By Megan R. Wilson

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In today’s issue:

• Regulators take first step in allowing compounding pharmacies to manufacture peptide products that patients are buying on a murky gray market
• Some health industry players cheered the “important first step,” which boosted stock prices for telehealth platform Hims & Hers Health
• More on who Trump administration officials could be seeking to fill top roles at the CDC, including a permanent director

Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to Health Brief. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. kicks off a two-week, seven-hearing sprint on Capitol Hill Thursday. He’ll be talking about the Trump administration’s priorities to overhaul the federal government’s approach to health policy as part of the congressional budget process. Kennedy is likely to field questions from lawmakers about vaccines, proposed cuts to research funding and his focus on overhauling the food supply.

But the two topics in today’s issue of Health Brief are also likely to be on the docket in upcoming hearings: the future of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the administration’s public health priorities, and the recent move to begin loosening restrictions on certain peptides that have become popular with consumers.

Do you have any health scoops or hot story tips? Drop a note to megan.wilson@washpost.com. If you prefer to message me securely, I’m also on Signal at megan.434.

The FDA plans to mull whether to lift restrictions on certain peptides that had been flagged for potential safety concerns. (Davizro/iStock)

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	The Lead Brief

The Food and Drug Administration is cracking open the door to potentially allowing compounding pharmacies to make about a dozen peptides, prompting cheers from some industry players who view the products as the next wellness gold mine.

The agency announced Wednesday that it will be convening a federal panel specializing in compound pharmacy issues — called the Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee, or PCAC — in July and again by the end of February 2027.

The panel will discuss whether to give compounding pharmacies, which make bespoke versions of medications, the green light to manufacture certain peptides that regulators had banned amid concerns about their safety.

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But the restrictions haven’t stopped Americans from trying to procure them — largely from gray market websites — and inject themselves in the name of wellness. The products, which are marketed to help with weight loss, muscle recovery and antiaging, are labeled “for research purposes only.”

This includes Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has talked about being a “big fan” and previously vowed to end the “war on peptides.”

Critics of these products warn that many are unproven and potentially dangerous — while proponents argue that fears are overblown and proper oversight could help consumers obtain peptides from legitimate producers more safely.

My colleagues Rachel Roubein and Lauren Weber in The Washington Post newsroom have a new report detailing the state of play, including the view that more studies need to be done on these products.

“Compounding pharmacies are being hammered by patients and prescribers to prepare these peptide drugs, and legally, they can’t do it. Not yet, anyway,” Scott Brunner, the chief executive of the Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding, told my WaPo colleagues. “And that is stimulating the illicit, non-pharmacy actors in the gray market.”

→ The Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee, which makes policy recommendations to the FDA, last met in 2024 following the settlement of a lawsuit brought by a provider and pharmacy that argued regulators hadn’t gone through the proper procedure when restricting more than a dozen peptides from being compounded.

The administration is “taking a huge first step to provide patients and providers with access to these peptides, and we look forward to providing the agency with more information on these peptides and presenting at the PCAC hearings,” said Lee Rosebush, a lawyer who represents custom pharmacies that produce bulk quantities of custom drugs — called outsourcing facilities — and industry groups seeking to expand access to peptides.

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He tells me the industry wants to ensure that accredited compounding pharmacies are producing products with ingredients that meet strict quality standards and are required to tell regulators if patients have any adverse side effects.

Rosebush is also a lawyer at BakerHostetler who helped bring the lawsuit, arguing that the FDA acted improperly in 2023 when it removed 19 peptides from a list of drugs compound pharmacies are able to produce. It ended in the 2024 settlement that’s paving the way for the action happening now.

Following the FDA’s official announcement about the potential changes in a policy document updated Wednesday morning, Kennedy posted about the moves on social media. He called it a “long-overdue action to restore science, accountability and the rule of law.”

Minutes after the post, the stock price of telehealth platform Hims & Hers Health jumped, ending the day up by 14 percent. The company has expressed interest in getting into the peptide space once regulations are clarified.

