| We're back! Happy Tuesday, everyone. Our pal Dan Diamond is interviewing Anthony Fauci for USC Annenberg's Center for Health Journalism this afternoon. Zoom in here. Today's edition: The White House is announcing over $6 million in grants aimed at expanding access to reproductive health. The latest on the cost of the new ALS drug. But first … Dr. Oz has a checkered history of promoting questionable weight-loss plans |  Mehmet Oz, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, during a visit to a car show in Carlisle, Pa. in May. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) | | | On the campaign trail, Mehmet Oz is leaning into his background as a doctor. The cardiothoracic surgeon turned TV star turned Pennsylvania's GOP nominee for Senate stands in front of banners with the words "Dr. Oz" and his campaign slogan is a "dose of reality." He has used the theme, "The Doctor is In," our colleagues Colby Itkowitz and Lenny Bernstein report. Doctors running for Congress often tout their credentials as surgeons or emergency medical physicians or ophthalmologists, but that can come with extra scrutiny of their medical records. But Oz isn't just a doctor; he hosted a daytime television show aimed at millions of viewers for over a decade where he provided a platform for potentially dangerous products and fringe viewpoints, Colby and Lenny write. Doctors in Congress often take the lead on health-care issues. They're known to sit on powerful health panels or lead the introduction of health-care bills. Yet, Oz's history will surely raise criticisms from some medical experts and doctors if he's involved in crafting the nation's health policy should he win in November. If Oz wins — and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) wins reelection — there will be five doctors in the Senate. Currently, there are 17 doctors on Capitol Hill, 14 of them Republicans and three of them Democrats. New physician candidates are vying for Congress in the midterm elections, including Democratic nominees Kermit Jones (Calif.) and Annie Andrews (S.C.) — who are endorsed by a new PAC, Healthcare For Action, aiming to boost the number of Democratic health-care workers in Congress — and Republican nominees Larry Lazor (Conn.) and Miriam Levitt Flisser (N.Y.). | | While Oz's show was on air from 2009 to 2021, he received criticism for providing a platform for questionable products and views. | | | | | | | Women of color continue to fare worse than White women when it comes to the likelihood of complications, regardless of age or type of insurance. We're working to change that. | | | |  | | | | | Such treatments included a weight-loss approach that involved taking a hormone women produce during pregnancy while eating 500 calories per day; garcinia cambogia, an herbal weight-loss product the Food and Drug Administration has said can cause liver damage; and selenium supplements, which he called the "holy grail of cancer prevention" (several medical reviews have said there's no evidence it can stop cancer), Colby and Lenny note. In 2014, Oz agreed to testify before a Senate subcommittee on consumer protection, product safety and insurance. The hearing was on false advertising in the diet and weight-loss industry, and he spent a morning getting berated by senators. The defense: "Oz and his defenders have said that his approach on the program was to give viewers hope and provide different points of view," Colby and Lenny write. He has received some praise for raising awareness about preventive health, and did often include caveats to the treatments he highlighted. | - "On his show, Dr. Oz welcomed open, honest conversations and opinions from all kinds of folks," per Brittany Yanick, a spokeswoman for the Oz campaign. "It's idiotic and preposterous to imply that he shared the same beliefs and opinions as every guest on his show, or that having someone on his show constitutes a blanket endorsement of their beliefs."
