From Washington, DC

Capitol Hill News

• Roll Call lets us know,
  • “The Senate took its first procedural step Tuesday on a budget blueprint that would pave the way for a filibuster-proof border security, defense and energy package, a key part of President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda.
  • “Once GOP leaders were certain of a critical mass of senators returning to Washington in time, they teed up a vote on the motion to proceed to the fiscal 2025 budget resolution, which was agreed to on a mostly party-line, 50-47 vote. Only a simple majority is needed to proceed and to eventually adopt the framework on a final vote, but Republicans don’t expect any Democrats to help them advance it, making every GOP vote count.  
  • “Once a budget resolution is adopted in both chambers, key congressional committees can get to work on writing the actual reconciliation bill — which is immune to a filibuster, like the budget resolution — to implement their fiscal priorities.
  • “The initial Senate plan laid out in the fiscal 2025 resolution envisions spending boosts for defense and border security, domestic energy incentives and offsets to pay for the package. It doesn’t address the 2017 tax cuts expiring at the end of the year, instead promising to come back with a second budget reconciliation process later this year to deal with the tax pieces of the GOP agenda.”

White House News

• Fierce Healthcare tells us,
  • “A new executive order signed by President Trump aims to expand access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) and make it more affordable.
  • “The order directs the Domestic Policy Council to make policy recommendations to protect IVF access and “aggressively” reduce the associated costs for treatment. The policies should focus on ensuring reliable access to IVF and addressing areas that exacerbate the out-of-pocket and health plan costs associated with the care.
  • “These are treatments that have become unaffordable for many Americans,” Will Scharf, the White House staff secretary, said at a press conference on Tuesday.”

• Per MedPage Today,
  • “The Trump administration’s efforts to address the causes of chronic diseases will all be based on “unbiased science,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Tuesday.
  • “We will convene representatives of all viewpoints to study the causes for the drastic rise in chronic disease,” Kennedy said in a speech to HHS employees. “Some of the possible factors we will investigate were formally taboo or insufficiently scrutinized — the childhood vaccine schedule; electromagnetic radiation; glyphosate; other pesticides; ultra-processed foods … SSRIs [selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors] and other psychiatric drugs; PFAS [per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances]; PFOA [perfluorooctanoic acid]; microplastics — nothing is going to be off-limits.”
  • “Whatever belief or suspicion I have expressed in the past, I’m willing to subject them all to the scrutiny of unbiased science,” Kennedy said in the speech, a portion of which was posted on Xopens in a new tab or window. “That is going to be our template — unbiased science. That’s something that will make us all proud of this agency and of our role in restoring American health.”
  • “Let’s commission research that will satisfy all the stakeholders once and for all,” he continued. “Let’s use protocols that we all agree on in advance and not alter the outcomes of studies when they’re halfway through [because] they look inconvenient. Let’s all depoliticize these issues and reestablish a common ground for action and renew the search for existential truths with no political impediments and no preconceptions.”

Postal Service News,

• Govexec informs us,
  • “Postmaster General Louis DeJoy will soon step down as head of the U.S. Postal Service, creating an opening for the agency’s governing board to fill as it is in the midst of implementing controversial and sweeping reforms to its operations. 
  • “DeJoy has requested the USPS board begin its process to find a successor just months after telling Congress he would remain in the post “until somebody hauls me out of here.” The postmaster general has faced significant criticism since his appointment to the role in 2020 for his efforts to slow down mail delivery, raise prices and consolidate mail processing while also winning some plaudits for creating a vision he said would eliminate the agency’s financial troubles. 
  • “Postmasters general serve no fixed terms and are chosen by the board. President Biden while in office faced some calls to fire DeJoy, a long-time Republican donor who came to USPS after running a successful private sector logistics company, though he could only be removed by the board or on his own volition. 
  • “DeJoy said “much critical work” remains to implement his vision for the agency, but he decided it was time to start the process of identifying a successor.”

Food and Drug Administration News

• Fierce Pharma relates,
  • “Two years on, Bavarian Nordic’s $380 million vaccine M&A move appears to be paying off.
  • “The Danish company’s chikungunya vaccine, Vimkunya, has now crossed the FDA finish line, heating up the competition with Valneva by countering with a label that covers a broader population.
  • ‘The FDA approved Vimkunya’s use in people who are at least 12 years old, marking the first chikungunya vaccine that can be given to those younger than 18. With the nod, Bavarian Nordic also picked up a priority review voucher (PRV) under the FDA’s tropical disease PRV program; the company plans to monetize the PRV “when appropriate,” it said in a Friday press release.”

From the judicial front,

• The AP, via Federal News Network, reports,
  • “A federal judge refused Tuesday to immediately block billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing government data systems or participating in worker layoffs. 
  • “U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan found that there are legitimate questions about Musk’s authority but said there isn’t evidence of the kind of grave legal harm that would justify a temporary restraining order. 
  • “The decision came in a lawsuit filed by 14 Democratic states challenging DOGE’s authority to access sensitive government data. The attorneys general argued that Musk is wielding the kind of power that the Constitution says can only be held by those who are elected or confirmed by the Senate. 
  • “The Trump administration, for its part, has maintained that layoffs are coming from agency heads, and asserted that despite his public cheering of the effort Musk isn’t directly running DOGE’s day-to-day operations himself.” 

