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MAHA to Reveal Plan on Kids’ Chronic Diseases
The Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) commission is set to release its much-awaited report this week that should shed light on its strategy to combat the chronic disease epidemic among American children.
The report, to be released Thursday, is expected to identify the key drivers of chronic childhood illness, such as asthma and autoimmune diseases, in the U.S. It could indicate how U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. might shift key health policy and research focuses within the nation’s health agencies as he seeks to further his MAHA agenda.
Background: President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing the MAHA commission in February, just after Kennedy was confirmed as U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary. The commission’s goals align with Kennedy’s MAHA agenda: identifying and addressing the root causes of chronic health issues and ending childhood chronic disease.
MAHA Institute, RFK Jr. Allies Seek Greater Influence in Federal Health Agencies
A new group, known as the MAHA Institute, is riding a wave of disdain toward big industry to enact change in federal policy. Under the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) banner, the coalition of leaders attacked the scientific and governmental establishments during its launch event Thursday. The group framed itself as staunchly anti-institution and anti-corporation — and anyone who stands in their way to enact the change they desire.
“Wow, we’ve come a long way,” said Mary Holland, CEO of Children’s Health Defense — the nonprofit founded by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and known for its highly controversial vaccine-challenging views.
A pre-event announcement showed federal agencies like the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes for Health were invited to attend. Senator Roger Marshall, R-Kan., a member of the MAHA Caucus in Congress, was also invited but did not speak during the opening remarks.
Energized by Kennedy, Texas ‘Mad Moms’ Are Chipping Away at Vaccine Mandates
Rebecca Hardy and Michelle Evans helped found Texans for Vaccine Choice with a group of like-minded women in 2015, as measles was spreading in California. They defeated legislation tightening Texas school vaccine requirements, and helped oust the lawmaker who wrote it, earning a catchy nickname: “mad moms in minivans.”
Now, as a measles outbreak that began in West Texas spreads to other parts of the country, the “mad moms” have a slew of new allies. The 2024 elections ushered in a wave of freshman Republicans who back their goal of making all vaccinations voluntary. But no ally may be as influential as the one they gained in Washington: Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s most prominent vaccine skeptic.
More than five dozen vaccine-related bills have been introduced in the Texas Legislature this year. Last week, the Texas House passed three of them. Those bills would make it easier for parents to exempt their children from school requirements; effectively bar vaccine makers from advertising in Texas; and prevent doctors from denying an organ transplant to people who are unvaccinated.
The Association of Immunization Managers, a national organization of state and local immunization officials, is tracking 545 vaccine-related bills in state legislatures around the country, 180 more than last year — evidence, the group’s leaders say, that Mr. Kennedy is changing the national conversation. After peaking at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, the number of vaccine-related bills had come down in recent years.
FDA to Speed up U.S. Food Chemical Reviews, Add Three to Investigation List
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced Friday the launch of an updated systematic review process for chemicals already in the American food supply. As part of the process, the agency will expedite the analyses of chemicals already under review, including phthalates, propylparaben, and titanium dioxide. It will also add more chemicals, including BHA, BHT, and ADA to the review list and institute a final, post-market review process “shaped by stakeholder input.”
“We are prioritizing our resources and leveraging gold standard science to create, for the first time, a systematic post-market review program that consumers can trust and rely on,” FDA Commissioner Martin Makary said. “Only by improving the safety and transparency of the food supply and ensuring consumers can make healthful food choices will we overcome the long-standing trajectory of chronic diseases.”
The move is part of an increased oversight effort by U.S. Health and Human Services of chemicals present in the nation’s food supply, many of which have never been properly studied for safety and some of which are banned in the European Union.
FDA, NIH Roll out Nutrition Regulation Program
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are launching the Nutrition Regulatory Science Program (NRSP), a joint research initiative to aid in U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s mission to “make America healthy again.”
The FDA said the issues the NRSP hopes to resolve include the effects of ultra-processed foods on consumer health, how food additives affect metabolic health and contribute to chronic diseases, and how dietary exposure during fetal and infant stages could lead to autoimmune disorders.
The federal program will introduce a comprehensive nutrition research agenda that will “provide critical information to inform effective food and nutrition policy actions to help make Americans’ food and diets healthier,” according to the FDA. The FDA and Kennedy Jr. have been in close collaboration since he was named secretary of the HHS, which has led to several shifts in the agency’s policies, including scrutiny on food colors and the definition of “generally recognized as safe.”
Inside the Rise of Tracy Beth Høeg, the Covid Contrarian Shaping FDA Vaccine Policy
The COVID-19 pandemic was a turning point for Tracy Beth Høeg.
Before March 2020, Høeg was a sports medicine physician focused on ultramarathon runners. Then, she rose to prominence by challenging school closures, mask mandates, and the approval of booster shots for children.
Now, she’s been tapped for a top role at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, working closely with two fellow COVID-19 contrarians — Marty Makary, the agency’s commissioner, and Vinay Prasad, the head of a key center — and advising on vaccines.
Does the CDC Have an Acting Director?
Earlier this week, Lisa Blunt Rochester asked a seemingly simple question of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during his testimony to the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee: “Who is the acting CDC director?”
Kennedy, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary, offered the name “Matt Buzzelli,” who he described as “a public health expert.”
Despite Kennedy’s assurance to the junior Democratic senator from Delaware, there remain questions about whether the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention actually does have an acting director at this time.
Makary’s ‘Conditional Approval’ Pathway for Rare Diseases Poses More Questions Than Answers
While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. might seem to be worlds different than the FDA of 2024, the agency still seems to be prioritizing expediting treatments for rare diseases, particularly ultrarare conditions.
As head of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) until his abrupt resignation at the end of March, Peter Marks was a passionate advocate for regulatory flexibility for rare disease therapies. In fact, Marks came under fire for his June 2024 decision to grant full approval to Sarepta Therapeutics’ Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy Elevidys, overriding the recommendation of FDA advisors.
Now, it appears that newly minted FDA commissioner Marty Makary wants to take up the baton. In an interview last month with former Fox News journalist Megyn Kelly, Makary unveiled plans for a new regulatory pathway for rare disease drugs, allowing for their conditional approval based on a “scientifically plausible mechanism.”
The proposed pathway — about which Makary has yet to provide further details — could enable conditional approval for drugs targeting rare diseases without data from a randomized, controlled clinical trial. Patients would then be followed under a surveillance system to allow the FDA to draw conclusions as soon as meaningful data emerge, according to a HHS spokesperson.
