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Happy Friday!
My colleagues and I have been discussing the viral story in The Atlantic that seemingly offered a narrative account of one family’s struggle with measles — only for it to later be revealed that it wasn’t a reported essay but a composite character based on the author’s research. Some outlets have pushed back against the publication’s lack of clarity on this point.
What do you think about the story and the controversy it kicked up?
Nicotine gets a makeover, courtesy of biohackers and influencers
As smoking rates fall in the U.S., companies and wellness influencers are pushing the purported cognitive and health benefits of nicotine, the stimulant that makes cigarettes so addictive.
Nicotine evangelists say this “natural” stimulant (it’s found, albeit at extremely low doses, in foods like eggplant and tomatoes) can give people an extra edge in their workouts and working life. They frequently compare nicotine to caffeine, categorizing both as relatively harmless “nootropics.”
But the nicotine wellness boom is precarious and the stimulant’s health “benefits” are tenuous, writes STAT’s Sarah Todd. Read more to understand why tech companies like Palantir are stocking vending machines with nicotine pouches.
Top drug regulator says FDA center will scrutinize SSRIs, RSV shots
Tracy Beth Høeg, the top drug regulator at the Food and Drug Administration, said yesterday that she’ll apply new scrutiny to two products she’s questioned recently: antidepressants taken by pregnant women and monoclonal antibodies that protect infants against RSV.
The newly-installed director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research said she’s interested in women’s health and pregnancy more broadly and called for more randomized data in pregnant populations during her first address to center staff Thursday. Høeg pointed to the number of deaths of babies who received the RSV monoclonals in clinical trials, despite study investigators and the FDA determining the deaths appeared to be unrelated to the products.
What else did Høeg say in her inaugural meeting? And why did she quote philosopher Ayn Rand? Read more from STAT’s Lizzy Lawrence.
As NIH funding shifts, states test a new research model
A handful of states are trying to increase funding for scientific research after the cascade of paused and terminated grants and swift, unpredictable policy shifts that followed President Trump’s return to office.
Historically, state and local governments have played a small role in science funding. But the confusion over federal funding is leading institutions like UMass Chan Medical School to develop alternate solutions. Some researchers say state money could allow them to offer faculty bridge funding while they await NIH funds and also support early career faculty.
It’s not just Massachusetts. Proposals have been made over the past several months in New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, and California. STAT’s Anil Oza has all of the details.
ACIP meeting postponed
A scheduled meeting of federal vaccine advisers has been postponed, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed to STAT. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will not meet as planned next week, when they were expected to discuss Covid-19 shots and other mRNA-based injections, according to a person familiar with the planning but not authorized to speak publicly.
The postponement, for which HHS gave no reason, comes as the White House tries to shift the Department’s focus away from politically-divisive vaccine policy and towards more popular policies, like food and drug pricing, ahead of the midterms.
Whether HHS would be able to hold the meeting had been up in the air in recent days: Officials missed a required federal deadline to provide notice to the public of the meeting, and a lawsuit before a federal judge is asking for an overhaul of the vaccine changes under health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Among other things, the suit asks that the committee, which had been handpicked by Kennedy after he fired the previous panel, be declared illegitimate. — Chelsea Cirruzzo
When AI outperforms clinicians, is it ethical not to use it?
A Nature study found that Google Health’s AI matched or exceeded the performance of six radiologists and reduced false negatives and false positives. The findings sparked a debate about the importance of algorithms versus clinical judgment in health care settings.
This is a false binary, writes Morish Shah, a master’s of precision health student at the University of Chicago, and Ami Bhatt, chief innovation officer of the American College of Cardiology. The solution is not an all-or-nothing approach to AI, but finding out how to design systems that allow algorithms and clinicians to concentrate on tasks where they excel. When tech evangelists claim that AI is “better,” it’s important to clarify “what” it’s better at, they write.
“We do not let pilots fly without instrument support simply because they technically could. Why should medicine be different?” Shah and Bhatt write. Read more.
What we’re reading
How one doctor changed New York’s right-to-die, New York Magazine
New VA rule ties disability ratings to medicated symptoms, drawing fire from veterans groups, Military.com
The federal directory of doctors and hospitals is coming this year, STAT
- Alzheimer’s blood tests predict what age people will be when the disease may cause symptoms, study finds, Scientific American
- Lawmaker says the U.S. deported a sick baby, while authorities say the child was medically cleared, AP
