• Delaware: Last week, Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer (D) signed legislation to legalize physician-assisted suicide for some terminally ill patients in the state. Delaware is the 11th state to legalize physician-assisted suicide. Under the new law, which goes into effect next year, adult, mentally capable patients who have a terminal illness and are expected to die within six months can request and administer medication to end their lives. However, patients must also be presented with other options for end-of-life care, including comfort and palliative care, hospice, and pain control. "This law is about compassion, dignity, and respect," Meyer said in a statement. "It gives people facing unimaginable suffering the ability to choose peace and comfort, surrounded by those they love." However, the National Right to Life and other critics have said death should not be an option for desperate patients. "The horror of assisted suicide is that many of the most vulnerable in our society are pressured to 'choose' assisted suicide which normalizes a culture of death — devaluing the lives of the disabled, elderly and chronically ill," said Right to Life president Carol Tobias. "As society attitudes shift, legalization creates a 'duty to die' mindset and puts our most vulnerable members of society at risk." (Crisp, The Hill, 5/20)
• District of Columbia: HHS has canceled a nearly $600 million contract with Moderna to develop a bird flu vaccine. Last summer, the Biden administration initially awarded Moderna $176 million to develop an mRNA vaccine amid an ongoing outbreak of bird flu in dairy cows. An additional $590 million was awarded to the company in January, but the Trump administration canceled the award. According to HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon, the decision to cancel Moderna's award was made after a "rigorous review." In a statement, Nixon said that "mRNA technology remains under-tested, and we are not going to spend taxpayer dollars repeating the mistakes of the last administration, which concealed legitimate safety concerns from the public." So far, Moderna has conducted an early-stage clinical trial of its vaccine and received positive interim data, but how the vaccine's development will continue is unclear. Currently, the company said it plans to explore alternatives for late-stage development, as well as manufacturing of the vaccine. (Reed, Axios, 5/28; Roubein/Sun, Washington Post, 5/29)
• Maryland: FDA has issued a safety alert for two popular oral allergy medications, Zyrtec and Xyzal, after some patients reported severe itching or pruritus after discontinuing long-term use of the drugs. Between April 2017 and July 2023, there were 209 cases of pruritus worldwide after stopping the medications, with 94% occurring in the United States. Some severe adverse outcomes associated with pruritus were disability (48 people), hospitalization (three people), and thoughts of suicide/self-harm (two people). According to FDA, medical providers should discuss the risk of pruritus when recommending or prescribing Zyrtec or Xyzal to patients, especially if they'll be using the medications long term. In 90% of cases, restarting the medications resolved the pruritus. Some patients were also able to taper off the medications after restarting them. "Restarting the medicine resolved pruritus in most individuals, and tapering off the medicine after restarting it resolved symptoms in some who tried this approach," FDA said. (Ingram, MedPage Today, 5/20)

In this edition of Lessons from the C-suite, Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, talks with Eric and  OptumInsight CEO Robert Musslewhite  about how his company designed a vaccine against the novel coronavirus — in just two days. They also dive into Moderna's collaboration with Operation Warp Speed, Bancel's "warrior personality," and his ambitious plan to develop vaccines against potentially deadly viruses before they strike humans.