Opioid overdoses have skyrocketed amid the coronavirus, but states are nevertheless slashing addiction treatment program budgets
WASHINGTON — Drug overdoses have skyrocketed and demand for addiction treatment medicine has soared as…
Category: Politics
U.S. must spend $75 billion to fix flawed Covid-19 testing, report says
The U.S. should invest $75 billion in order to fix its badly flawed system of…
What’s next for Anthony Fauci, if the White House continues to sour on him?
WASHINGTON — The White House in recent days has accelerated an effort that President Trump…
The CDC has always been an apolitical island. That’s left it defenseless against Trump
WASHINGTON — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the country’s top public health agency,…
‘I feel like I am not welcome’: Medical, doctoral students from abroad grapple with uncertainty from new ICE rules
International students completing their medical and doctoral degrees in the United States are wrestling with…
A flawed Covid-19 study gets the White House’s attention — and the FDA may pay the price
Studies in thousands of people on multiple continents now show the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine does…
STAT Plus: Drug makers sue to block Minnesota law making it cheaper to get insulin in emergencies
WASHINGTON — The drug industry lobbying association PhRMA sued the state of Minnesota over a…
STAT Plus: Trouble in paradise: The Senate’s bipartisan accord on drug prices is broken, says Sen. Grassley
WASHINGTON — Sen. Chuck Grassley on Monday accused Democrats of walking away from negotiations on…
As Covid-19 cases surge, Pence touts progress made from earlier peaks
As criticism mounts that the White House has turned a blind eye to the worsening…
Ousted federal vaccine expert alleges health secretary has continued to retaliate
WASHINGTON — Rick Bright, the ousted federal vaccine expert, amended his whistleblower complaint Thursday against…
Top U.S. health officials say they were never told to slow down Covid-19 testing, contradicting Trump
WASHINGTON — Four key government health care officials said Tuesday that despite recent remarks from…
STAT Plus: The new Janet: The FDA turns to a quiet problem-solver who brings expertise — and a little controversy
WASHINGTON — Janet Woodcock, one of the FDA’s most powerful regulators, has an almost mythic…
Lawmakers push Covid-19 bills to prevent price gouging, track federal funds used to discover drugs
Amid ongoing concern that Covid-19 therapies and vaccines may be unaffordable, a bipartisan group of…
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As Covid-19 devastates communities of color, the government’s minority health experts are conspicuously quiet
WASHINGTON — Four months into a pandemic that has disproportionately devastated Black, Latino, and Native…
Trump says Covid-19 is ‘dying out.’ Experts fear his dismissiveness could prolong the crisis
WASHINGTON — The White House is taking a new position on the coronavirus pandemic: a…
Trump administration pledges future Covid-19 vaccines will be free for ‘vulnerable’ Americans
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Tuesday pledged to provide a future Covid-19 vaccine for…
STAT Plus: Supreme Court deals a series of blows to generic drug companies
It’s a bad run for generic drug companies at the Supreme Court. The court on…
What does the FDA’s hydroxychloroquine decision mean for Covid-19 patients or politicians? And 4 other burning questions
WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration on Monday revoked its already controversial emergency use…
FDA revokes emergency use ruling for hydroxychloroquine, the drug touted by Trump as a Covid-19 therapy
WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration on Monday said it had withdrawn an emergency…
STAT Plus: PhRMA’s top communicator, a fierce defender of the industry, leaves for ExxonMobil
The top spokesperson for the drug industry’s main lobbying group in Washington is taking a…
STAT Plus: The coronavirus pandemic is reigniting a fierce debate over compounded drugs
In hopes of alleviating potential drug shortages and other issues wrought by the coronavirus pandemic,…
STAT Plus: Lawmakers, government watchdog blast FDA for poor oversight of U.S. drug supply chain
WASHINGTON — A government watchdog blasted the Food and Drug Administration for fumbling its oversight…
Debate over hydroxychloroquine spills over from the White House to congressional campaigns
WASHINGTON — Five months ahead of the general election, Democrats are escalating their attacks against…
Trump: U.S. will terminate relationship with the World Health Organization in wake of Covid-19 pandemic
President Trump said Friday the U.S. would halt its funding of the World Health Organization…
Trump tries to convince voters he’s lowered drug prices, based only on a modest tweak to Medicare
WASHINGTON — President Trump used a glitzy Rose Garden address, flanked by pharmaceutical company CEOs…
STAT Plus: Pharma panics as Washington pushes to bring drug manufacturing back to the U.S.
