| | | | |  | | By Chelsea Cirruzzo and Ben Leonard | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Megan Messerly
| | |  Former President Donald Trump pointed to the Right to Try law as one of his significant accomplishments when in office. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | TRUMP SHOUTS OUT RIGHT TO TRY — GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump touted the Right to Try law for saving “thousands” of lives during his speech at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night. The 2018 law, which Trump pushed for soon after entering office, was meant to expand access to experimental treatments for the terminally ill. He has repeatedly heralded it as a landmark achievement of his presidency. “They’ve been trying to get that approved for 52 years,” he said Thursday during his acceptance speech. He added that Right to Try allows terminally ill patients to access drugs they would have died without or been forced to travel abroad to get. How does it work? Patients have had access to similar programs for decades under what is often called the FDA’s compassionate use pathway, which patients must apply to the FDA for. Right to Try, however, circumvents the FDA and offers a liability shield to those involved in a drug’s use, as POLITICO’s David Lim reported earlier this week. “We’re saving thousands and thousands of lives, it’s incredible,” Trump said. However, the Right to Try pathway was only used for four drugs last year. In fiscal 2023, the FDA received nearly 2,300 compassionate use requests and allowed most to proceed. What’s next? The slow uptake has led some of the law’s biggest proponents to call on Trump to expand upon the program in his first 100 days if he’s elected in November, likely reopening the debate into the FDA’s role in the oversight of access to experimental treatments. Right to Try supporters want Trump to encourage drug manufacturers to participate through incentives and benefits, and Trump’s campaign said he is open to changes to the law. Trump’s remarks on Right to Try closed out a convention that was largely absent of health policy, including discussions on abortion despite Trump taking credit for overturning Roe v. Wade. His running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, also largely steered clear of health care policy in his remarks Wednesday night, aside from recounting growing up in a part of the country ravaged by the opioid epidemic. WELCOME TO FRIDAY PULSE. President Biden continues to experience mild Covid-19 symptoms and is taking Paxlovid, the White House said Thursday. Send your tips, scoops and feedback to ccirruzzo@politico.com and bleonard@politico.com and follow along @ChelseaCirruzzo and @_BenLeonard_.
| | A message from HCA Healthcare: If you’ve ever been a patient at one of HCA Healthcare’s approximately 2,400 sites of care, there’s a chance you’ve benefitted from the skill and compassion of one of our more than 90,000 nurses. Nurses are the heart of HCA Healthcare – and we actively offer resources, development and education to support them in their day-to-day work. We invite you to read a few stories about how nurses inspire our patients and impact healthcare everywhere. | | | | | | | 
At the RNC, the conversation has largely moved on from Covid. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | COVID, WHAT COVID? MILWAUKEE — Four years ago, the pandemic upended the Republican National Convention. Facing rising cases in 2020, Republicans had to cancel the traditional, arena-style convention and scatter the gathering among Charlotte, Washington and other remote venues. Then-President Donald Trump, in his address to the convention, described Covid-19 as “a new and powerful invisible enemy” and touted Operation Warp Speed, the public-private partnership spearheaded by his administration to speed the development of a vaccine. This year, it’s almost as if the pandemic never happened, Megan reports. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump briefly mentioned it in his remarks that closed out the convention, calling it the “China virus.” Few delegates, media and other attendees have been wearing masks — even as Covid cases are again on the rise. Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who has long animated the Republican base, escaped mention. Though some popular Republicans have called for his imprisonment, no chants to lock him up were heard in Milwaukee. And references to the pandemic from the main stage were scarce other than those from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who both came to national prominence during the pandemic. “We didn’t mandate anything. We never ordered a single business or a church to close. I never even defined what an essential business was because I do not believe the government has the authority to tell you your business is not essential,” Noem said Monday night. On the convention’s sidelines this week, intense skepticism remained among delegates about the vaccine Trump played a key role in developing. Gerald Malloy, a delegate from Vermont, said neither he, his wife nor his kids got the shot. “Mandates are wrong. They were wrong. We’re not going to go down that path again,” Malloy said. “We’ve got a long way to recover from those mandates, which were overstepping on what the government should have done.”
| | | | The CNN-POLITICO Grill has quickly become a key gathering place for policymakers and thought-leaders attending the RNC in Milwaukee.
