Jason Ukman

Moderna to pay Roivant up to $2.25 billion to settle patent lawsuit behind mRNA vaccines A settlement provides a massive windfall for Arbutus and Roivant and avoids a worst-case scenario for Moderna.

"If the full amount is paid, it will be among the largest patent settlements in history."

www.statnews.com/2026/03/03/m...

Prime Medicine to seek approval for gene editing treatment after two-patient trial Prime Medicine's application will test an FDA that has promised to speed new gene-editing treatments but has recently spurned some.

Prime Medicine, the gene-editing biotech, is going to seek FDA approval for a treatment based on a two-patient trial. Get ready for another test of the agency's professed regulatory flexibility.

via @jasonmast.bsky.social

www.statnews.com/2026/03/03/p...

FDA is ‘not convinced’ UniQure’s Huntington’s therapy has benefit, senior official says The FDA believes that an experimental therapy for Huntington’s disease from UniQure wasn't providing benefit for patients, a senior official told STAT.

NEW from @adamfeuerstein.bsky.social: FDA is ‘not convinced’ UniQure’s Huntington’s therapy has benefit, senior official says

www.statnews.com/2026/03/03/u...

2026 STAT Madness 2026 bracket Welcome to STAT Madness, a bracket-style contest to find the best innovation in science and medicine. Explore groundbreaking innovations from

It's time to VOTE!
#STATMadness is back! Our bracket-style contest to find the best innovation in science and medicine.
Help us crown a new champ! Vote now: www.statnews.com/feature/stat...

Stanley Plotkin, the "godfather of vaccines," devoted so much of his career to the scientific development of vaccines that this was once his license plate. (He's a francophile, thus the French word here, without the "e.")

www.statnews.com/2026/03/02/s...

Trump’s drive to get Europe to pay more for drugs creates uncertainty for countries, patients President Trump's demand that wealthy countries in Europe spend more on drugs so the U.S. can pay less has introduced uncertainty across the continent.

NEW: Trump’s drive to get Europe to pay more for drugs creates uncertainty for countries, patients.

www.statnews.com/2026/03/02/t...

A titan of vaccine development sees his field’s achievements slip away Stanley Plotkin, the 93-year-old "godfather of vaccines," is watching his field’s achievements slip away.

The "godfather of vaccines" is watching his field’s achievements slip away.

www.statnews.com/2026/03/02/s...

Important reporting here.

Can an RFK Jr. action figure help cement the MAHA-MAGA alliance? He’s an action figure. He’s a milk-drinking rave-goer. He’s America’s health secretary.

HHS is drumming up memes + AI-generated versions of RFK Jr. to fuel fervor for his agenda, and they may be finding a sizable MAHA audience. (Not everyone, for a variety of reasons, is a fan.)

New from @chelseacirruzzo.bsky.social @danielpayne.bsky.social

www.statnews.com/2026/02/27/r...

I had a brother with schizophrenia. I can’t stop thinking about Nick Reiner’s siblings When mental illness strikes a family, siblings are often overlooked.

When mental illness strikes a family, siblings are often overlooked. www.statnews.com/2026/02/26/n...

Brain implants: What's standing in the way of pivotal trials, FDA approval Thirty years after scientists demonstrated how brain implants can help rhesus monkeys move robotic limbs using only their mind, the clinical pathway for the technology is still a little out of focus.

Brain-computer interface have tremendous promise for helping people with ALS and paralysis move, speak and more. Why, then, are startups struggling to design clinical trials that will demonstrate benefit to the patient?

www.statnews.com/2026/02/26/b...

FDA Commissioner Marty Makary defends rare disease drug rejections, Vinay Prasad FDA Commissioner Marty Makary defended the agency’s recent rejections of rare disease drugs and one of his deputies, Vinay Prasad, in an interview with CNBC.

The FDA commissioner defends Vinay Prasad, and tanks the stock of a company developing a therapy for Huntington's.

Via @lizzylawrence.bsky.social

www.statnews.com/2026/02/26/m...

Rare disease advocates fume over FDA's mixed signals Families facing rare diseases feel whiplash over shifting and contradictory decisions by the FDA.

Rare disease advocates fume over FDA’s mixed signals

Via @jasonmast.bsky.social

www.statnews.com/2026/02/26/r...

FDA Commissioner Marty Makary has stressed regulatory flexibility to speed the approval of drugs for rare diseases. But a string of rejections has raised questions about the agency's approach.

A rare disease drug was approvable, then it wasn’t. Inside a surprise rejection by the FDA Drugmakers thought they had the FDA's buy-in to approve a therapy to treat a type of cancer that can quickly turn deadly. The agency, however, rejected it.

A rare disease drug that was approved in Europe and that was deemed approvable internally by FDA last year was rejected by the agency last month, @adamfeuerstein.bsky.social reports.

