Big headaches await the next CDC director

Adobe

Of course, that assumes the Trump administration will be able to find somebody to take on the role — something that public health experts have said for a while would be a Herculean task. And the need for mythic strength won't stop at nomination, or even confirmation. STAT's Helen Branswell writes this morning about the immediate and enormous challenges awaiting whoever takes over the CDC.

There's the angry, distrusting career staff. There's the decision they'll have to make about whether or not to take a stand on vaccines. And of course, the future director will have to convince all of us that they are actually the one calling the shots at the agency. Read more from Helen on how things could play out, and what it might take to repair the credibility of an agency in tatters.

politics

Meetings, meetings, meetings

STAT's Daniel Payne wrote two stories on Friday based on details from meetings with federal officials, lawmakers, and the White House:

In a briefing for U.S. senators, FDA officials shared that, for the rest of the year, they're planning to focus on issues like infant formula safety, updating food labels, defining ultra-processed foods, and more. Read more on what's ahead and what it could mean for the midterms.

Meanwhile, at the White House, officials have drafted legislative text for a drug pricing policy, and they're in the process of sharing it with more than a dozen major pharmaceutical companies, according to people familiar with the meetings. Read more on Trump's effort to rein in drug prices as part of his election-year focus on affordability.

public health

Raw dairy co. refutes connection to E. coli outbreak

Speaking of the FDA and food regulation — nine people have come down with the bacterial infection E. coli in recent months. The FDA interviewed eight of those people, who all said they got sick after drinking raw milk or eating raw cheddar cheese. Seven also knew the brand of product they'd consumed: Raw Farm. Three people have been hospitalized and more than half of all the illnesses are in children under the age of five.

An FDA update released last week noted that the agency has initiated an onsite inspection at the company, and that it isn't aware of any recent positive E. coli tests of the products. On Instagram the same day, the Raw Farm account phrased things differently. "It's official: 100% of the results are negative. No positives at retail from our sampling or the government sampling," Aaron McAfee, the company's president, said in a video. Raw Farm has continued to sell and promote its products, while amplifying its defenders on social media. Another company post earlier in the investigation stated that "we 100% disagree with the FDA's false 'possible link' and extreme allegations."

a stat examination

Health care giants are trimming jobs

Camille MacMillin/STAT

In recent years, the American workforce has grown in large part due to the health care industry. But a new analysis from STAT's Bob Herman shows that large, for-profit health care companies have not been driving that job growth. For example: The eight largest publicly traded health insurers — many of which also own medical clinics, pharmacies, and other non-insurance businesses — collectively shed 20,000 jobs in 2025.

Bob analyzed the number of employees listed in the annual filings of 50 of the largest publicly traded health care companies. Overall, there's a lot of variance by sector, but muted total job growth. "Health insurance is just designed for AI," economist Dean Baker said. "I have to think we're going to see some serious job loss in that sector in the next three, four, five years." Read more.

circling back

The Lancet withdraws an influential article on talc

The list of ways you might interact with talc, a clay mineral, is long. It's in makeup, candy, and any medications in tablet form. That's not inherently risky — talc is safe to consume. But asbestos, a known carcinogen, is a geological next-door neighbor to talc and can easily contaminate talc products. The FDA first considered regulations to limit asbestos in cosmetic talc products in the 1970s, but industry influence has continually kicked the can down the road.

Last week, academic journal The Lancet retracted a 1977 article that had been used to combat regulation. It turns out the original piece, published without attribution, was written by a paid consultant for Johnson & Johnson. "There is no reason to believe that normal consumer exposure to cosmetic talc has in the past led either to cancer at any site," the author wrote. J&J is now known to have spent decades concealing the presence of asbestos in its baby powder products.

"This unsigned commentary has been used to justify the continued marketing of cosmetic talc for nearly half a century," two researchers wrote, noting that the company cited the paper as a defense in lawsuits brought by people who developed cancers. Lancet editors thanked the researchers for bringing the conflict of interest to their attention, and said they believed that staff at the time were unaware of the consultant's affiliation.

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What we're reading

The ghosts of Al-Shifa Hospital, Wired
Research points to how companies could make social media less addictive for teens, NPR
First Opinion: Remembering public health pioneer Barry Bloom: a scientist, a mentor, a mensch, STAT
Bring me bimagrumab, London Review of Books
First Opinion: Washington is on the verge of true PBM reform, STAT