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Bill Cassidy Contends With MAHA in Washington and Louisiana
Sen. Bill Cassidy’s advocacy for vaccines and his résumé as a doctor have defined his political career. Now, those credentials are putting his Senate future in peril as Cassidy, R-La., prepares for the most difficult primary of his life Saturday.
Members of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement — a separate but overlapping wing of the MAGA movement that fully fused with President Donald Trump’s coalition in 2024 — have been working hard to take Cassidy down and install Trump-backed Rep. Julia Letlow as the Republican nominee for the Senate in deep-red Louisiana.
Cassidy was the key vote to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist, as health and human services secretary. But since then, Cassidy, a physician who is pro-vaccine, has found himself in conflict with Kennedy and his allies, including months of clashes with Kennedy over his vaccine skepticism and his actions at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Top Kennedy Spokesman Resigns in Protest of Move to Allow Flavored Vapes
The chief spokesman for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. resigned on Wednesday in protest over the administration’s push to allow major tobacco companies to begin selling flavored vapes that appeal to children. His departure came one day after the head of the Food and Drug Administration quit for the same reason.
In a letter to Mr. Trump, obtained by The New York Times, the spokesman, Rich Danker, did not blame the president, whom he said had “twice restored our prosperity and national security against all odds.” But he warned that authorizing flavored e-cigarettes would draw more children into vaping and increase their risk for a number of health issues, from addiction to cancer.
The letter cited unnamed “senior H.H.S. officials,” other than Mr. Kennedy, who were behind steps including a new policy posted on the F.D.A. website on Friday, in which the agency said it would take steps to remove illicit e-cigarettes from the market and allow sales of those that have already crossed hurdles toward agency approval.
Dr. Marty Makary, the F.D.A. commissioner, who resigned on Tuesday, sought to block the marketing of flavored e-cigarettes, but was overruled. Mr. Trump was personally involved advancing it. In his letter, Mr. Danker did not name Dr. Makary, but he echoed Dr. Makary’s objections.
What the Trump Administration Wants in Its Next FDA Leader
The Trump administration is moving quickly to identify the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration after the resignation of Marty Makary on Tuesday, with an eye for someone who can rebuild trust with agency staff, focus on the agency’s food policy, and continue to drive drug-approval reforms. Administration leaders hope to conduct the search over “the next several weeks,” according to an official with knowledge of the process, granted anonymity to speak candidly.
Despite chatter among lobbyists about who is in contention, there’s currently no short list of candidates, the official said. Despite the urgency, the process will take a while. The Senate is in session for only so many days, and the administration also needs to confirm Erica Schwartz, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention nominee, and Nicole Saphier, the surgeon general nominee. It’s possible Kyle Diamantas, formerly in charge of the FDA’s food center, will still be acting commissioner when the midterms arrive in November.
“The White House is conducting a thorough but expeditious search process for a permanent FDA Commissioner who can implement President Trump’s agenda to accelerate innovation and Make America Healthy Again,” administration spokesperson Kush Desai said.
Trump’s Rollback of Toxic Gas Rules Limits EPA’s Authority to Protect Public Health, Analysis Says
A new Trump administration plan to rescind 2024 regulations for toxic ethylene oxide (EtO) pollution more broadly aims to limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to strengthen public health protections around hazardous emissions and could result in more of the toxin being released into the air.
Recent research has found EtO is about 60 times more carcinogenic than thought when the last regulations were developed in 2006. In 2024, the Biden EPA passed a rule that strengthened the regulations to reflect the updated science, and required the nation’s EtO emitters to collectively cut their emissions by about 90%.
A new Harvard analysis details the administration’s case, which would limit the EPA’s ability to strengthen regulations when it determines hazardous air pollutants are more dangerous than previously thought.
FDA Puts Injection Therapy COYA 302 on Fast Track for Treating ALS
COYA 302, Coya Therapeutics’ investigational therapy for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) — shown in an early clinical trial to slow disease progression in a small number of patients — has been awarded fast track status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
That designation is intended to accelerate the development and review of therapies for serious conditions with unmet medical needs. It allows for more frequent interactions with the FDA throughout a drug’s development, and may make COYA 302 eligible for a rolling review and accelerated approval if data from ongoing and future studies support a marketing application. The goal of such status, Coya noted in a company press release, is to help promising therapies reach patients more quickly.
“We are pleased to announce that COYA 302 has received FDA Fast Track designation for the treatment of ALS,” said Arun Swaminathan, PhD, Coya’s CEO. “This recognition underscores the devastating nature of ALS and the urgent need for new therapies.”
