreds of pages long and addressed dozens of specific issues, including the government response to diseases like Ebola and how to move Americans from outbreak zones back to the U.S. for care.

But weeks later, the Trump administration took Washington by storm — and began disregarding the plans, according to two former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials who worked in the Trump administration and four people familiar with the Biden-era plans.

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You’re reading the web edition of ASCO in 30 Seconds, STAT’s guide to the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting. Sign up for email editions here.  

We’re ASCOmaxxing.

Rest assured, this will not require Adam Feuerstein, Matthew Herper or Angus Chen to hammer on their jawlines. They will, however, be scouring the ASCO annual meeting to bring you the cancer news, analysis and event coverage you crave.

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The Trump administration has released a sweeping proposal to overhaul the bedrock regulation for all federal grants, and in doing so is seeking to codify tighter political control of federally funded research. 

The changes, laid out in a 400-plus-page document published this week, would deemphasize the role of peer review in determining what work to fund, limit the ability for scientists to use federal funds to publish their research or travel to conferences, and offer political appointees more latitude to terminate grants at will.

The suite of proposed changes aligns in many respects with policies the administration has attempted to implement through executive orders and one-off announcements, sometimes at individual agencies; if formalized, the revised regulation would be in effect across the government and put the regulatory authority of the White House behind it. 

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The percentage of Americans without insurance last year remained relatively flat compared to 2024. However, more people are likely to lose coverage in the years to come due to healthcare spending cuts from the “Big Beautiful Bill.”

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NAIROBI, Kenya — A court in Kenya on Friday suspended a U.S. plan to establish a quarantine facility for Americans exposed to a rare type of Ebola virus spreading in northeastern Congo, following a backlash by medical workers and activists.

A U.S. administration official said on Wednesday that the U.S. was planning to send Americans who are exposed to Ebola while abroad to a new facility in Kenya instead of flying them home. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to share the administration’s plans. It was unclear where in Kenya the new facility will be built or whether the Kenyan government has signed off on the plan.

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And so, another working week will soon draw to a close. Not a moment too soon, yes? This is, you may recall, our treasured signal to daydream about weekend plans. Our agenda, so far, is very low-key. We hope to catch up on our reading, promenade with the official mascots, and take a few naps. We may also manicure the Pharmalot grounds. And of course, we hope to hold still another listening party, where the rotation will likely include this, this, this, this and this. And what about you? The choices are endless this time of year. In particular, the great outdoors are beckoning — trails can be hiked, streets can be walked, country roads can be driven. If this fails, there is always the great indoors. You could cook a fabulous meal, shop for something that looks spiffy, or binge watch on the telly. Or you could be totally zen and do absolutely nothing. Well, whatever you prefer, have a grand time. But be safe. Enjoy, and see you soon…

A U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended updating this fall’s Covid shots to target the XFG variant, a fast-growing strain nicknamed “stratus,” NBC News tells us. The recommendation — from the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee — is meant to help vaccine makers prepare shots for the fall and winter, when Covid infections typically rise. The meeting was the agency’s first since FDA Commissioner Marty Makary resigned. His resignation did not play a role; the meeting was already on the calendar before he resigned. Makary drew criticism last year after the agency imposed stricter requirements on who could get Covid shots.

Pfizer and China’s Innovent Biologics agreed to a global licensing and collaboration deal worth up to $10.5 billion to develop 12 early-stage cancer medicines, as global drugmakers race ​to tap China’s booming biotech pipeline, Reuters says. The deal also includes a $650 million upfront payment ​to Innovent and up to $9.85 billion in potential development, regulatory and ⁠commercial milestone payments. The value of such deals in the greater China region rose nearly tenfold from 2021 to an unprecedented $137.7 billion last year. The partnership spans a portfolio of antibody-drug conjugates ​with novel differentiated payloads and multi-specific antibodies, comprising eight Innovent-originated early-stage assets and four Pfizer-proposed discovery ‌programs.

The World Health Organization identified drugs from Regeneron Pharmaceutical, Mapp Bio, and Gilead Sciences that should be fast-tracked through clinical testing to respond to the current Ebola outbreak, Pharmaphorum notes. The WHO’s independent experts have said Regeneron’s maftivimab, Mapp’s MBP134, and Gilead’s remdesivir should be studied in patients infected with the Bundibugyo form of Ebola currently infecting more than 1,000 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with cases also reported in neighbouring Uganda. At last count, the Bundibugyo outbreak had led to 10 confirmed deaths, with another 223 suspected, although the WHO has said it could be much larger as the virus is thought to have circulated undetected for some time.

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Another Morning Rounds, another double feature from STAT’s Helen Branswell. Theresa and I do not track this, but I’m almost positive Helen holds the record for newsletters in which she has two or more stories.

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Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell is suing UnitedHealth Group’s insurance subsidiary, UnitedHealthcare, alleging the company intentionally made low-income older adults appear sicker than they were over the past decade to boost its bottom line.

UnitedHealthcare received at least $100 million more than it should have from the Massachusetts Medicaid program due to inflated payments stemming from fraudulent diagnoses, Campbell alleges.

This lawsuit is among the first claiming fraudulent upcoding of Medicare patients who are also enrolled in a state Medicaid plan, but it follows a series of investigations and reports that have shined light on the practice in Medicare Advantage. The allegations in Massachusetts raise the prospect that UnitedHealth and other insurers have been using those same upcoding practices on “dual eligibles” — people who are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid — and therefore may command attention from state watchdogs. 

