As countries resume final negotiations on Monday for a landmark pandemic agreement intended to help prevent and rapidly respond to the next inevitable pandemic, I’m getting a sense of déjà vu. Why? The draft text has watered down intellectual property (IP) obligations in an attempt to achieve compromise on this issue. Diluting international obligations...

“Former HHS secretaries: Congress should adopt site-neutral payments for health care,” by Alex Azar and Kathleen G. Sebelius As a practicing oncologist, I wholeheartedly agree with the former HHS secretaries’ call to expand site-neutral payment policy. It is a commonsense reform, independent of one’s political leanings.Read the rest…

New federal rules aimed at limiting the spread of the H5N1 bird flu virus among dairy cattle go into effect Monday, but detailed guidance documents released Friday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture reveal its mandatory testing order is less stringent than initially described. While that is easing concerns from farmers and veterinarians about the...

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is walking away from a plan to permanently bar menthol cigarettes, for now. Regulators had already pushed back the ban several times amid concerns that it would unfairly target Black smokers and potentially alienate voters. Yet the regulation is heavily backed by public health groups and a number of federal health...

WASHINGTON — A House committee next month plans to mark up legislation that would restrict U.S. biotechnology companies from doing business with a Chinese company that makes key drug ingredients, according to five lobbyists tracking the BIOSECURE Act. The goal is for the House to pass the bill before the July 4 recess, setting it up to be included in...

MultiPlan is facing a new class action lawsuit that alleges the company and large health insurers “conspired to fix, suppress, and stabilize” payments made for out-of-network medical claims. The lawsuit, filed by for-profit hospital company Allegiance Health Management, builds on the contentious relationship between hospitals and MultiPlan, a data...