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What We're Reading: FDA Recruiting; Azar Meets With Lawmakers; Kavanaugh Emails
Speaking at a conference organized by the Association for Accessible Medicines, an FDA official said the Trump administration’s restrictions on hiring foreign scientists are making it more difficult for the agency to attract top scientific talent; HHS Secretary Alex Azar met with Republican lawmakers on the House Ways and Means Committee to discuss ways to lower drug prices; previously secret emails from Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s time working for President George W. Bush provoked new scrutiny during his Supreme Court confirmation hearing regarding his views on abortion and other women’s health issues.
FDA Official Says Security Rules Making it Harder to Recruit Scientific Talent
Speaking at a conference organized by the Association for Accessible Medicines, the generic drug industry’s trade group, an FDA official said the Trump administration’s restrictions on hiring foreign scientists are making it more difficult for the agency to attract top scientific talent, STAT reported. Melanie Keller, the FDA’s acting associate commissioner for scientific and clinical recruitment, was referring to a Department of Homeland Security policy the agency has been implementing since at least last August, which requires the agency to restrict many of its employment offers to people who have lived in the United States for 3 of the past 5 years.
Azar Meets With GOP Representatives to DIscuss Drug Pricing
HHS Secretary Alex Azar met with Republican lawmakers on the House Ways and Means Committee to discuss ways to lower drug prices, The Hill reported, although specifics of possible actions that might be taken were not disclosed. Lawmakers discussed rebates with Azar, according to Representative Tom Reed of New York, and House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady of Texas said he expects the administration to announce actions in the near future.
Kavanaugh Emails From Bush White House Raise Concerns About Women's Health
Previously secret emails from Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s time working for President George W. Bush provoked new scrutiny during his Supreme Court confirmation hearing regarding his views on abortion and other women’s health issues, The New York Times reported. Kavanaugh previously said he considered Roe v Wade settled precedent, but in a disclosed 2003 email, he wrote: “I am not sure that all legal scholars refer to Roe as the settled law of the land at the Supreme Court level since Court can always overrule its precedent, and three current Justices on the Court would do so.” In another email, he described contraceptives as “abortion-inducing drugs.”
Elevated Inflammatory Marker Levels Associated With Increased Overactive Bladder Risk
April 15th 2025Systemic immune inflammation index, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, and systemic inflammation response index levels may offer a noninvasive method to identify individuals at increased risk of developing overactive bladder.
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Personalized Care Key as Tirzepatide Use Expands Rapidly
April 15th 2025Using commercial insurance claims data and the US launch of tirzepatide as their dividing point, John Ostrominski, MD, Harvard Medical School, and his team studied trends in the use of both glucose-lowering and weight-lowering medications, comparing outcomes between adults with and without type 2 diabetes.
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SGLT2 Inhibitors Show Renal Benefits in HF and CKD as Prescribers Target Uptake Gaps
April 15th 2025Abstracts featured at the National Kidney Foundation Spring Clinical Meeting highlighted the renoprotective benefits of SGLT2 inhibitors in heart failure and diabetic kidney disease while emphasizing the need for strategies to increase their uptake in primary care.
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