Mark Fleury

Peanut Allergies Have Plummeted in Children, Study Shows

The thing about science is that sometimes you get it wrong the first time, but the scientific process is unending, so there is still time to get it right. The fact that our understanding of science isn't perfect is not reason to abandon it. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/w...

I love the fact that a Nobel prizewinner was the last to learn of his award because he was hiking...https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/health/nobel-prize-medicine-fred-ramsdell.html

It is not enough for a trial to exists somewhere in the U.S., it also needs to be close enough for patients to access, and for many Americans there is little easy access to research participation.

Opinion | Six surgeons general: It’s our duty to warn the nation about RFK Jr. We took an oath to declare dangers when we found them. We’re doing that again today.

Unprecedented that six former surgeon generals appointed by presidents of both parties unite to denounce RFK Jr. and call out the danger he poses to public health. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

The NCI "bypass" budget is an unfiltered view of what could really move the needle in cancer research. The latest requests more money to get trial infrastructure into communities and rural areas, and seeks to offset lost grants due to forward-funding policies. www.cancer.gov/research/lea...

Assessing Populations with Access to National Cancer Institute-Funded Sites Using Local Distance-based Service Areas « News# « Cambridge Core Blog Cancer is the second-leading cause of death in the U.S., but thanks in part to research, cancer mortality has dropped by more than a third over the past three decades. That research is founded on will...

The solution? Spread NCI funding out to more community and rural site to boost infrastructure to conduct research. Read our blog summary of the paper here: www.cambridge.org/core/blog/20...

Giving everyone in the US with cancer a chance to take part in research can be made difficult by distance. We analyzed who does and doesn't have access to NCI funded sites and found nearly 38% would have to drive over 50 miles, and almost 17% over 100 miles. resolve.cambridge.org/core/journal...

I would have never guessed that NIH would get the money spent, but apparently they will. While a small victory, remember this was done by forward funding lots of grants meaning fewer grants and less research being done. To some degree this is a short-term accounting trick.

Thrilled to see the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously advance the #GiveKidsAChanceAct. Thank you for your leadership on behalf of children with cancer. We urge the full House to pass this bill without delay. #ChildhoodCancerAwarenessMonth www.fightcancer.org/policy-resou...

Community Support Letter for Give Kids A Chance ACS CAN has endorsed the Give Kids A Chance bill and has joined the Alliance for Childhood Cancer in calling on Congress to pass this legislation. The bill would restore import incentives to developin...

A step forward today for H.R. 1262 Give Kids A Chance Act. Approved unanimously by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. www.fightcancer.org/policy-resou...

He Built Michigan's Medicaid Work Requirement System. Now He's Warning Other States. - KFF Health News Michigan’s former top health official spent a year and $30 million building a system to implement work requirements for Medicaid recipients. The difficulties he encountered have him worried about 40 s...

Medicaid work verification programs are costly and kick off lots of people who shouldn't be kicked off. That is a feature not a bug... kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

Voters should pick their representatives rather than representatives picking their voters.

Nice companion piece to ours, this one surveying providers about PGx: www.gimjournal.org/article/S109...

Views Toward Pharmacogenomic Testing Among Patients With Cancer This survey study assesses views and understanding of pharmacogenomic testing among patients with cancer and cancer survivors.

Patients want and deserve to know about testing that may make their treatment safer and more effective. A survey of cancer patients show low awareness of #pharmacogenomic (PGx) testing, but a strong desire to have it once they understand it. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

I predicted whiplash but I wouldn't have predicted this... www.politico.com/news/2025/08...

Trump administration violated impoundment law by canceling NIH grants, slowing new awards, GAO finds The Government Accountability Office found that the Trump administration, by abruptly canceling NIH grants, had violated a 1974 federal law

GAO saying out loud what has been obvious. This administration is impounding funds meant for research. www.statnews.com/2025/08/05/g...

Can't help but think that this is not the last whiplash we'll see as these competing philosophies duke it out within the same administration.

Top FDA vaccine regulator under Trump ousted amid conservative criticism Vinay Prasad, a prominent critic of covid vaccine policy, was ousted as the FDA’s top regulator of vaccines and gene therapies, according to two people familiar with the situation.

