Trump to deploy 'most-favored nation' executive order

President Trump confirmed late yesterday that he would revive a "most-favored nation" drug pricing policy, aiming to tie U.S. prices to those in other countries.

As STAT's John Wilkerson and Daniel Payne noted Friday — before reports of a coming executive order had been confirmed — the policy would be an aggressive cost-cutting measure that could roil the pharmaceutical industry, and energize Trump's base. But it's still unclear what mechanism the administration will use — and whether it could survive legal scrutiny.

The executive order is expected to be rolled out today.

For background: The White House had earlier asked Republicans in Congress to include the most-favored nation policy in a budget reconciliation bill that they're using to try to pass Trump's tax cuts. House Republicans shot down the notion, though, and are instead aiming to cut Medicaid funding to help offset the increased deficit spending from tax cuts.

Elsewhere in politics, the U.S. and China have agreed to significantly cut tariffs for 90 days, offering a reprieve for drug companies and medical device manufacturers that rely on raw ingredients from China. Still, the drug industry is bracing for the possibility of Trump to impose pharmaceutical tariffs.

venture capital

Lux Capital's $100M spin on luring U.S. scientists

Venture firm Lux Capital says it's earmarked $100 million "to support American scientists facing funding cuts" with its new Lux Science Helpline — an extension of its Lux Labs initiative. Citing China's burgeoning edge in bioscience, Lux is luring scientists burnt by "America's self-sabotage plan" meant to "starve young investigators of funding," as they put it.

"We're offering both counsel and capital to scientists at crossroads. Maybe your grant got cut, your visa didn't renew, or your groundbreaking research is too early for traditional funding," they write on X.

The language is bathed in altruism, but it's also a venture capital play — in which Lux gets first dibs on lucrative scientific IP.

china

China welcoming scientists alienated in the U.S.

Sweeping NIH cuts and resurgent anti-China rhetoric are prompting Chinese and Chinese-America researchers to question whether the U.S. remains a hospitable place to build scientific careers. That, STAT contributor Brian Yang writes, could shift the balance in global scientific innovation, as well as in the biopharma industry.

A Stanford University study found that 61% of U.S.-based scientists of Chinese descent have considered leaving the country, while 45% said they were reluctant to apply for federal grants.

"We need to ask ourselves, is the next 'golden era' of biomedical research going to be in the U.S., or is it going to be in China, or Europe, or elsewhere?" said Sudip Parikh, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. "Who will make the discoveries and who will set the standard governing how science is conducted?"

covid-19

U.S. may shift Covid vaccinations recommendations

Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his lieutenants have sent multiple signals in recent weeks that they envisage a world in which far fewer people are urged to get Covid-19 shots each fall. It is a vision that they seem likely to try to realize. But others have actually started that process.

A CDC advisory panel is expected to vote in June on scaling back the current guidance, aligning U.S. policy with countries like that U.K. and Canada, STAT's Helen Branswell writes.

"I think [a universal recommendation] was a good decision in 2021, 2022, but I think the situation has changed now," said Ben Cowling, chair of epidemiology at Hong Kong University. "There's a lot more natural immunity about."