On Tuesday, POLITICO and Bayer convened two conversations: a discussion with Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) and Rep. G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) and an executive conversation with Bayer’s Jessica Christiansen, senior vice president and head of crop science and sustainability communications.
The conversations focused on the news of the day in Milwaukee, including deeper discussion centered on the critical challenges faced by the agriculture sector.
CATCH UP HERE | | | | | | | | | BUYER BEWARE — Some legal edible gummies marketed as “nootropics,” or supplements to improve cognitive function, may contain illegal hallucinogenic mushrooms or other unknown ingredients that make users sick, the CDC said. According to the CDC’s report, four adults in the Charlottesville, Virginia, area were admitted to the emergency room last September after eating gummies commonly sold in gas stations and smoke shops. The gummies are marketed as containing A. muscaria, a legal mushroom known for some hallucinogenic properties. However, the gummies were later found to contain unlabeled psilocybin and psilocin — hallucinogenics found in magic mushrooms — which are illegal in Virginia. Other unlabelled substances were found, like caffeine, ephedrine and kratom. The four adults who ingested the gummies reported having a rapid heart rate, confusion, anxiety and nausea, and one of them reported chest pain. Why it matters: Researchers warn that products advertised as nootropic mushroom gummies could contain undisclosed ingredients that might lead to illness, including hallucinations, gastrointestinal symptoms and a fast heart rate.
| | | | A message from HCA Healthcare:   | | | | | MED SHORTAGE DOWN — Drug shortages dropped in the second quarter of 2024 from an all-time high of 323 drug shortages to 300, according to the University of Utah’s Drug Information Service. According to the Utah system, maintained in part by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, ongoing or active drug shortages have numbered 300 or higher for the past 18 months. The FDA says the pandemic, which strained the market, continues to impact the drug supply chain. Why it matters: This is the first sign of shortages easing after an increase beginning in 2020 and the all-time high reached at the end of last year. “Although the number of new drug shortages has declined since 2011, shortages continue to pose a real challenge to public health, particularly when the shortage involves a critical drug, such as those used to treat cancer, to provide parenteral nutrition, or to address other serious medical conditions,” the FDA said in a 2023 report. According to the Utah report, certain medications, including ADHD drugs, chemotherapy and pain and sedation drugs, remain in short supply.
| | | | Understand 2024’s big impacts with Pro’s extensive Campaign Races Dashboard, exclusive insights, and key coverage of federal- and state-level debates. Focus on policy. Learn more. | | | | | | | | | Dr. Brookeshield Laurent has joined the HHS Advisory Committee on Training in Primary Care Medicine and Dentistry. Laurent also serves as the executive director for the Delta Population Health Institute.
| | The New York Times reports on the promising effects of a daily antibiotic to prevent sexually transmitted infections. The Washington Post reports on the summer Covid wave.
| | A message from HCA Healthcare: Every day, our caregivers improve more lives in more ways – showing up to give people a healthier tomorrow. Nurses are the heart of HCA Healthcare – and we support them by providing training, education and professional development resources.
To celebrate HCA Healthcare nurses, we are sharing a few stories about our incredible caregivers. In Florida, nurse Camilla was born at HCA Florida Brandon Hospital and spent her childhood admiring two special members of its workforce – her father and mother. Inspired by the nurses around her, Camilla decided to pursue a career in nursing and received support with higher education expenses through HCA Healthcare’s tuition reimbursement program. Additionally, she participated in our Specialty Training Apprenticeship for Registered Nurses program, which allows new graduates to obtain acute care nursing experience through an intensive paid internship.
Read more about how our caregivers show up for patients, communities and each other. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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