Pat Carroll, a physician and chief medical officer at Hims & Hers, said the FDA’s actions are an “important step” in ensuring that peptides are “overseen by vetted health care professionals.”

“Our medical team believes certain peptide therapies hold meaningful potential in helping Americans live healthier lives, and we are actively exploring how to expand access in a way that will be aligned with FDA guidance and reflects our commitment to consumer safety, transparency, and clinical excellence,” Carroll said in a statement.

	The Watch List

Here is the FDA’s agenda for reviewing peptides:

In a July 23 meeting of the PCAC, the panel will discuss:

• BPC-157 for ulcerative colitis
• KPV for wound healing
• TB-500 for wound healing
• MOTS-c for obesity and osteoporosis

In a July 24 PCAC meeting, the panel will discuss:

• Emideltide for opioid withdrawal, chronic insomnia and narcolepsy
• Semax for blood and oxygen blockage to the brain (known as cerebral ischemia), migraine and chronic nerve pain (called trigeminal neuralgia)
• Epitalon for insomnia

In a third meeting — yet to be scheduled — PCAC will discuss:

• Cathelicidin LL-37
• GHK-Cu
• Dihexa acetate
• Melanotan II
• Mechano growth factor, PEGylated (PEG-MGF)

	Executive Health Brief

The White House is getting closer to making its selection to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, report my colleagues Dan Diamond and Lena H. Sun in The Post newsroom.

The leading contender: Erica Schwartz, a deputy U.S. surgeon general during President Donald Trump’s first term. In that role, she had been involved with the federal response to the covid-19 pandemic.

Schwartz “is outstanding in every way,” said Brett Giroir, who served as assistant secretary of health during the first Trump administration and worked closely with Schwartz during the nation’s coronavirus response.

She spent more than two decades in uniformed service, including as a naval officer, a rear admiral in the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service and as the Coast Guard’s chief medical officer.

Why it matters: The CDC director post has been vacant for all but 29 days during Trump’s second term as the administration wrestles with the role of the public health agency and the federal government’s approach to vaccine policy.

The administration has struggled to find a permanent leader for the agency, which is in charge of coordinating public health efforts such as tracking and responding to disease outbreaks and other public health emergencies.

Officials seeking to fill the role have been weighing finding a nominee acceptable to Kennedy and his allies, many of whom are deeply skeptical of vaccines, while also choosing someone who can win Senate confirmation and stabilize a shaken workforce.

→ The decision of who to pick to lead the agency, however, isn’t final, and Trump could go in another direction. Once nominated, the person will need to secure Senate confirmation.

Read the full WaPo story: “Top CDC director pick Erica Schwartz tests White House political balancing act.”

	Agency alert

A nugget in Dan and Lena’s story: In addition to picking a new leader for the CDC, officials are also potentially looking to bring three others into the agency to support Schwartz, pending Trump’s approval.

They’ve talked with people with knowledge of the planned picks, who include:

• Sean Slovenski, a former Walmart executive, is the planned pick to serve in a chief operating officer role. He’s currently the chief executive of PatientPoint, a digital health company.
• Jennifer Shuford, an infectious-disease physician who is Texas’s health commissioner, is reportedly being proposed to serve in a senior medical role.

Officials also want to move Sara Brenner, the FDA’s principal deputy commissioner, over to the CDC. Brenner has served in various roles with the federal government for nearly a decade, mostly at the FDA.

If Brenner takes a role with the CDC, she would be another in a line of senior FDA officials to depart the agency over the last year.

	What We’re Reading

“Rural Nebraska Dialysis Unit Closes Despite the State’s $219M in Rural Health Funding,” Arielle Zionts writes at KFF Health News.

“Senators spurn budget request for NIH overhead cost cap,” Roll Call’s Ariel Cohen reports.

“Former FDA cancer chief Pazdur warns of the political ‘breach’ of review teams,” Zachary Brennan writes at Endpoints News.

“Surgeon Who Removed Wrong Organ From Patient Is Charged in His Death,” Vjosa Isai reports at the New York Times.