| | More from Lenny: |  | | | | | John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee for Pennsylvania's open Senate seat, is targeting his rival's work while hosting "The Dr. Oz Show." His campaign has organized "Real Doctors Against Oz," which consists of more than 100 physicians in the state. He's not the first Republican politician with a medical degree to face backlash over issues that run counter to expert advice. Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), while serving in the House, said he took hydroxychloroquine "prophylactically," which former president Donald Trump promoted, though the FDA warned against using it to prevent covid-19, the Wall Street Journal reported. Medical experts criticized Ben Carson and Paul for comments at a Republican debate during the 2016 presidential election, as the two candidates appeared to validate the push to further space out vaccines, CNN wrote at the time. | | Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) said he had a complaint filed against him with a physicians board for prescribing ivermectin to treat the coronavirus, per the Baltimore Sun. The FDA has not authorized the use of ivermectin, which is usually used to treat some parasites in livestock and people, and has warned against using it to treat or prevent covid-19 infection. | | |  | Reproductive wars | | HHS to announce new Title X grants for reproductive health care |  The new actions come ahead of the second meeting of the interagency Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post) | | | New this A.M.: The Department of Health and Human Services will announce over $6 million in new Title X grants and other funding to protect and expand access to reproductive health care, promote healthy behavior and reduce existing health disparities, according to the White House. The announcement coincides with the second meeting of the administration's Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access, which President Biden and Vice President Harris will attend today. The new dollars for the federal family planning program — which directs grants for birth control, reproductive health and preventive services for low-income people — comes after the Biden administration rolled back a contentious Trump-era policy that banned Title X providers from referring patients for abortions, among other restrictions. Also … The Education Department is releasing new guidance reminding universities that Title IX requires institutions to protect their students from discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, including pregnancy termination. | Planned Parenthood to roll out first mobile abortion clinic | | Planned Parenthood announced yesterday that it will soon launch its first mobile abortion clinic in southern Illinois — a response to the growing number of women traveling to access abortion services. | | In the months since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Illinois has become a hub for people from other parts of the Midwest and South where abortions have been largely restricted or banned — overwhelming local providers and racking up wait times for the procedure. The details: The mobile clinic, which will be outfitted in a 37-foot RV, will serve patients along the southern Illinois border with the full slate of services typically provided by a brick-and-mortar Planned Parenthood. Initially, it will provide medication abortion up to 11 weeks gestation, but the organization said it plans to eventually provide surgical abortion as well, per a news release. The mobile abortion clinic is expected to be on the road by the end of the year. | | Planned Parenthood Advocates in St. Louis and Southwest Missouri: |  | | | | | |  | Industry Rx | | Amylyx sets ALS drug price at $158k per year |  The company expects the drug to be available to U.S. patients in four to six weeks. (Amylyx Pharmaceuticals/AP) | | | Amylyx Pharmaceuticals announced Friday that it had set the list price of its newly approved drug to slow the progression of ALS at $158,000 per year, although company officials said they expect most patients to pay less for the treatment, our colleague Laurie McGinley reports. The drug, Relyvrio, was cleared by the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday, making it just the third ALS treatment to ever win the federal regulator's approval. It will be available in the United States in about four to six weeks, according to the manufacturer. The cost breakdown: For people with private insurance, Amylyx officials said the company will provide financial assistance to eliminate co-payments. The manufacturer also plans to make the drug available at no cost to uninsured individuals who meet certain eligibility criteria. The company said it is exploring ways to keep down out-of-pocket expenses for patients with government coverage like Medicare and Medicaid. Some advocates quickly criticized the drug's price tag as excessive. They point to a recent report by the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, a nonprofit group that analyzes evidence on the effectiveness and value of drugs, who said a fair price would be $9,100 to $30,600 annually. Flashback: The pricey cost of the ALS drug is reminiscent of the debate over an expensive new Alzheimer's drug, which was originally priced at $56,000 per patient annually before the company slashed the price tag nearly in half. The decision came after fierce criticism over the cost of the drug, with the CEO saying the price cut was meant to make the drug more available to consumers who couldn't get it due to "financial considerations." | | Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.): |  | | | | | |  | Midterm watch | | | Vulnerable Democrats in competitive races are centering their closing pitches to voters on preserving abortion rights in the final weeks leading up to November's midterm elections. Katie Darling, a Democrat and business executive challenging House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), is out with a spot that documents the arrival of her son and a message about reproductive rights: | | And a new ad from Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) features a rape survivor who highlights the views of Republican challenger Yesli Vega on the issue of abortion: | | |  | In other health news | | - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will no longer maintain a country-by-country list of travel advisories related to covid-19 due to limited testing and reporting data from around the world, CNN reports.
- Biden's vaccine mandate for workers in health-care facilities that receive federal funds survived a renewed challenge brought by 10 mostly Republican-led states, after the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
- The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association and the Children's Hospital Association asked the Justice Department yesterday to investigate a spate of threats against physicians and hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to transgender minors.
- Premiums in the health-care program for federal employees and retirees will increase by 8.7 percent on average for 2023 — the largest increase in more than a decade, our colleague Eric Yoder reports.
| | |  | Health reads | | | By By Stephanie Saul | The New York Times ● Read more » | | | | | By Tony Leys and Arielle Zionts | Kaiser Health News ● Read more » | | | | | |  | Sugar rush | | | Thanks for reading! See y'all tomorrow. | |
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