special report
NIH falls silent as eugenic ideas spread
NIH/NHGRI
The National Human Genome Research Institute is the NIH’s only institute dedicated not to an organ or a disease, but to a molecule. And not just any molecule. DNA represents our fascination with the questions of how, and why, humans differ. Because of that, modern geneticists have also been forced to confront how their work has at times perpetuated scientific racism and the myth of race as a biological category. At NHGRI, that work was happening. Then its staff was gutted.
“Being willfully neglectful of preserving the past is just insane to me, as a historian and as somebody that values the preservation of that kind of data and information,” said Zach Utz, who served as the archivist at NHGRI from 2018 until he was laid off in April.
In the ninth installment of American Science, Shattered, STAT’s Megan Molteni and Anil Oza present a case study of the Trump administration’s efforts to eviscerate subject matter expertise and throttle public information-sharing at the NIH. It’s based on interviews with 10 former and five current agency employees, along with more than 100 internal NIH emails, memos, and other documents. Read the story.
health
Why are employers dropping coverage for weight loss drugs?
Experts who spoke to STAT’s Elaine Chen say they’re increasingly hearing about companies cutting blockbuster weight loss drugs out of health plans for next year. The growth of direct-to-consumer cash offerings from the drugs’ manufacturers, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, may play a role in this shift.
HCA Healthcare, one of the largest hospital systems in the U.S., recently told employees it would stop covering the drugs, pointing them to that alternative. To Craig Garthwaite, director of health care at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, this read as: “‘I’m gonna direct you to this manufacturer plan, because for me as a company, that’s a lot cheaper than me buying you the drug.’” Read more from Elaine about where this leaves workers.
And in the meantime: More than three dozen state attorneys general are urging Meta to better enforce its policies to thwart a “surge of misleading” pharmaceutical and wellness ads for weight loss drugs on Instagram and Facebook.
first opinion
New York Giants doc calls out regenerative medicine
As head team physician for the New York Giants, Scott Rodeo is regularly asked by athletes about the “breakthrough” stem cell treatments they’ve seen promoted at offshore clinics in Panama, Colombia, and other countries. It sounds like the future of medicine people have long dreamed about, but in a new First Opinion essay, Rodeo brings a dose of reality to the conversation. He’s seen the harm that can come after “miracle injections” or an expensive trip abroad for “next generation cell therapies.”
“As an orthopedic surgeon and researcher, I have to say what the ads won’t,” Rodeo writes. “Regenerative medicine isn’t there yet.” Read more on what he makes of the “Wild West atmosphere” around attempts at regulating these clinics.
