In this week’s edition of InnovationRx, we look at the spread of both measles and disinformation about it, the DOJ going after medical journals, HHS policy changes on Covid vaccines and more. To get it in your inbox, subscribe here.
More than 624 cases of measles have been confirmed in Texas alone this year (through Tuesday), with around 800 confirmed cases across the country. Twenty-five states so far have seen cases of the disease this year, and the outbreak in Texas has been genetically linked to spread in both New Mexico and Kansas.
But measles isn’t the only thing spreading: misinformation about the disease is, too, according to a new survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Republicans were particularly susceptible to this misinformation. For example, the survey found that while two-thirds of Democratic parents knew that measles was on the rise this year, only one-third of Republican parents did.
The misinformation spread poses a challenge to public health efforts. There is no approved treatment for measles, making vaccination the best approach to controlling the disease. However, the survey found that 21% of Americans falsely believe that such vaccines cause autism, 16% believe the measles shot is more dangerous than the disease and 23% believe vitamin A can prevent measles infections, even as children in Texas have been hospitalized with vitamin A toxicity. Many of these beliefs have been espoused by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
In Kansas, 37 cases of measles have been reported since mid-March, and in an update on the disease yesterday, Governor Laura Kelly urged parents to vaccinate their children and blamed the anti-vaccination movement for exacerbating the problem. “Talk to your doctor. Ask questions. Get the facts and then make a plan,” she told Kansans.
Trump’s DOJ Is Going After Medical Journals For Being Too Woke
In the Trump administration, even academic journals of medical research are being scrutinized for being too woke.
On April 14, the peer-reviewed medical journal CHEST, which focuses on respiratory diseases and sleep medicine, received a letter from Edward Martin, Jr., the U.S. Attorney General for the District of Columbia, probing whether the publication is “partisan,” and asking a series of questions about its acceptance of “competing viewpoints.”Trade publication MedPage Today reported last Friday that at least three journals had received the letters. It did not identify the other two publications.
On Wednesday, the New England Journal of Medicine confirmed to Forbes that it had also received such a letter. “We support the editorial independence of medical journals and their First Amendment rights to free expression,” Dr. Eric Rubin, NEJM’s editor-in-chief, said by email.
Read more here.
BIOTECH AND PHARMA
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is weighing the idea of pulling a recommendation for children to get Covid-19 vaccines, reports Politico. If he does that could be a problem for stopping the disease’s impact on children. Long Covid has turned out to be more widespread among children than previously thought, leading to chronic health problems, while Covid-19 has a higher mortality rate among children than other respiratory diseases such as influenza. The debate over whether children should receive the Covid-19 vaccine comes on the heels of stop-work orders on federal contracts with at least three biotech companies that are developing next-generation Covid vaccines.
Plus: Genentech has entered into an agreement with Repertorie Immune Medicines to develop treatments for autoimmune disease. Repertoire will receive an upfront payment of $35 million and up to $730 million in additional milestone payments plus royalties.
DIGITAL HEALTH AND AI
Global communications firm Havas made a strategic investment in Ostro, an AI company for life sciences founded by Forbes 30 Under 30 alums Chase Feiger and Ahmed Elsayyad, as part of its previously announced $450 million investment in AI. Before this deal (the financial details of which were not disclosed), Ostro had raised a total of $56 million at a $250 million valuation.
MEDTECH
China’s restrictions on rare earths aren’t only a problem for electric vehicles–they also pose a big risk for medical equipment like MRI machines. These critical minerals go into permanent magnets that are used to operate motors, so they’re commonplace in diagnostic machines. Rare earths are used in other ways in healthcare, too. For example, gadolinium is used to produce a contrast fluid that is injected into patients before they receive a scan to help doctors more easily diagnose brain tumors.
Plus: Biolinq, which is developing biosensors for precision health, announced a $100 million series C funding round.
PUBLIC HEALTH AND HOSPITALS
In Pennsylvania, Crozer Health hospitals are closing. Thousands of employees who work there received emails Monday morning that the system was shutting down despite months of efforts by parent company, Prospect Medical Holdings, to find a buyer. Meanwhile, the Providence health system, which controls 51 hospitals across the western United States, is freezing non-clinical hiring due to “economic headwinds.”
DEAL OF THE WEEK
Nourish, a telehealth platform that connects patients to registered dieticians, announced today that it has raised a $70 million series B round at an undisclosed valuation, bringing its total investment to $115 million. The company, founded by Forbes 30 under 30 alums Aidan Dewar, Stephanie Liu and Sam Perkins, aims to provide personalized nutrition support for patients suffering from chronic disease–for example, providing diet plans for those taking GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic. The company plans to use the new capital to develop new products and expand its network of dieticians.
WHAT WE’RE READING
A new approach to throttling what biologists call “jumping genes” might help treat diseases related to aging.
Ireland has become a global hub of pharmaceutical manufacturing–now it’s bracing for the impact of the Trump Administration’s proposed tariffs.
The Trump Administration has frozen billions of dollars of healthcare payouts pending manual reviews, creating huge backlogs of payments.
New tariffs imposed by the federal government threaten to significantly impact the bottom lines of hospitals across the country.
The Supreme Court appeared divided on the provision of the Affordable Care Act that provides free preventive care.
The FDA suspended its quality control program for milk and other dairy products following workforce cuts.
New research suggests that the vintage antibiotic streptomycin might serve as a treatment for metastatic cancer.
The NIH is cutting off funding to the Women’s Health Initiative, one of the federal government’s biggest research programs into women’s health.
