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Good morning. You have until 9 pm ET tonight to cast your vote in the final round of STAT Madness! Make sure your voice is heard, and don’t miss Sarah Todd’s insightful article on the reverse Fannee Doolee perspective that RFK Jr. and others seem to adopt regarding peptides versus vaccines.
12%
This is the percentage by which the White House intends to reduce the Department of Health and Human Services’ budget, according to its proposed 2027 federal budget released on Friday. This plan resembles last year’s proposal, which included significant cuts to the National Institutes of Health, the elimination of a health research agency, and the introduction of a new agency focused on chronic diseases called the Administration for a Healthy America.
STAT’s Chelsea Cirruzzo and John Wilkerson provide an overview of the proposal and assess Congress’s likelihood of approving it. Megan Molteni and Anil Oza offer details on the NIH.
Ethical questions remain re: Guinea-Bissau hep B trial
The University of Southern Denmark is seeking assistance in evaluating the ethics of a clinical trial proposed by some of its scientists in Guinea-Bissau, funded by the CDC. Ole Skøtt, dean of health sciences, informed STAT on Sunday that the university has requested the European Network of Research Ethics Committees to conduct or advise on an independent ethical assessment of the study, though EUREC has not yet responded. The WHO and others have criticized the trial as unethical, leading the university to pause the study while addressing the concerns. Both the Danish National Committee on Health Research Ethics and the WHO Research Ethics Review Committee have stated they lack jurisdiction to conduct such an assessment.
The trial aims to randomize infants to receive their first hepatitis B vaccine dose at birth or at two months, the current standard in Guinea-Bissau, which plans to implement a birth-dose strategy by 2028, as recommended by the WHO. The study seeks to determine if there are any previously undetected adverse effects of administering the hepatitis B vaccine at birth. The vaccine has been administered to infants for over 40 years and is deemed safe and highly effective in preventing chronic hepatitis B infection in young children, a condition that poses a high risk of liver disease and premature death. — Helen Branswell
A big company makes a big push for AI
UnitedHealth Group is expanding its workforce, with hundreds of job openings, including AI roles related to cybersecurity, claims review and editing, fraud detection, positions on the “provider digital technology team,” and more. These new hires will join the company’s 22,000 software engineers worldwide, over 80% of whom use AI to write code or develop new solutions.
This rapid transformation is occurring throughout American healthcare. In a recent STAT analysis, chief investigative reporter Casey Ross discusses the potential benefits of widespread AI adoption, along with the risks for patients who may not be fully informed about these changes. “It’s become this war of algorithms and we forget that there is a life in the middle of all that,” Grace Cordovano, an advocate for patients with terminal cancer, told Casey. Read more.
RFK Jr. boosts peptides, but is skeptical of vaccines. Why?
Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his supporters emphasize health choices that feel natural, such as “eat real food” and prioritizing nutrition and vitamins over vaccines. However, one of Kennedy’s preferred interventions stands out: experimental drugs known as peptides.
Mainstream health experts caution that peptides have not been thoroughly studied for their effectiveness or potential side effects, such as cancer risk. Kennedy, however, claims personal use and suggests that the FDA should make them more accessible. STAT’s Sarah Todd examines this apparent contradiction further. Read more from her on medical libertarianism, influential podcast personalities, folk pharmacology, and other related topics. And if you’re unsure about what peptides are, Sarah provides an explanation as well.
Children in psychosis need more help
As Liz Koch’s 13-year-old son slipped into psychosis, the healthcare he received often felt like a temporary shift of responsibility rather than genuine treatment. The direction of this transfer consistently moved from professionals and experts to her. “Asking parents to generate solutions after exhausting all known options is not partnership,” Koch writes in a new First Opinion essay. “It is system failure disguised as collaboration.”
Read more about Koch’s distressing experience within a flawed pediatric healthcare system and her suggestions for improvement.
Raw Farm finally issues a recall
Recall last week, when the raw dairy farm denied its connection to an E. coli outbreak? The FDA had urged Raw Farm for weeks to recall its unpasteurized cheese products while investigating the outbreak. The farm resisted until last Thursday. The recall focuses on cheddar cheese products, as federal health agencies noted that raw milk from last year should no longer be available in stores.
“This Voluntary Recall is being performed under protest,” read a company announcement posted Friday by the FDA. A look through Raw Farm’s Instagram stories reveals their defiance. The company continues to share posts from customers buying its non-cheese products. On Friday, it also reposted a political cartoon depicting a bumbling, sweating man, labeled as an “FDA agent,” examining a block of raw cheese, while a fuel truck unloads orange Kraft Heinz “pasteurized cheese product” filled with wrenches, screws, and forks behind him. A masked journalist, labeled both Ars Technica and “schooled media,” takes notes by the truck.
What we’re reading
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How gender-affirming care is becoming a political test for top medical groups, The 19th
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The endless goodbye, The Atlantic
- How a four-month FDA delay forced a small biotech company to close its doors, STAT
- Tax time brings surprises for some who receive ACA subsidies, KFF Health News
- First Opinion: ‘Medical nutrition’ helps keep my son, and many others, healthy. But insurance won’t cover it, STAT