Ouster of Vinay Prasad at FDA underscores the clear tension in this FDA administration between traditional conservative desires for FDA to be more relaxed about letting drugs on the market and RFK's mantra that drugs are the problem and we need fewer of them. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

U.S. Senator Katie Britt Leads Republican Colleagues in Advocating for Critical NIH Research Funding - Senator Katie Britt WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS), led 13 of her...

Spend the money! Sen. Britt leads a letter of 14 republican senators asking the administration to get NIH money granted per the budget. Thank you for your attention to this matter! www.britt.senate.gov/news/press-r...

Have you been impacted by #cancer?

Please take ACS CAN's latest Survivor Views survey, which explores issues like cancer treatments and how they come to market, drug shortages, new therapies, and what role AI should play.

➡️ Sign up today: americancancersociety.allegiancetech.com/cgi-bin/qweb...

Using "industry influence" as cover to fire entire advisory boards because of supposed conflict of interest has just been cover to install people with perhaps even stronger biases that RFK Jr. happens to share. Not all conflicts of interest are financial.

If you want someone with drug development experience, you look either to industry or FDA. That is why I've always found "revolving door" accusations to be not well thought out. If you're in FDA and decide a lifetime there is not for you, where else do you take your experience? Same in inverse.

New head of FDA drug center is a biotech veteran and an outspoken critic of the academic establishment The FDA named George Tidmarsh, who has led a number of biotech companies, to be its top drug regulator.

After bashing FDA as a "sock puppet" of industry and firing entire advisory boards because of supposed industry influence. Who does RFK Jr. hire as top drug regulator? A pharma industry CEO. Reality very different than rhetoric. www.statnews.com/2025/07/21/g...

Republicans Call Medicaid Rife With Fraudsters. This Man Sees No Choice but To Break the Rules. - KFF Health News Congressional Republicans successfully pushed to add hurdles to qualify for Medicaid by saying they would eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse. This is the story of a Montana man who explains why he said...

Here’s the story of a man who said he had to break Medicaid rules, putting him at odds with Republicans who added hurdles to qualify for the health insurance program they say is rife with waste, fraud, and abuse.
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

CBO estimates that a 10% reduction in NIH funding would start a slow decay in drug development that two decades from now would mean 10 fewer drugs developed to treat diseases. This administration is proposing a 40% cut. www.cbo.gov/system/files...

"When is cancer political?" Medical researchers, patients decry Trump admin's layoffs, budget cuts Scientists conducting medical research are facing an existential crisis: Layoffs and budget cuts pushed by President Trump that, they say, jeopardize finding a cure for cancer.

This morning’s @cbssundaymorning.bsky.social story is a reminder of what’s at stake when cancer research funding is at risk. Top researchers are speaking out. “This is the first time I’ve felt an existential crisis in our ability to make progress.” - Dr. George Weiner
www.cbsnews.com/news/when-is...

Thrilled to see ACS CAN volunteers on #CapitolHill today! Our cancer advocates attended the Senate Appropriations LHHS Subcommittee hearing to support the critical need for #CancerResearch funding for the National Institutes of Health. This is key to ending cancer as we know it, for everyone. (1/2)

Two Patients Faced Chemo. The One Who Survived Demanded a Test To See if It Was Safe. - KFF Health News Worried that President Donald Trump’s FDA might not act, a panel of cancer experts recommended that doctors consider testing before dosing patients with a commonly used but sometimes deadly cancer dru...

Patients want--and deserve--to know about risks of their treatments and how they can be mitigated. Anything other than informed consent is paternalistic and unethical. kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

Future Cancer Cures in Jeopardy as President Proposes Massive Cuts to National Cancer Institute WASHINGTON, D.C. –  Today, the president released his final proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2026 which contains $4.531 billion for the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

Today POTUS released his final proposed budget for FY26, which slices 25.2% from #HHS, including approx.:

• 37.2% cut to #NCI
• 40.4% cut to #NIH
• 53.3% cut to #CDC

This will not only stall scientific breakthroughs but impact our ability to combat the rising incidence of #cancer nationwide. (1/2)

Pursuing Fair and Just Compensation for Research Participants: An Open Letter to the Research Ethics Community Published in The American Journal of Bioethics (Ahead of Print, 2025)

Open letter from dozens of IRB professionals calling for more financial support for #clinicaltrial participants. "IRBs/RECs must be more cognizant of the negative effects of low compensation." www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....