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Happy Friday. I spent an hour yesterday watching sea otters splish and splash about at the Vancouver Aquarium. Hopefully your weekend is as cozy and playful as these sleek little guys.
Supreme Court’s conversion therapy decision could ripple through medicine
The Supreme Court’s ruling this week, which struck down a ban on mental health providers engaging in “conversion therapy,” could have implications far beyond LGBTQ+ rights, potentially affecting how state medical boards regulate some types of health care — including the advice physicians give patients about vaccines.
The larger implications stem from the judges’ decision to label talk therapy as “speech,” rather than professional conduct. Some experts say the choice could hinder states’ ability to create regulations and guidelines for certain types of speech (and, thus, the care) that providers can engage in. Children’s Health Defense, a vaccine-skeptical organization once led by health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., noted that the decision could be helpful in two pending medical free speech lawsuits that the group has filed.
STAT’s Theresa Gaffney with a great read that delves into the legal implications of the ruling and why the justices’ preference for a “free marketplace of ideas” in medicine could backfire.
Trump hikes tariffs on brand-name drugs, starts negotiations
The Trump administration continued its efforts to rein in the pharmaceutical industry, announcing yesterday 100% tariffs on imported brand name drugs — with major caveats.
The tax will not affect many large drugmakers because they’ve already struck deals with the U.S. to build manufacturing facilities here and lower the prices of their medications. Drugmakers that haven’t struck those deals but pledge to bring production to the U.S. can have their tariffs reduced to 20% for the remainder of Trump’s term.
The tariffs aren’t a surprise to the industry, but they present a host of questions about how the tariffs will be enacted and how companies may work to avoid them, such as by making deals with the administration. Could this create an “unfair two-tiered system”? STAT’s Daniel Payne dives into the details, including the smaller companies pursuing a new deal with Trump.
Thursday was World Autism Awareness Day. HHS celebrated with…a workout?
Kennedy and other health officials held a “celebration and workout” for Autism Awareness Day on Thursday to highlight the federal government’s commitment to supporting the autism community. The program included an “engaging fitness activity” and recommended that attendees wear “Sporty Attire/Athleisure.”
Confused? I was, too. What does autism have to do with exercise?
When I asked an HHS spokesperson about why Kennedy chose to include a workout as part of the celebration, he said, “The inclusion of movement and physical activity reflects research showing that movement and exercise can support overall well-being and have positive benefits for many individuals with autism.”
I asked for clarification, not because I don’t think that autistic people can do a push up, but because I wanted to know why this was a focus of the event. Exercise can benefit autistic people, as it can benefit non-autistic people — but Kennedy has also spent his secretarial tenure spreading harmful stereotypes about autistic people, promoting the debunked claim that vaccines can cause autism, and taking down webpages that warn people against using controversial and potentially dangerous therapies. The Thursday gathering struck many people as bizarre, with one autistic person calling it “deeply weird.”
A big hat-tip to independent journalist Marisa Kabas, who first reported the existence of this event.
Harvard researchers confirm therapy’s benefits for tick-borne illness
A medical procedure that involves transfusing red blood cells appears to lower the risk of death or hospital readmission in cases of severe babesiosis, according to a JAMA Internal Medicine study published this week.
A dangerous tick-borne infection transmitted by the same type of ticks that can carry Lyme disease, babesiosis can cause multi-organ failure and death in some cases. A team led by scientists from Mass General Brigham and Yale School of Public Health studied the records of over 3,000 patients hospitalized for babesiosis from 2010 to 2024. Out of 629 patients who were severely ill, those who received the transfusion in the first seven days had a five-fold lower risk of hospital death or readmission after 30 days.
The process rapidly reduces the number of infected red blood cells in the patient’s system, replacing them with donor cells, corresponding author David Leaf told STAT. The process is sometimes used, but until now evidence of its effectiveness has been lacking, he said, leading to substantial variation in how frequently it is used. The findings are welcome news for thousands of people with babesiosis cases in the United States. — Helen Branswell
A Netflix subscription model for HIV meds?
As a loyal STAT reader, you already know all about the exciting promise and power of lenacapavir, the drug that can provide nearly complete protection against HIV infection with a single administration every six months. You also likely already know how much an issue the price has become: $28,218 per person per year. In a new First Opinion essay, Johns Hopkins physician Michael Rose proposes a solution: the Netflix model.
A couple states (Louisiana, Washington) have already implemented this model for hepatitis C antivirals. “Like the streaming service that revolutionized how the world watches movies, insurers negotiated a subscription payment to manufacturers in exchange for unlimited access to the cure,” Rose writes. Read more on how this could work for HIV prevention.
(Meanwhile, Gilead Sciences, the pharmaceutical company that developed lenacapavir, has reportedly refused to sell the groundbreaking drug for wider global distribution.)
What we’re reading
- Beyond detection: In the age of clinical AI, what counts as an FDA ‘breakthrough’ medical device? STAT
The vaccine industry is troubleshooting its future existence, NOTUS
Iran’s Pasteur medical research centre ‘heavily damaged’ in strike, The Telegraph
State-run insurance plans for foster kids leave some of them without doctors, KFF Health News
Diabetes advocates cross their fingers as a bipartisan bill revives efforts to lower insulin costs, AP
