• This afternoon, the House of Representatives passed by voice vote the Esophageal Cancer Awareness Act, HR 3490.
  • “This bill requires the Government Accountability Office to report to Congress on (1) the impact of esophageal cancer-related health care spending under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) for federal employees and retirees diagnosed with esophageal cancer, and (2) how often FEHBP participants with a high risk of esophageal cancer undergo screenings according to established guidelines.” 
  • The bill honors the late Rep. Gerald Connelly (D VA) who died from the disease. The bill now heads to Senate.

• The New York Times reports,
  • “President Trump on Tuesday ratcheted up pressure on Senate Republicans to quickly embrace and pass legislation carrying his domestic agenda, intensifying a battle inside the G.O.P. about what should be in the measure and how much it should cost.”
    
• Govexec adds,
  • “The Trump administration plans to send its first spending cuts request to Congress on Tuesday, asking lawmakers to swiftly eliminate $9.4 billion in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and various foreign aid programs.
  • “The request for what are called rescissions allows the White House budget office to legally freeze spending on those accounts for 45 days while the Republican-controlled Congress debates whether to approve the recommendation in full or in part, or to ignore it.
  • “The proposal calls on lawmakers to eliminate $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides funding for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service. That means NPR and PBS would lose their already approved federal allocations, if the request is approved by Congress.”

• Fierce Healthcare points out,
  • “The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plans to undertake several new health tech initiatives, senior leaders announced today at a closed meeting with stakeholders. 
  • “The Department of Health and Human Services held a meeting today to discuss health tech policy and its recent request for information on health tech initiatives. CMS seems to be moving ahead with some of the initiatives it asked stakeholders to provide feedback on in its RFI — among them a national provider directory and modern identity verification for Medicare beneficiaries.
  • “This comes as the HHS’ health IT office announced a new leader this morning, Thomas Keane, M.D. Keane spoke at the meeting of stakeholders today at the Hubert H. Humphrey building in Washington, D.C.” 

• Healthcare Dive adds,
  • Thomas Keane, a software engineer and interventional radiologist, began his role as national coordinator [for health information technology] Monday, the spokesperson said. He previously worked at the ASTP and served as a senior advisor to the deputy secretary of the HHS, according to his biography on the agency’s website. 

• Healthcare Dive also relates,
  • “The Trump administration rescinded guidance on Tuesday directing hospitals to perform abortions during medical emergencies, even in states with restrictive abortion bans. 
  • “The Biden administration published the guidance in 2022, shortly after Roe v. Wade was overturned, asserting doctors were required to perform emergency care, even if that included abortions, under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act. * * *
  • “The CMS now says that guidance “does not reflect the policy of this Administration.” The new guidance is effective May 29, and furthers an executive order from President Donald Trump seeking to remove regulatory red tape, the CMS said.” * * *
  • “Texas and Idaho, which have some of the nation’s most restrictive abortion bans, have repeatedly argued that there is no conflict between EMTALA and their policies, because both states allow abortion when the mother’s life is at risk.”

From the judicial front,

• Modern Healthcare reports,
  • “A federal district court judge on Tuesday denied motions to dismiss complaints in two lawsuits against data analytics firm MultiPlan — now operating as Claritev — and a number of insurers.
  • “Judge Matthew Kennelly of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois denied Claritev’s motion to dismiss complaints in two lawsuits involving federal and state antitrust and consumer protection claims.” * * *
  • “Both lawsuits allege Claritev colluded with insurers to reduce pay for out-of-network providers, violating state and federal antitrust laws under the Sherman Act.
  • “We remain confident in the strength of our legal position and look forward to presenting the facts as the case moves forward,” Claritev said in a statement Tuesday. “These lawsuits will only serve to increase healthcare cost for employers and patients. We will vigorously defend ourselves through the legal process while remaining focused on delivering value to our customers and the broader healthcare ecosystem.”

• Per Healthcare Dive,
  • “Centene is being sued for wrongful death after one of its members died after failing to get the mental healthcare he needed because of the insurer’s inadequate provider networks, according to the lawsuit filed by the member’s mother.
  • “The suit, filed late May in the Superior Court of Maricopa County in Arizona, accuses Centene’s subsidiary in the state, Health Net, of maintaining “ghost networks” — wherein insurers say providers are in network that aren’t, inflating the care options available under their plans to the detriment of actual access.
  • “As a result, Centene violated state and federal laws requiring network accuracy and adequacy, according to the suit, which also accuses the St. Louis-based payer of negligence and fraud. Centene did not respond to a request for comment.”

• Per MedTech Dive,
  • “The Food and Drug Administration did not appeal a recent U.S. District Court decision that set aside the agency’s final rule aimed at increasing its authority over laboratory developed tests, according to two lab industry groups.
  • “The 60-day window for the FDA to appeal the ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas expired over the weekend. The Association for Molecular Pathology supported the FDA’s move not to appeal.
  • “This decision should finally conclude the FDA’s unwarranted and overreaching attempts to assert regulatory authority over LDTs,” AMP President Jane Gibson said in an emailed statement.”

