09 Oct, 2026
This story has been updated. The Trump administration announced Thursday that it is investigating nine universities for alleged fraud related to visas commonly used by postdoctoral researchers, a core part…
Welcome to the debut of ID Consult, a new STAT column from infectious disease physician Krutika Kuppalli about diseases, outbreak response, global health, and health policy. A 28-year-old laboratory worker…
President Donald Trump is promising more payments to voters just ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections — this time, to more than 20 million seniors, giving them $90 each…
Finding information from the National Institutes of Health about human health, disease, and biomedical research is about to look a lot different. On Monday, the NIH will unveil a new…
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration published a final rule aimed at lowering Medicare prices for drugs administered in doctor offices. It applies to only four companies. The Global Benchmark for…

How much can the FDA really rein in pharma ads?

This article first appeared in the newsletter Your Local Epidemiologist.Pharmaceutical ads in the United States are annoying. Absurd. And almost uniquely American. In fact, only one other high-income country in the entire world — New Zealand — allows prescription drug companies to advertise directly to consumers. Everyone else has decided the downsides aren’t worth it. […]

11 mins read

Unpublished vaccine study RFK Jr. ally shared with Senate is political theater

On Tuesday, Aaron Siri, personal lawyer and close adviser to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., presented his “smoking gun” at a Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearing on vaccine science. Siri, who has represented Kennedy in multiple lawsuits against federal health agencies and reportedly helped interview candidates for Department of Health and Human Services positions, unveiled […]

6 mins read