Top of the morning to you. And a fine one it is. Crystal clear blue skies and deliciously cool breezes are greeting us today, which calls for a celebration with — you guessed it — a cup of stimulation. Our flavor of choice this week is Golden French Toast, for those keeping track. Despite the gorgeous weather, there is much to keep us in front of the laptop. This sounds familiar, yes? So time to get started with a few tidbits. Have a wonderful day, and drop us a line if you hear anything interesting. …
The biggest-spending lobbying organization in the country, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, adamantly opposes Democratic Party ideas for drug pricing reform, saying they are unwelcome government price controls. But other groups representing the largest businesses in the country want wide-reaching reforms to help lower the cost of insuring their employees, STAT explains. These include Walmart (WMT), Tesla (TSLA), Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), IBM (IBM), Boeing (BA), and Walt Disney (DIS). Where business groups stand is an important dynamic because one of the most controversial parts of drug pricing negotiations is how far reforms would extend to employer-sponsored insurance.
Peter Marks, one of the highest ranking Food and Drug Administration regulators, is now acting director of the agency’s vaccines office, whose two leaders had publicly questioned whether the general population needed coronavirus booster shots, The New York Times reports. The move would allow the two — Marion Gruber, the director of the vaccines office, and Philip Krause, her deputy — to “take care of close-out activities prior to departing and help to assure a smooth transition.” Both recently announced plans to retire and were upset when the Biden administration announced booster shots would be available to most adults by the week of Sept. 20, contingent on FDA clearance.
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