News from the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s conference

• The New York Times reports,
  • “A group of 97 patients had longstanding multiple myeloma, a common blood cancer that doctors consider incurable, and faced a certain, and extremely painful, death within about a year.
  • “They had gone through a series of treatments, each of which controlled their disease for a while. But then it came back, as it always does. They reached the stage where they had no more options and were facing hospice.
  • “They all got immunotherapy, in a study that was a last-ditch effort.
  • “A third responded so well that they got what seems to be an astonishing reprieve. The immunotherapy developed by Legend Biotech, a company founded in China, seems to have made their cancer disappear. And after five years, it still has not returned in those patients — a result never before seen in this disease.
  • “These results, in patients whose situation had seemed hopeless, has led some battle-worn American oncologists to dare to say the words “potential cure.”
  • “The new study, reported Tuesday at the annual conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and published in The Journal of Clinical Oncology, was funded by Johnson & Johnson, which has an exclusive licensing agreement with Legend Biotech.”

• Per Fierce Pharma,
  • “Though they are both multiple myeloma drugs with the same mechanism of action, Sanofi’s Sarclisa has had difficulty competing with Johnson & Johnson’s powerhouse Darzalex, largely because it reached the market five years later.
  • “But one advancement that could help Sanofi close some of the gap is its on-body delivery system for its CD38 antibody.
  • “Tuesday, at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago, Sanofi presented data from two trials that showed Sarclisa administered subcutaneously (SC) from an investigational on-body injector (OBI) reduced treatment time and produced similar efficacy and safety compared to intravenous (IV) infusion.”

• Per BioPharma Dive,
  • “An experimental, non-hormonal drug from Bayer can reduce the hot flashes and other menopausal side effects many women taking a common breast cancer therapy experience, according to results from a late-stage clinical trial run by the pharmaceutical company.
  • “The study, known as Oasis-4, is the fourth successful trial test of Bayer’s drug, called elinzanetant. Detailed data presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting Monday showed treatment reduced vasomotor symptoms in women receiving endocrine therapy to treat or prevent hormone receptor-positive breast cancer.”
• and
  • “A Johnson & Johnson drug currently used for advanced prostate cancer can help keep the disease from progressing in men who are at earlier stages and have certain genetic mutations, according to newly unveiled data from a Phase 3 clinical trial.
  • “Results from this trial, named Amplitude, were released Tuesday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s meeting in Chicago. They could potentially expand the number of people able to receive J&J’s Akeega, a pill that combines the active ingredients from the medicines Zejula and Zytiga.”

• The Wall Street Journal reports,
  • “Roche said Tecentriq combined with lurbinectedin shows significant survival benefits for patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer.
  • “The Swiss pharmaceutical company said Tuesday that late-stage trials showed the combination led to a 46% reduction in the risk of the disease progressing or death, and 27% reduction in the risk of death.
  • “The combination can be used a as a first-line maintenance treatment for people with the cancer following induction therapy with carboplatin, etoposide and Tecentriq, it said.
  • “The safety profile of the combination was consistent with the known safety profiles of Tecentriq and lurbinectedin, Roche said.”

In other medical research and public health news,

• Cigna, writing in LinkedIn, explains why early detection is so important to fighting breast cancer.

• The latest issue of the National Institutes of Health’s Research Matter covers “Customized gene therapy | Parents with substance use disorders | Ultra-processed food consumption.”

• The New York Times discusses “Anorexia in Middle Age and Beyond. A growing number of older women are seeking treatment for eating disorders. Many have struggled without help for decades.”

• MedCity News informs us,
  • “The World Health Organization estimates that about 10% of women and girls of reproductive age around the world — roughly 190 million people — suffer from chronic pain as a result of endometriosis. 
  • “Take this estimate with a grain of salt, though — it’s likely too low. The average diagnostic delay for endometriosis patients is eight years, driven in large part by the fact that the standard method used to diagnose the disease is an invasive surgical procedure.”
  • Boston-based biotech startup Heranova Lifesciences is working to address this problem by developing a non-invasive blood-based test. Just this spring, the company announced the LDT validation and U.S. launch of this product, which is called HerResolve. * * *
  • “The gold standard that doctors use to diagnose endometriosis is laparoscopy followed by histological confirmation. With this method, doctors put patients under anesthesia and perform a laparoscopy to look at the tissue and lesions growing outside the uterus — then, the doctor takes a tissue sample to confirm the diagnosis under a microscope.
  • “This method of testing is invasive — and not very quick. Heranova’s test seeks to address these issues by using machine learning to analyze a panel of biomarkers in a patient’s blood sample to determine whether or not they have endometriosis. 
  • “The test’s accuracy is on par with laparoscopy followed by histopathology, said Farideh Bischoff, Heranova’s chief medical officer.”

