STAT News – Biotech
STAT+: ACIP conflict is test of Trump’s support for RFK Jr.’s vaccine policy overhaul
WASHINGTON — Federal health officials are weighing how to respond to a court ruling that stalled major parts of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vaccine agenda, a decision that could shed light on the Trump administration’s willingness to continue to reshape vaccine policies, despite political risks.
A person familiar with the situation, asked whether the administration would appeal the ruling issued earlier this week, said no decisions have been made. Options could include filing an appeal or entirely reconstituting the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a panel whose current members were handpicked by Kennedy.
The preliminary ruling reversed a year of the committee’s work, which the judge concluded had been carried out improperly. Federal judge Brian E. Murphy also ruled that a unilateral decision by the Department of Health and Human Services to reduce the number of recommended pediatric vaccines was illegal, ultimately restoring the childhood vaccine schedule to its previous version.
Nearly 30 states, as well as the District of Columbia, have already announced they will not follow the new pediatric vaccine schedule, according to KFF, a health policy nonprofit.
Health officials’ decision on what to do next could be delicate. The White House has largely stood by efforts led by Kennedy to overhaul U.S. vaccine policies. But its own pollsters have said the initiative has been unpopular among a large percentage of voters. More recently, White House officials have attempted to steer HHS away from the issue entirely as midterms approach, preferring to focus on more politically popular issues like food policy.
Prominent figures in the Make America Healthy Again movement as well as some of the members of ACIP impacted by the ruling have tried to draw officials back in.
WASHINGTON — Food and Drug Administration officials briefed senators on the agency’s plans for food policy for 2026, according to a person familiar with the meeting.
The agency plans to focus on infant formula safety, updating food labels, defining ultra-processed foods, expanding inspections of food processing plants, and bolstering seafood safety programs, according to a document shared with lawmakers, obtained by STAT.
The meeting comes amid a shift in the administration’s health agenda toward food issues and away from vaccine policy. In recent polls, food reforms have been more popular than the vaccine agenda, catching the attention of administration officials looking to sharpen their message for the midterms.
STAT News – Biotech
STAT+: In private meetings, White House works to win pharma companies’ support for drug pricing bill
WASHINGTON — The White House has drafted legislative text for its drug pricing policy, and officials are in the process of sharing it with more than a dozen major pharmaceutical companies, according to people familiar with the meetings.
The legislative text, according to a White House official, closely follows the outlines of the voluntary deals the administration made with pharma companies. The draft includes a policy that would allow drugs purchased in cash to count toward a patient’s deductible.
The Trump administration’s push for drug price legislation is part of a larger effort to get health reforms signed into law. The president’s focus on his affordability agenda in an election year has heightened the profile of the effort.
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