tobacco
It's not us, it's you
A popular Chinese vape company called Elf Bar says it plans to donate thousands of dollars to the American Cancer Society to help stop youth vaping. The Cancer Society says please, don't.
The organization recently sent a cease-and-desist letter to Elf Bar demanding that the vape company stop implying that they're working together, STAT's Nick Florko reports. Elf had just last month announced a web program that would give a small amount to the cancer group for every click on a website button. In a since-deleted press release, Elf promised the campaign would put over $10,000 towards preventing youth vaping.
While teen e-cigarette use has declined during the pandemic and amid federal actions to remove flavored vapes from shelves, youth vaping still reversed decades of falling tobacco use in the U.S. Disposable vapes like Elf's — which include flavors like cola, cotton candy and "watermelon jolly" — have become an increasingly popular avenue for swerving flavor bans and federal regulators. Read more from Nick.
on the hill
Senator interrogates hospital system after major cuts and closures
Wisconsin Democrat Tammy Baldwin on Monday demanded that Catholic health system Ascension, which runs more than 2,600 sites including 33 in her state, explain service cuts and a Milwaukee maternal health ward's closure amid billions in private equity investments and questions about its business model reported on by closely by STAT's Rachel Cohrs and Bob Herman.
Baldwin wrote a letter to Ascension CEO Joseph Impicciche citing reporting from Rachel and interrogating the company on recent investments, fees charged to Wisconsin hospitals, and compensation details for top execs.
As a not-for-profit and tax-exempt system, Ascension is required to focus on charitable benefits rather than its bottom line, Baldwin argued. Instead, she noted, CEO Elizabeth Foshage recently touted the systems $18 billion in cash and investments at the J.P. Morgan Health Care conference (also reported by STAT). The senator also took a shot at Ascension's investment portfolio, noting the group lost more than $700 million in the latest reported quarter.
industry
Generic drugmakers — reaping what they don't sow?
The generic drug industry lobbied hard against the Biden administration's plan to let Medicare negotiate certain drug prices, arguably because it meant their companies weren't doing enough to keep costs down.
But the new law may not be so bad for the industry, my colleague John Wilkerson writes. The law, several provisions of which are "quite helpful," a generic drug lobbyist said, could end up giving generics a boost.
Why's that? Since the new law exempts drugs with competitors from Medicare negotiation, it might actually be more advantageous for a brand drugmaker to allow a generic company to copy its product, rather than try to ward it off. Of course, the new law also squeezed in measures to push doctors and insurers towards generic and biosimilars options too. Read more on the industry's calculus from John.
ALEX HOGAN/STAT
No comments