It treats a type of cancer that can occur following transplants and be fatal.

www.statnews.com/2026/02/25/r...

Jeffrey Epstein’s tissue samples ignited a furor in the Harvard lab of George Church Exclusive: Harvard geneticist George Church knew more about Jeffrey Epstein's activities than he has previously said, before accepting new donations from the sex offender.

New: Jeffrey Epstein’s tissue samples ignited a furor in the Harvard lab.

A story of science, controversy, and a sex offender, via @mmolteni.bsky.social

www.statnews.com/2026/02/24/e...

Pharma lobbyists focus on a surprising new target: the FDA Lobbyists told STAT they believe the odds of approval go up if a decision can be spun as a win for the Trump administration.

Seems like the opposite of what RFK claimed was his vision for HHS and will likely pose problems for trust and quality of drug approvals. #healthpolicy

www.statnews.com/2026/02/23/f...

Pharma lobbyists focus on a surprising new target: the FDA Lobbyists told STAT they believe the odds of approval go up if a decision can be spun as a win for the Trump administration.

NEW: Pharma lobbyists are working to influence an agency once thought largely off-limits — the FDA.

How Trump-era politics are being injected into the agency tasked with regulating U.S. medicines:

w/ @lizzylawrence.bsky.social

www.statnews.com/2026/02/23/f...

Biohackers and wellness influencers are pushing nicotine as part of their ‘stacks’ As smoking rates fall in the U.S., startups and influencers are pushing the purported cognitive and health benefits of indulging in nicotine.

Nicotine is getting a reputational makeover as biohackers and wellness influencers embrace it for purported cognitive benefits. Startups are rising to meet the moment, while health experts worry about the consequences:

www.statnews.com/2026/02/20/n...

On ‘The Pitt,’ art catches up with the medical debt crisis Joe Sachs, a physician and executive producer on “The Pitt,” and the CEO of Undue Medical Debt weigh in on the show’s foray into a health care crisis.

On ‘The Pitt,’ art catches up with the medical debt crisis.

www.statnews.com/2026/02/20/t...

UT Regents limit when 'controversial' topics can be discussed at college University of Texas Regents voted unanimously to limit when controversial topics can be discussed at college, but critics say the policy is too vague.

What counts as "controversial" and who exactly gets to decide? Those details to be decided later.

www.statesman.com/news/educati...

How much weight loss is too much? Pharma is pushing the limit with new obesity drugs How much weight loss is too much? Pharma is pushing the limit with new obesity drugs.

Last year, @elaineywchen.bsky.social wrote about this issue as well.

www.statnews.com/2025/02/20/t...

A clinician reports that about 5% of her patients on GLP-1s are "super responders" who lose an astounding 25% to 45% of their body weight.

An issue that calls for public attention, in @statnews.com:

www.statnews.com/2026/02/19/g...

STAT wins fourth Polk Award for reporting on impact of Trump on health STAT has won its fourth Polk Award in five years for documenting the Trump administration’s shakeup of the FDA, scientific research, and public health.

www.statnews.com/2026/02/18/s...

The New York Times Wins 3 Polk Awards

In less impressive work, I appear to have provided a link to a statement about *last year's* winners. Here's a write-up about this year's winners.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/b...

LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY ANNOUNCES 2024 GEORGE POLK AWARDS IN JOURNALISM /PRNewswire/ -- Incisive reports from four areas of bloody conflict — Sudan, the Russian-Ukraine war zone, Israel's West Bank and Haiti — are among 15 winners...

This makes it four Polk Awards for @statnews.com in five years — a credit to an incredibly talented staff.

www.prnewswire.com/news-release...

"Well that didn’t take long." @matthewherper.bsky.social for @statnews.com on why the FDA's abrupt reversal on Moderna's flu vaccine is one more sign of chaos at the agency.

The FDA’s Moderna pirouette is one more sign of chaos at the agency For drugmakers and vaccine developers, an FDA reversal on Moderna's flu vaccine is better than the alternative. But it is also another sign of agency chaos.

Here's @matthewherper.bsky.social on why the FDA’s Moderna "pirouette" is one more sign of chaos at the agency.

www.statnews.com/2026/02/18/m...

At drugmakers' forum, Oz gets a friendly embrace, while Makary faces tough questions Two of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s top lieutenants struck decidedly different tones at a forum held Tuesday by the pharmaceutical industry group PhRMA.

Good cop, bad cop?

@lizzylawrence.bsky.social and @danielpayne.bsky.social — neither a cop — checked out Oz and Makary as they addressed pharma executives and lobbyists today in Washington.

www.statnews.com/2026/02/17/p...

Tracking RFK Jr.’s promises to remake health in America STAT introduces a goals and promises tracker for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again movement — successes, incompletes, and fails.

It's been a year since Kennedy became health secretary. What has he accomplished? We updated our tracker: www.statnews.com/2025/09/10/r...