Trump 2.0 finds a populist health message

CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES

President Trump’s second inaugural address contained a promise to “end the chronic disease epidemic,” an accusation that the nation’s public health system “does not deliver in times of disaster,” and a vow to reinstate any members of the military “unjustly expelled from our military” for objecting to the Biden administration’s Covid vaccine mandates. A blizzard of executive orders followed, including one withdrawing the U.S. from the WHO, STAT's Helen Branswell reports. And STAT's Washington, D.C. team wrote about a flurry of other health-related actions. But first:

The day began with President Biden’s preemptive pardon of Anthony Fauci, the nation’s former top infectious disease official and frequent target of demands by some Trump supporters and congressional Republicans to charge Fauci with perjury or misconduct over the government’s handling of the Covid-19 response. Fauci has not been charged with any crime and he retired as director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in 2022. STAT’s Sarah Owermohle has more on Fauci and on others who received pardons.
STAT’s Rachel Cohrs Zhang takes a step back to explore how health care has moved into the D.C. spotlight, thanks to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s rival-turned-ally and pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. MAHA, RFK Jr.’s populist take on health care, has been a hit with Trump voters, but how its details — notably, vaccine skepticism — might translate into policy isn’t yet clear.
“He’s starting by taking on big corporations. That is a populist issue that tends to get support,” said Paul Mango, the former deputy chief of staff for policy at HHS during Trump’s first administration. Mango died shortly after his interview with STAT. “You can take fluoride out of water. You can take food coloring out of Froot Loops. But that’s not going to fundamentally alter the health status of the population.” Read more.

preterm precarity

Another crisis looms in the infant formula market

It’s a heartbreaking story of preterm infants developing an often-deadly illness called necrotizing enterocolitis, or NEC, while being fed a specialized infant formula. For the past several years, parents have filed lawsuits against the two major preterm infant formula makers, Abbott and Mead Johnson, and some of them have won. But the lawsuits, three neonatologists told STAT’s Lizzy Lawrence, are based on shaky scientific ground. There’s no conclusive evidence that infant formula causes or increases the risk of NEC.

Abbott has said if the company continues to lose cases, it may exit the market for preterm infant formula completely. The situation reveals the precarity of supply, the dangers of a consolidated market, and the consequences of medical uncertainty. Read more.

obesity

GLP-1 drugs under the microscope and in the marketplace

A new look at side effects of the widely prescribed, wildly popular obesity drugs; what people may not know when they buy compounded versions; and Ozempic and Wegovy face Medicare price negotiations.

What can’t GLP-1 drugs do? Ziyad Al-Aly led a team trying to compile what he calls an atlas of risks and benefits from the obesity drugs. You’ve heard of health benefits linked to weight loss, like better heart health or diabetes control (the original intent). You may also know people feel the pull of addiction to alcohol or other drugs isn’t so strong. In a large study of VA patients, a new paper out in Nature Medicine Monday found 42 benefits but 19 harms, some of them not familiar. “We tend to think of drugs sort of like they are surgically designed to do only one thing. But the reality is it's almost never like this,” Al-Aly explained. I have more here.
We knew this day was coming. The big news in drug pricing landed Friday, with diabetes and weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy leading the list of 15 medications whose prices will be negotiated this year under the Inflation Reduction Act, a signature achievement for the Biden administration. That doesn’t mean it’s a done deal under the new president. Congress or Mehmet Oz, nominated to lead Medicare and Medicaid, could tinker with the program, which also includes drugs for cancer. STAT’s Rachel Cohrs Zhang has the story and Joe Grogan has his take in this First Opinion.
It’s hard to blame patients for being confused. When they pay cash for compounded versions of obesity drugs, they may assume they’re getting the same thing as brand-name Ozempic or Wegovy, FDA-approved and all, for a fraction of the price. But a new JAMA Health Forum study reveals that among 79 websites marketing compounded GLP-1s or prescriptions for them, 37% stated or implied that the drugs were FDA-approved. That’s not so. Nearly half didn’t include information about the drugs’ adverse effects, warnings, and contraindications and 41% of sites included unsupported efficacy claims. STAT’s Katie Palmer has more on this gray area of regulation.

drink and food

Time for an alcohol facts box, U.S. agency says, but U.K. scientists aren’t sure calorie labels count

SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES

Do numbers on a label work to help people make healthier choices? Two approaches:

You’re familiar with the nutrition box for food labels. Now it’s alcohol’s turn. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau has proposed requiring companies to disclose alcohol content and any major food allergens. Information boxes would list the alcohol content of a drink, in fluid ounces of pure alcohol per serving, as well as the familiar calories, carbohydrates, protein, and fats. What took so long? The FDA rules over food, while the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (an agency within the U.S. Treasury) rules over, well, alcohol. STAT’s Isabella Cueto tells us more.
Calorie counts on menus for foods you order have been around since 2018, when the FDA ordered chain restaurants to display them, and in the U.K. since 2022, when regulators there introduced the same rule. The Cochrane Collaborative concludes after its hallmark systematic review that the benefits are pretty slim, possibly leading diners to choose foods with an average 1.8% fewer calories than they would without calorie labels. But it’s not nothing, STAT’s Sarah Todd learned.

first opinion

‘Change at the FDA is a constant,’ former officials say, but bedrock principles should remain

Speaking of the FDA, it’s a given that any new presidential administration will select senior officials eager to make a difference in their new agencies. For the FDA, Marty Makary will have that opportunity. Three former FDA officials — Stuart Pape, Wayne Pines, and Mitch Zeller — urge Makary and his incoming team to keep in mind principles that have earned the FDA its reputation as the leading science-based consumer protection agency in the world: relying on good science and providing a work environment that attracts and keeps the best experts.

“Change at the FDA is a constant as the agency evolves to address new products and challenges,” they write in a STAT First Opinion. “The incoming administration should view FDA staff not as enemies, but as an extraordinarily valuable resource to pursue partnerships to advance public health.”

first person

How she finally got a ticking time bomb out of her body

We have a ton of news to digest today, but make room for this First Opinion. Oceana Callum tells a haunting and horrifying story of living with breast implants after cancer treatment that were later voluntarily recalled because they were linked to another form of cancer. No surgeon would agree to remove them unless she actually developed lymphoma, a decision supported by the FDA. Insurers have to cover breast reconstruction, for its mental health and other benefits, but not implant removal.

“For many cancer survivors, potentially carcinogenic implant removal is, obviously, integral to our peace of mind,” Callum writes. “Having a ticking time bomb in one’s body is, ironically, to be imprisoned in the same situation from which many of us struggled brutally to be freed.” Read how she got out.

More around STAT

Check out more exclusive coverage with a STAT+ subscription

Read premium in-depth biotech, pharma, policy, and life science coverage and analysis with all of our STAT+ articles.

inauguration