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Hiya. In this week’s episode of “The Readout LOUD,” biotech vet Jeremy Levin talks about how scientific progress is outpacing the institutions that support it. Also, WHO experts are recommending the use of an antiviral and two monoclonal antibodies in the response to the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak, and Allogene CEO David Chang is stepping down.

The need-to-know this morning

  • Replimune Group said it had reached an agreement with the FDA to resubmit its experimental melanoma drug for approval, after the therapy was twice rejected by the agency.

Albert Bourla loves China 

We are referring, of course, to the Pfizer CEO, who is once again putting billions of dollars of Pfizer cash on the table to buy drugs invented in China. 

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Microdosing GLP-1s for cosmetic weight loss: Patients are asking me about it, TV and online ads are promoting it, friends are speculating about who’s doing it.

But as someone who prescribes only legitimate GLP-1 therapies to people with obesity and weight-related metabolic diseases, I need to say this: Microdosing GLP-1s is not a thing. There are no legitimate long-term data to support it. In fact, there isn’t even a single definition of microdosing for weight loss or any other condition.

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BERKELEY, Calif. — Jamie Justice is an anti-aging researcher with a name fit for a superhero and a grand mission to match. A few years ago, she left her tenure-track job at Wake Forest University to team up with entrepreneur Peter Diamandis on XPRIZE Healthspan — a $101 million global competition meant to identify therapeutic treatments that can restore muscle, cognition, and immune function in older adults.

“There’s a booming market for slowing aging, but there’s no way to tell if [treatments] work,” Justice said onstage at the longevity conference Vitalist Bay here this month. XPRIZE Healthspan, for which she serves as executive director, was created to bridge that gap. The 10 teams selected from a pool of 40 this year will be required to test out their therapies in yearlong randomized controlled clinical trials before the winner of the grand prize is announced in 2030. 

Dressed in wide-legged jeans and a dark blazer, Justice walked the audience through XPRIZE competitors’ varying approaches to longevity. Exercise, senolytics (drugs that target damaged “zombie” cells that increase as we age), and personalized medicine geared toward biomarkers were among some of the prevailing approaches.

The longevity field, as the people involved in it acknowledge, tends to attract colorful characters with far-out theories. (A man in a purple cape trotted regally through the grounds of Vitalist Bay.) Figures like Justice, who’s hung onto her academic ties as an adjunct assistant professor of gerontology and geriatric medicine at Wake Forest, occupy a more grounded, science-based part of the spectrum. But she welcomes a big-tent approach to the world of anti-aging research. “I think, as scientists, we have to be really mindful to not turn into gatekeepers,” she told STAT during an interview after her talk.

STAT sat down with Justice to learn more about the XPRIZE Healthspan competitors, research on what people really want in their old age, and the problem of “purely scammy” companies giving longevity a bad name.

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Biotech is producing scientific breakthroughs that once seemed impossible. But according to longtime industry executive Jeremy Levin, the institutions that support these advances, from regulators, to investors, and even public trust in science itself — are beginning to fracture.

Levin is the founder and chairman of Ovid Therapeutics and former CEO of Teva Pharmaceuticals. In his new book, “Biotech in the Balance: Saving a Strategic Industry in an Age of Distrust,” he argues that political upheaval, weakening institutions, short-term investing, and more are putting the future of the industry at risk, even though the science itself continues to accelerate.

On this week’s episode of “The Readout Loud,” Levin advocates for federal changes that could incentivize biotech investment and for pharmaceutical companies, in particular, to call out how regulatory upheaval is harming the drug industry. “When an institution such as this, which is critical, is shaken, the industry must stand firm. It must call out why this is a problem.… The titans are dead silent right now,” he said. 

Below are highlights from his conversation with hosts Elaine Chen, Adam Feuerstein, and Allison DeAngelis.

This transcript of the interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

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When Craig Spencer contracted Ebola while working in Guinea during the West African outbreak in 2014, he was already back in the United States when he first developed symptoms. He credits the treatment he got at New York’s Bellevue Hospital for his survival.

If Spencer, an emergency medicine physician and an associate professor in Brown University’s School of Public Health, were to contract Ebola in the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda — if he’d even had high-risk exposures to Ebola patients — he wouldn’t be allowed back into the U.S. for care or quarantine.

Administration officials confirmed Thursday that any Americans who contract Ebola will not be brought to the United States for treatment. Instead, they will be evacuated to as-yet-undetermined locations in Europe. An official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the State Department are working to identify tertiary care facilities that could take Americans needing care. One such case has already occurred.

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On this week’s episode of “The Readout LOUD,” we chat with longtime biotech executive Jeremy Levin about his new book, “Biotech in the Balance: Saving a Strategic Industry in an Age of Distrust.” That sounds alarmist, and it is in some respects, but as Levin explains, the book is also a roadmap to a brighter future for the biotech industry.

But first, we recap the week’s biotech news, including an Eli Lilly gene-editing treatment for high cholesterol, a new round of funding for a longevity startup, and a preview of the upcoming ASCO cancer research meeting. 

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The industry has been waiting for regulators to finalize the rule amid snowballing concerns about how insurers and providers settle out-of-network claims. The regulation is aimed at making that process more efficient.

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RFK Jr. removed two snakes from Dr. Oz’s patio, bare-hand grabbing the black racers, one of which briefly tangled with his tie. That species, while not venomous, often bites and defecates a foul-smelling musk when handled. Send news tips and bad ideas to John.Wilkerson@statnews.com or John_Wilkerson.07 on Signal.

What is MFN anyway?

Let’s be honest. Most favored nation is one of those odd terms, like “direct and indirect remuneration,” that drug policy folks casually use as though they mean something.

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