• Per STAT News,
  • “California officials were dealt a setback by a federal judge who ruled that a controversial law banning so-called pay-to-delay deals between pharmaceutical companies is, in part, unconstitutional and so cannot be enforced against agreements that had no link to the state.
  • “In his ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Troy Nunley determined that the state law, which was enacted in 2019, violated the Dormant Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution because it would extend to pay-to-delay agreements that happened outside of California and, therefore, attempted to regulate interstate commerce.”

From the public health and medical research front,

• The Wall Street Journal offers its perspective on bird flu. “With so much H5N1 virus circulating across the U.S., scientists worry we are a few mutations away from a potential human pandemic.”

• Beckers Hospital Review discusses hospitalizations for measles outbreaks.

• CNN reports,
  • “The best way to stay protected against measles is to get vaccinated, according to experts. The measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is 93% effective against measles after one dose and 97% effective against measles after two, according to the CDC.
  • “Officials’ guidance says children should get two doses of the MMR vaccine: the first dose between 12 and 15 months and the second around age 4, before starting school.
  • “When people consider their choice about vaccinating their child, it isn’t just about their own individual child, but this is a public health issue. … If we just stop thinking about the health of the population, we are going to see more and more vaccine-preventable illness, outbreaks occur,” said Dr. Christina Johns, a pediatric emergency physician at PM Pediatrics.
  • “Older children or adults can also get vaccinated if they didn’t get the vaccine as a child, she says. However, people born before 1957 are likely to have been naturally infected and thus already have immunity, according to the CDC.
  • “CDC guidance also indicates that if someone is exposed to measles, getting the MMR vaccine within 72 hours could induce some protection or result in less serious illness.”

• The National Cancer Institute blogs about “Many Men with Metastatic Prostate Cancer Are Not Getting the Recommended Treatments, Study Finds.”

• Beckers Hospital Review tells us,
  • “Investments in primary care are declining and fewer clinicians are entering the field at a time when chronic disease rates are rising, according to a new report from researchers at the American Academy of Family Physicians. 
  • “The report, “The Health of US Primary Care: 2025 Scorecard Report — The Cost of Neglect,” points to underlying challenges contributing to a lack of access to primary care in the U.S., including insufficient funding and reimbursement rates. This marks the third edition of the scorecard report, led by researchers at the AAFP’s Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies in Primary Care. The report is co-funded by the Milbank Memorial Fund and The Physicians Foundation and is based on national and state-level data tracking primary care performance, workforce trends and reimbursement patterns.”

• A National Institutes of Health online newsletter discusses “Dementia in the U.S. | Contact lenses slow myopia in kids | New malaria target.”

• The HHS Inspector General released a report titled “Not All Medicare Enrollees Are Continuing Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder.”

• Per BioPharma Dive,
  • “An experimental Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy from Solid Biosciences showed potential in a small clinical trial, leading the biotechnology company to quickly raise funds on the findings.
  • “Three months after treatment with Solid’s therapy, SGT-003, the first three participants in an early-stage clinical trial produced higher-than-normal levels of a tiny protein linked to muscle function, Solid said Tuesday. No serious side effects were observed so far, the company added.
  • “Solid claims the results, while early, suggest SGT-003 could be more potent than Sarepta Therapeutics’ Elevidys, the only approved Duchenne gene therapy. The company intends to discuss an accelerated approval pathway with U.S. regulators later this year. Solid’s share price rose by as much as 79% Tuesday morning before settling back to trade up 40%. It announced a $200 million stock offering alongside the study results.”

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

• CIGNA Healthcare announced,
  • “Specialty medications used to treat rare, chronic, and complex diseases are often administered via injection or infusion. While some patients need to receive these medications in a hospital setting, most patients can use options that are more affordable and more convenient. These include infusion centers not affiliated with hospitals, qualified physician’s offices, or administration in the patient’s home by a trained nurse. When appropriate, guiding patients to these non-hospital settings can make specialty treatment easier to access while reducing health care costs.
  • “Although some treating physicians have concerns about the quality and safety of alternative sites, new research published in the Journal of Clinical Pathways found that patients who received specialty medication treatments at non-hospital outpatient settings are less likely to experience adverse reactions or seek care at the emergency room than those treated at hospital outpatient settings. They are also less likely to be hospitalized within a week following treatment. These findings are based on a retrospective analysis of Cigna Healthcare claims data from more than 122,000 patients who received nearly 1 million injections or infusions of 72 specialty drugs between January 1, 2021, and October 31, 2023.
  • “This research clearly demonstrates that administering specialty medications in non-hospital settings is safe and effective,” said Dr. Jeff Langsam, national director of oncology and senior medical director of specialty pharmacy at Cigna Healthcare. “The convenience and comfort of these less intensive care settings also enhance the patient’s experience.”

• Fierce Healthcare reports from the VIVE conference about “A look under the hood at Risant Health’s value-based platform” and “Highmark taps Sword Health for pelvic health program.“

• Fierce Healthcare adds,
  • “CVS Health has named Ed DeVaney as president of its pharmacy benefit manager, CVS Caremark.
  • “DeVaney has served as interim president of Caremark since December 2024. The president’s role was vacated when David Joyner took over as CEO of CVS Health in October.
  • “CVS said that DeVaney joined the company in 2005 and held roles across Caremark and the company’s Aetna division. Prior to taking over as interim president, DeVaney was Caremark’s president of employer and health plans, where he led the team’s work to grow and retain its PBM customers.”

• Beckers Health IT explains how artificial intelligence tools are being integrated into electronic health records.

• Beckers Payer Issues discusses the healthcare stop loss market.