• Per Health Day,
  • “Clinicians consider administration of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine as feasible at age 9 to 10 years, and parents appear to be receptive to discussing vaccination at this age, according to a study published online June 2 in Pediatrics.
  • “Caroline K. Tietbohl, Ph.D., from the University of Colorado and Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora, and colleagues conducted an explanatory sequential mixed-methods study as part of an ongoing randomized trial that compared initiation at ages 9 to 10 years (intervention) versus 11 to 12 years (control) across 17 practices in Colorado (nine intervention) and 16 practices in California (eight intervention). At one month after study initiation, practice clinicians were surveyed, and semi structured interviews were conducted at three months after study initiation.” * * *
  • “The results of our prospective trial will determine if initiating vaccination earlier increases vaccination completion rates, especially by age 13 years,” the authors write.

• The Wall Street Journal reports,
  • People are more likely to get cancer as they age. Dr. Miriam Merad has an unconventional idea of how that might be reversed: using allergy drugs and other seemingly unlikely medications to damp a condition known as “inflammaging.”
  • The immunologist and oncologist has spent years examining malignant tumors to learn why people over age 50 account for nine in 10 cancer diagnoses in the U.S. She and her research team at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City have homed in on an answer: the aging immune system. Their studies of individual immune cells in human lung tumors, as well as in old mice, have revealed how chronic, or pathogenic, inflammation in older people—dubbed inflammaging—interferes with the immune system and fuels cancer growth.
  • Merad and other researchers are testing whether existing anti-inflammatory medications usually used to fight rheumatoid arthritis or allergy conditions like asthma or eczema can slow cancer in older patients. They are also searching for new drugs. “Aging is something that we think we can transform,” says Merad, director of the Marc and Jennifer Lipschultz Precision Immunology Institute at Mount Sinai.”

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

• Becker Payer Issues lets us know,
  • “Following a tumultuous period for UnitedHealth Group, new CEO and board chair Stephen Hemsley addressed investors on June 2, acknowledging the company’s recent shortcomings and detailing his plan to restore the high performance that investors and customers expect moving forward.
  • “Mr. Hemsley expressed a deep commitment to regaining trust through increased transparency, improved pricing strategies, and a renewed focus on internal operations, particularly at Optum Health and UnitedHealthcare. 
  • “We are well aware we have not fulfilled your expectations or our own,” he said. “We apologize for that performance and we are humbly determined to earn back your trust and your confidence.”
  • The article also provides eight notes on Mr. Hemsley’s talk.

• STAT News adds,
  • UnitedHealth Group’s new CEO told investors that the company is reevaluating how it tallies Medicare Advantage patients’ diagnoses for reimbursement purposes, an issue currently under investigation by the Justice Department. 
  • Stephen Hemsley’s remarks during the company’s annual shareholder meeting on Monday signal a noteworthy shift: UnitedHealth is now publicly acknowledging potential issues with how it assesses the health of its Medicare Advantage members.” * * *
  • “Our management team has been working with urgency through a comprehensive and methodical review of our operations from end to end,” Hemsley said. “Digging into every part of the organization to evaluate how we have been performing and to improve that performance.”
    
• Fierce Pharma notes,
  • “Medicare Part D beneficiaries can now tap into Amazon Pharmacy’s PillPack for pre-sorted medication packets, the retail giant announced on Tuesday.
  • “PillPack sorts a patient’s medications into personalized, tear-away packets that are labeled by date and time, which can make it easier to follow prescribed regimens. The expansion brings this service to more than 50 million Part D enrollees who take daily medications, Amazon said.
  • “Once eligible customers sign up for packets through PillPack, Amazon Pharmacy will coordinate needed refills to ensure prescriptions arrive on time.
  • “In addition to growing its reach in the Part D market, Amazon announced that it will roll out new services to support caregivers in managing medications for a family member or loved one.”

• Modern Healthcare reports,
  • “Pyx Health, a digital mental health platform, on Tuesday announced its acquisition of FarmboxRx, a company that provides fresh produce food boxes to Medicare and Medicaid members.”
    
• Beckers Hospital Review informs us that “Hospitals [are] push[ing] back on low Leapfrog grades.”

• Per Fierce Healthcare,
  • “In January, H1 picked up provider data management software company Ribbon Health to broaden its reach into the health plan, provider system and digital health sectors.
  • “Five months later, the healthcare tech company has acquired Veda Data Solutions to build out its provider data and automation solutions for payers.
  • “Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
  • “Founded 10 years ago, Veda fixes bad provider data for healthcare organizations. Inaccurate and out-of-date health plan provider directories continue to be a thorny problem in healthcare and can make it difficult for patients to find a clinician when they need care.”