It’s been a downright hog-wild week for health news out of Washington, so let’s get right to it. Below are the essential stories from this week in health and biopharma, brought to you by Alexander, Alexa, and the rest of the STAT newsroom. Take a look:
- Exclusive: Former NIH director Francis Collins, once beloved in Washington, now worries for his safety there. "I don’t know what to do about that. I can’t go hide under my desk," he told STAT.
- White House pulls nomination of Dave Weldon as CDC director hours before hearing. Additionally, a recent STAT investigation found that Weldon has supported anti-vaccine theories for decades.
- Trump’s picks to run FDA and NIH win approval from Senate’s health committee. The committee voted 14-9 to advance Marty Makary and 12-11 to advance Jay Bhattacharya.
- ‘Deliberate trauma’: SAMHSA employees detail a federal agency in shambles. The Trump administration’s decision to fire a tenth of the federal workers at the agency that oversees mental and behavioral health will imperil efforts to curb suicides and drug overdose deaths, according to current and former employees.
- RFK Jr. says measles vaccine routinely causes deaths. That’s not true. If people deserve the chance to make a choice, they also deserve accurate information, Matthew Herper writes.
- Soleno Therapeutics’ ‘life-changing’ drug nears approval decision. Plus: Pharma M&A aids zombie cleanup.
- Why health experts fear the West Texas measles outbreak may be much larger than reported.
- Exclusive: UnitedHealth continues making stealthy deals, pushing deeper into medical care as scrutiny mounts. The sprawling conglomerate acquired or created more than 250 subsidiaries in 2024.
- 100 fired CDC employees press RFK Jr. to rehire them, citing shifting guidance. Many of those workers will lose their paid administrative leave and be officially fired come Friday, since it marks four weeks since they received the notices.
- As GLP-1 compounding stares down a wall, telehealth companies pivot to hormones. But clinicians and health policy researchers expressed concern that the emerging commodification of hormone replacement therapies could lead to inappropriate prescriptions and put patients at risk.
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