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Good morning! Take a look at STAT’s Obesity Drug Tracker, which was updated this morning, to learn the latest on the drug industry’s love affair with weight loss medications. (Spoiler: There was some heartbreak.)
Cancelled internship leaves young scientists ‘in the crosshairs’
Aspiring biologist Satchel Bell wasn’t surprised when he learned the NIH had canceled its elite, hands-on summer internship program for undergraduate students. “It was a sad confirmation of the trend I was seeing,” he told STAT’s Usha Lee McFarling.
Last week’s abrupt decision to cancel the program, which has brought more than 1,000 students to NIH campuses every year for decades, was related to a freeze on hiring and new layers of program review, Usha learned. In the same week, Science reported that the National Science Foundation is defunding many sites in its own decades-old undergraduate research program.
“In every way, shape, form, actions being taken say ‘don’t go into science,’” Donna Ginther, an expert on the scientific workforce, told Usha. Read more about how students and early-career scientists are adjusting their career plans.
Cancelled internship leaves young scientists ‘in the crosshairs’
Aspiring biologist Satchel Bell wasn’t surprised when he learned the NIH had canceled its elite, hands-on summer internship program for undergraduate students. “It was a sad confirmation of the trend I was seeing,” he told STAT’s Usha Lee McFarling.
Last week’s abrupt decision to cancel the program, which has brought more than 1,000 students to NIH campuses every year for decades, was related to a freeze on hiring and new layers of program review, Usha learned. In the same week, Science reported that the National Science Foundation is defunding many sites in its own decades-old undergraduate research program.
“In every way, shape, form, actions being taken say ‘don’t go into science,’” Donna Ginther, an expert on the scientific workforce, told Usha. Read more about how students and early-career scientists are adjusting their career plans.
130%
That’s how much the global number of osteoarthritis cases increased between 1990 and 2021 among women who have gone through menopause, according to research published yesterday in BMJ Global Health. Osteoarthritis occurs in the flexible cartilage in one’s hips, knees, hands, and other joints. Over the study period, it occurred most often in the knee, which also led to the highest loss of healthy years of life. The study authors write that the increasing burden could likely be attributed to “population expansion and aging.” But they add that, despite the common understanding that post-menopausal women are at an increased risk of osteoarthritis, “there remains a dearth of research specifically addressing OA in this particular demographic.” Say it with me: More research is needed.
The mixed conservative response to Trump’s health moves
Drastic cuts to the NIH and federally funded research. Executive orders declaring only two genders and seeking to restrict access to gender-affirming care for trans young people. While many on the right are expectedly exultant about the changes President Trump is making across health and science, STAT’s Jason Mast reports that there’s also been unlikely pushback from some conservative circles.
“It’s coming across very chaotic, haphazard,” right-wing conspiracy theorist Paul Alexander said after criticizing Musk’s broad firings in his newsletter. Jeffrey Flier, a former dean of Harvard Medical School who has written extensively against DEI efforts at universities, called Trump’s approach “moronic,” and efforts to scrape through documents for specific language “unsubtle, extreme, and in many ways dangerous.”
For his latest story, Jason spoke to two dozen people who had argued for institutional reform or expressed openness to the Trump administration — and found decidedly mixed emotions about the first six weeks. Read more.
Everybody’s working for the weekend — even surgeons?
People who get a common surgery on a Friday have a significantly higher risk of complications, readmission to the hospital, and death as compared to people who got their operations on a Monday, according to a study published yesterday in JAMA Network Open. People talk broadly about a “weekend effect,” so the study looked at patient data for 25 common surgical procedures done in Ontario, Canada between 2007 and 2019.
People with Friday procedures did worse 30 days, 90 days, and even a year after surgery. It’s an observational study based solely on administrative data, but still. Overall, Friday patients had 5% higher odds of bad outcomes. The findings are consistent with previous research on the weekend effect, the study authors write. They add that the ubiquity of such an effect “speaks to multifactorial causes that persist despite variations in health care structure,” and that systems-level approaches may help to address the disparity.
Five former ACIP chairs are worried
Last week, the FDA cancelled an upcoming vaccine advisory committee meeting to discuss influenza virus strains, committee member Paul Offit told STAT. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which develops recommendations for the CDC on vaccines for infections like the flu, measles, whooping cough, and polio, has been in place since 1964.
“ACIP, at its heart, is a public body that has served a critical role in reviewing the science to keep Americans healthy,” a group of doctors, all of whom are former chairs of the committee, write in a new First Opinion. Read more on why they believe ACIP’s work is so critical — and why they’re worried its mission is at risk.
What we’re reading
- Global freeloading: Americans shouldn’t bear the brunt of drug development costs, STAT
- The horrifying history behind a beloved skin-care ingredient, Teen Vogue
- Judge blocks Trump orders to stop funds for trans youth health providers, New York Times
- FDA scolds drugmaker over promotion that touts ‘misleading’ comparison with generics, STAT
- Trump vowed to end surprise medical bills. The office working on that just got slashed, KFF Health News
