Rowan Walrath

#pharmatariffs

"within the next week or so"

August 5

www.wsj.com/livecoverage...

I am guessing this is the case, too, and working on a story! Would love to hear people's thoughts -- please DM/email me if you want to chat about your reactions.

Is there a market for new COVID-19 drugs? Waning interest in the virus has drugmakers trying for new angles

This is one answer to a question I posed in a feature in March: Is there a market for new COVID-19 drugs? cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic...

AstraZeneca quietly shelves COVID-19 preventive The company will not pursue FDA approval for sipavibart

AstraZeneca has quietly elected not to move forward with a COVID-19 preventive in the US, despite approvals in other parts of the world, after resistance emerged in a late-stage clinical trial.
cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic... @cenmag.bsky.social

Wow. Almost avalanche-esque

The Trump Admin's May executive order on drug pricing laid out several regulatory actions the Admin planned to take if "significant progress" toward MFN pricing was not achieved voluntarily. One (but not the only) way to read these letters is as an extension of time for such voluntary progress. /1

Inside the fall of Vinay Prasad at the FDA Prasad's departure followed a campaign by a right-wing activist and a controversy over a rare disease drug.

Inside the fall of Vinay Prasad at the FDA
A powerful and extremely online regulator ran out of friends when it mattered most.
www.statnews.com/2025/07/30/v...

Maybe AI isn’t ready for primetime yet In this edition of AI Prognosis: Uses of AI at Genentech, the FDA, and in the UK NHS, as well as Trump's 'woke AI' order.

In this week's newsletter, we talk about

• an AI misdiagnosing a NHS patient
• an unfortunate use of ChatGPT at Genentech
• the FDA's Elsa AI troubles
• @statnews.com's own #AI misadventures

Plus: A tale of my 2003 trip to the Mall of America:
🖥️🩺
www.statnews.com/2025/07/30/m...

The plot against vaccines Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his allies have hit on a way to undermine immunization.

Read more here about the plot against vaccines he’s carrying out quite publicly: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

a little girl is making a funny face with bats in the background . Alt: a little girl is making a funny face with bats in the background. She's saying, "It's frickin' bats. I love Halloween."

IT'S FRICKIN BATS. My colleague @sarahbraner.bsky.social with a story on attempts to study how bats' bodily systems keep them from getting sick from the viruses they store -- and how those findings might help us humans cen.acs.org/biological-c... @cenmag.bsky.social

Big move from Alzheimer's Association. I previewed this last year for @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/analytical-c...

FDA developing new flu vaccine framework to tackle 'problems,' senior official says FDA developing new flu vaccine framework to address strain selection and efficacy issues. FDA official hints at regulatory action on Valneva's Ixchiq chikungunya vaccine due to safety concerns.

I had a feeling something was going to happen late today... I I just thought it was going to be Sarepta related not flu related....

endpoints.news/fda-developi...

First Pill for Postpartum Depression Shows Varied Real-World Results

For our story about the first pill for postpartum depression, several women generously and courageously shared their experiences with this complex and challenging illness. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/h...

Berlin Cures’ failed Long COVID clinical trial yields lessons on study design - The Sick Times After advertising a potential Long COVID “cure” in its novel drug, called BC 007 (rovunaptabin), the German start-up Berlin Cures abruptly concluded its phase II clinical trial with a brief press rele...

Today @thesicktimes.bsky.social & @statnews.com: A deep-dive on BC 007, the German drug that many people with Long COVID closely followed -- only to learn its phase II trial failed with a brief press release. But the drug still has a future. (1/8)
thesicktimes.org/2025/07/22/b...

This has been lingering in the back of my brain. It's a great point. I think it also deserves the context that -- at least as of September last year -- Vinay Prasad does not believe that Long COVID is real. x.com/VPrasadMDMPH...

Top F.D.A. Official Overrode Scientists on Covid Shots

Top F.D.A. Official Overrode Scientists on Covid Shots. My comments with Christina Jewett @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/h...

Senate votes to cut $930 billion from Medicaid "This bill is about caviar over kids and hedge funds over health care."

New from me at @motherjones.com: the Senate just voted to take $930 billion from Medicaid, which could greatly impact optional Medicaid expansion and also lead to cuts of "optional" Medicaid benefits...which keep people functional. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

HHS layoffs were likely unlawful and must be halted, US judge says A federal judge says that recent layoffs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services were likely unlawful and must be halted. U.S.

apnews.com/article/trum...

"We’re back to tracking hurricanes like it’s 1999.
Except this isn’t a party. And people could die."
www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/j...

10 years after winning marriage equality, Jim Obergefell wants to aim higher The Ohio man reflects on the case that rewrote his life — and how much further the fight for LGBTQ+ rights must go.

“If we weren’t willing to fight for each other and for what was right, then what’s the point?” 19thnews.org/2025/06/jim-...

NIH grant cuts will axe clinical trials abroad — and could leave thousands without care US agency’s new policy could abruptly end studies of infectious diseases and cancer, leaving researchers scrambling for funds.

NIH director Jay Bhattacharya posted on X: "No clinical trial has been delayed, nor has any participant been dropped from clinical trial. These are the facts."

Malaria, tuberculosis, cancer trials abroad have all been on the chopping block, leaving participants stranded, I reported in this story.

Critical Hurricane Forecast Tool Abruptly Terminated U.S. Department of Defense announced Tuesday it would no longer process and deliver data essential to most hurricane forecasts

A huge blow was dealt to hurricane forecasters this week as a critical tool was abruptly terminated by the Department of Defense and NOAA. The immediate discontinuation of data from three weather satellites will severely impact hurricane forecasts this season and beyond. More ⬇️

Slide titled, "Long COVID is a significant public health threat." Further text on the slide reports data from 2023 surveys, showing that about 9.2 million adults and 0.3 million children in the U.S. had Long COVID.

I'm watching the COVID-19 section of today's CDC ACIP meeting. Dr. Adam MacNeil, presenting CDC analysis of COVID-19's continued burden on the U.S., acknowledged Long COVID as a significant health threat -- but used prevalence estimates that I'd consider pretty low compared to more up-to-date data.

Pretty interesting to see #CDC post pre-buttals on thimerosal in vaccines & the MMRV vaccine in advance of this week's #ACIP meeting, where the new committee appears intent on reopening debate on settled science. www.cdc.gov/acip/meeting...

Executives, investors stick to basics at BIO 2025 Years into a biotech downturn, conference-goers focus on smaller deals

My wrap-up from the conference in @cenmag.bsky.social: cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic...

In some ways it's refreshing, says Treehill Partners CEO Ali Pashazadeh.

“The nice thing is if the market is tougher, people just cut the shit,” Pashazadeh says. “They just get to the point. Is there a deal here? Is this what we want to do? Let's stop dancing.”

If executives were looking to make deals at hashtag#BIO2025, those transactions were largely limited to licensing agreements. If they were looking to raise funds, they openly acknowledged the difficulty of getting venture capital these days.

This week, attendees at the conference—sponsored by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization—struck a markedly different tone. Few spoke of mergers and acquisitions, nor did they try to spin the multiyear biotech market downturn into a positive.

One year ago, biopharmaceutical executives and investors at the BIO International Convention were abuzz with talk of a return to the glory days when companies were regularly acquired for billions of dollars a pop. 🧵

vinay prasad now not only cber head but fda cmo and chief scientific officer per email to fda staff.