WASHINGTON — As the coronavirus pandemic disrupts global supply chains, lawmakers are increasingly calling on…
STAT Plus: Amid conflict-of-interest criticisms, top FDA officials recuse themselves from Covid-19 vaccine approvals
A version of this article first appeared in D.C. Diagnosis, STAT’s weekly newsletter about the…
9 ways Covid-19 may forever upend the U.S. health care industry
WASHINGTON — In the U.S. alone, Covid-19 has claimed nearly 100,000 lives and 30 million…
In combative remarks, Azar tells WHO that its Covid-19 response ‘cost many lives’
WASHINGTON — Health secretary Alex Azar on Monday publicly blasted the World Health Organization, telling…
Rick Bright is facing attacks from Republicans across Washington, but his opponents can’t seem to land a punch
WASHINGTON — It may have been Rick Bright’s best day in two months. The ousted…
Trump administration fires back at ousted vaccine expert as he testifies on his role in U.S. coronavirus response
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration accused a federal whistleblower Thursday of “one-sided arguments and misinformation”…
Biotech’s new chief lobbyist says she’s a social justice advocate. Will the industry walk the walk?
WASHINGTON — Michelle McMurry-Heath doesn’t talk about biotech the way her peers do. Where other…
STAT Plus: Trump administration proposes a dramatic payment boost for CAR-T treatments under Medicare
WASHINGTON — The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed a major payment bump for…
14 questions for Fauci, Redfield, and the other Trump officials testifying on the U.S. coronavirus response
The Trump administration figures who’ve led the federal government’s coronavirus response have escaped the wrath…
Doctors lambaste federal process for distributing Covid-19 drug remdesivir
Hospitals and physicians around the country are sharply criticizing the federal government for the uneven…
Vaccine expert says he was punished for raising concerns about Trump’s coronavirus response, nepotism
WASHINGTON — Rick Bright, the ousted head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority,…
NIH announces $1.5 billion, ‘Shark Tank’-like initiative to accelerate Covid-19 testing
WASHINGTON — The National Institutes of Health on Wednesday announced a new $1.5 billion initiative…
A bipartisan group of former health officials seeks to sell a $46.5 billion coronavirus plan to the White House
WASHINGTON — In the past month, President Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner has…
How a Los Angeles doctor got swept up in the swirl of the Trump White House as it confronts the pandemic
He advised Joe Biden’s initiative to transform the fight against cancer. He interviewed Bill Clinton…
Trump hopes for 2 million tests per week by end of May — the low end of experts’ estimates of what’s needed to reopen
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Monday unveiled a “blueprint” to increase capacity for coronavirus…
Why was an unknown federal bureaucrat involved in Trump’s emergency hydroxychloroquine authorization?
WASHINGTON — Rick Bright, an otherwise unknown federal bureaucrat, burst onto the political stage this…
An ousted vaccine agency director offers an explosive, direct allegation: Trump is politicizing science
WASHINGTON — Rick Bright, the U.S. official who was ousted this week from a post…
Director of U.S. agency key to helming vaccine development leaves role suddenly amid coronavirus pandemic
WASHINGTON — Rick Bright, one of the nation’s leading vaccine development experts and the director…
NIH Director Francis Collins on Tony Fauci, the WHO, and running a $39 billion research agency from home
WASHINGTON — Francis Collins hasn’t set foot on the National Institutes of Health’s campus in…
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General Motors, 3M, and pharma companies beef up lobbying firepower amid coronavirus pandemic
WASHINGTON — General Motors and 3M, two major corporations that have feuded publicly with President…
STAT Plus: After a hard-won political fight, this state expanded access to insulin. Can others follow its lead?
On Tuesday, April 14th, Nicole Smith-Holt watched from the top balcony of the Minnesota state…
NIH partners with 16 drug companies in hopes of accelerating Covid-19 treatments and vaccines
WASHINGTON — The National Institutes of Health on Friday announced it would launch a sweeping…
Trump outlines ‘phases’ for reopening states once coronavirus cases begin to decline
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Thursday told governors that they could begin to ease stay-at-home…
Trump announces a formal freeze on WHO funding, pending an investigation
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump formally announced Tuesday that the United States will freeze funding…
STAT Plus: State legislatures are lapping the federal government on drug pricing — even amid the coronavirus
A version of this article first ran in D.C. Diagnosis, STAT’s weekly newsletter about the…