health tech
Where are the big trials on brain implants?
Karis Beaumont for STAT
The path to commercial viability for most medical devices starts with one simple step: establishing therapeutic value. Want to alleviate stroke? Remove blood clots. Treat schizophrenia? Reduce hallucinations. Et cetera. Then, companies conduct clinical trials to demonstrate if a device can achieve that goal better or more safely than alternatives.
None of that applies to brain-computer interfaces. Startups have built devices that, when implanted, help people with ALS and paralysis move, speak, and expand their overall functioning. But the products don't restore bodily function or cure any underlying medical condition. They're more like wheelchairs for the mind, as STAT's O. Rose Broderick puts it, serving as external devices that help perform certain actions.
It's been decades since scientists first demonstrated the potential of brain implants, but the clinical pathway is still out of focus. Read Rose's comprehensive story about the barriers the industry is facing, and how its leaders are attempting to combat them.
face-offs
Would RFK Jr. debate Dr. Mike?
Paul Offit, a renowned vaccine inventor and former CDC adviser, has been asked three times to debate health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., he said yesterday at a webinar hosted by MedPage Today. Offit said he's refused each time — even when offered $50,000.
"I don't think I would be able to sit next to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. I have such enormous disdain for what he does," said Offit, who prefers to organize his thoughts on his Substack. "This is very emotional for me."
The discussion focused on how — if at all — physicians should engage with misinformation. As STAT readers know, Kennedy has led a dramatic overhaul of American vaccine policy, making the country an outlier compared to peer nations.
Mike Varshavski, a family medicine physician and social media influencer, embraces live debate. He's appeared twice in a popular video series by Jubilee Media to talk with vaccine skeptics and Kennedy supporters. And he's up for the challenge of debating Kennedy himself, he said yesterday.
"This isn't about platforming those who are spreading mis- or disinformation. They have the platform, it's called the White House," Varshavski said. "I'd like to take a page out of Secretary Kennedy's handbook and invite him on The Checkup podcast to be a guest, for which I will donate $100,000 to the charity of his choice."
survey says
How Americans feel about chemicals
More than 70% of adults are at least somewhat concerned about harmful chemicals in food and drinking water, according to a new survey of more than 5,300 people from the Pew Charitable Trusts. And 84% of respondents said the government needs to do more "to identify and regulate harmful chemicals found in everyday products" — including the majority of self-identified Republicans, Democrats, and those who declined to give a political affiliation.
The survey was conducted in the fall, but the results come days after Kennedy threw his support behind President Trump's executive order encouraging the use of the controversial herbicide glyphosate, igniting criticism from MAHA types who typically support him. The EPA has found that glyphosate doesn't pose a risk to human health when used appropriately, but for years before joining HHS, Kennedy crusaded against its use.
(For more on glyphosate, keep an eye out for a STAT video later today …)
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