has coopearpharma
Bernie's empty threat?
Senate health committee Chair Bernie Sanders is threatening to subpoena the head of Novo Nordisk’s U.S. division to testify on the price of its weight loss and diabetes drugs, but some of his fellow committee Democrats hope it doesn’t come to that.
Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) declined to say whether she would vote for a subpoena.
“We’d like him to come voluntarily,” Smith said, adding that other business executives have agreed to testify under threat of subpoena.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said he would be “inclined” to vote for the subpoena, if it comes to that.
“In the past, we haven’t had to vote on a subpoena in the committee, because when the chairman says, ‘Hey look, we’re prepared to do this,’ that usually works.”
Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) said he wanted to speak to Sanders before commenting on his vote. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) made a similar statement to Axios’ Peter Sullivan.
Sen. Tim Casey (D-Pa.) was the sole hard yes.
“I will vote for it,” Casey said.
Of note, a Novo spokesperson said the company told Sanders before the subpoena threat that its CEO is willing to testify.
science
House report sparks new momentum for gain-of-function restrictions
House Energy & Commerce Committee Republicans on Tuesday accused the NIH, and NIAID in particular, of stonewalling a monthslong probe of certain gain-of-function studies, fueling a rising debate in Congress over the future of the controversial field of research, which involves altering a virus to make it more transmissible or virulent, my co-author Sarah Owermohle reports.
Committee investigators, in an interim report, zeroed in on an mpox study proposed by longtime NIAID researcher Bernard Moss, saying that NIH misrepresented the status of the study. The investigators concluded by calling for a “wholly independent” board to review future gain-of-function proposals, with the possibility that its director would need Senate confirmation.
While that’s a far-off reality for now — with elections around the corner and no legislation drafted for the possible change — the report sets the table for future oversight probes and potential reforms. Republicans in both the House and Senate have called to reintroduce gain-of-function bans, while some have explored broader reforms that could streamline research.
E&C GOP leadership took a similar line Tuesday: The report’s findings are “unacceptable and demonstrates the clear need for reform,” they said in a shared statement.
China
BIOSECURE will have to find another ride
House lawmakers did not allow the BIOSECURE Act to be considered in defense budget legislation. The National Defense Authorization Act was considered the most likely vehicle for the biotech national security bill, John reports. BIOSECURE’s prospects of passage would’ve been helped by allowing it to be considered as an amendment to the NDAA, but the bill still has legs.
The Rules Committee held a hearing Tuesday to determine which policies can be considered as amendments to the bill. A precursor to BIOSECURE was allowed to be considered in the NDAA debate last year, though Congress didn’t include it in the final NDAA.
This year, GOP leadership set stricter amendment standards for the NDAA to avoid fights over social-policy issues that could derail bipartisan support for the bill, according to two sources. However, GOP leadership allowed some red meat for its own members, including amendments to prohibit the Department of Defense from covering abortion-related expenses and prohibiting DOD’s Tricare from providing gender affirming care.
“There are pieces of legislation like BIOSECURE that, even though there’s bipartisan support, are falling by the wayside, not for policy reasons necessarily, but for numbers reasons,” said Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council.
