The healthcare moments from Trump's SOTU

During his State of the Union on Tuesday, President Donald Trump touched on a number of healthcare topics, touting the launch of TrumpRx, his administration's "Great Healthcare Plan," and price transparency rules.

During the speech, Trump claimed that he brought prescription drug prices down from the highest in the world to the lowest as a result of his "most-favored nation" policy, and asked Republicans in Congress to codify the policy into law.

"It's going to be very hard for somebody that comes along after me to say, 'Let's raise drug prices by 700 or 800%.' But John and Mike, if you don't mind, codify it," Trump said, addressing Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).

However, many drugmakers have pushed back on most-favored nation policies. In a statement Tuesday night, Stephen Ubl, president and CEO of PhRMA, the industry trade group for drugmakers, said, "Government-imposed Most Favored Nation policies would undermine U.S. competitiveness while doing nothing to address insurance practices that deny care and raise costs for patients."

Trump also touted TrumpRx, a website for consumers to find discounts on brand-name drugs if they pay cash rather than use their health insurance, which launched earlier this month. During the speech, Trump pointed out Catherine Rayner, a military spouse and the first user of the website.

"She and her husband have struggled with infertility, and they turned to IVF," Trump said. "One drug has been costing Catherine $4,000 to purchase, but a few weeks ago, she logged on to the TrumpRx website and got that same drug that cost $4,000, got it for under $500."

Trump also alluded to his desire to shift more government funding away from premium tax credits and toward health accounts that are similar to the health savings accounts available from some employers — something that was part of his administration's "Great Healthcare Plan," which was unveiled last month.

Trump claimed in the speech that the Affordable Care Act "was meant for the insurance companies, not for the people" and has led to those companies receiving "hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars a year" from the federal government "as their stock prices soared 1,000, 1,200, 1,400, and even 1,700%, like nothing else."

"I want to stop all payments to big insurance companies and instead give that money directly to the people," Trump said.

Trump also noted that his administration's healthcare plan "requires maximum price transparency."

During the speech, Trump also mentioned gender-affirming care, introducing a guest named Sage Blair, a Virginia teen whose family is suing her school district for allegedly concealing information about Blair's gender identity.

Trump said he believes states shouldn't be allowed to make decisions on issues like gender-affirming care without parental consent.

(Choi, The Hill, 2/24; Cirruzzo/Wilkerson, STAT, 2/24; New York Times, 2/25)

CDC second-in-command steps down after just over 2 months

CDC on Monday announced that principal deputy director Ralph Abraham has resigned effective immediately, just two-and-a-half months after he assumed the position.

"It has been an honor to serve alongside the dedicated public health professionals at the CDC and to support the agency's critical mission," Abraham said in a statement.

CDC cited "unforeseen family obligations" as the reason for Abraham's departure. Several CDC employees told STAT that staff were not directly informed of Abraham's departure but instead learned of it via the statement on the agency's website.

Trump issues executive order seeking to boost controversial herbicide

President Donald Trump last week issued an executive order aimed at boosting the controversial herbicide glyphosate, a key ingredient in the commonly used weedkiller Roundup.

In the order, Trump described glyphosate as "a cornerstone of this Nation's agricultural productivity and rural economy."

"Ensuring an adequate supply of elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides is thus crucial to the national security and defense, including food-supply security, which is essential to protecting the health and safety of Americans," Trump said in the order.

The order directs the Department of Agriculture secretary to ensure the United States has an adequate supply of glyphosate-based herbicides and says that producers of these chemicals should have "immunity" under the Defense Production Act.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been critical of glyphosate in the past, said in a post on X that he supports the order and implied that while pesticides can cause health problems, they're necessary to ensure an adequate food supply.

"I support President Trump's Executive Order to bring agricultural chemical production back to the United States and end our near-total reliance on adversarial nations," Kennedy wrote.

"When hostile actors control critical inputs, they directly threaten the security of the American people," he added. "The Trump administration will secure these supply chains to eliminate that vulnerability."

The order has drawn criticism from some prominent activists aligned with the "Make America Healthy Again" movement, including Zen Honeycutt, founder of Moms Across America. In a post on X replying to Kennedy, Honeycutt said that there "is no excuse for this," adding that the Trump administration "needs to keep their word. We were promised specifically clean air, clean water, and addressing of the pesticides [in] our foods."

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) has drafted legislation to prevent the implementation of the order and explicitly allow citizens to bring lawsuits related to glyphosate. Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) said in a post on X that she was co-leading the effort with Massie.

(Frazin, The Hill, 2/19; Frazin, The Hill, 2/20; Frazin, The Hill, 2/23)

FDA will no longer require 2 studies for drug approvals

FDA will drop its long-standing requirement of two rigorous studies to gain approval for drugs, aiming at speeding up the availability of certain products, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and top deputy Vinay Prasad wrote in an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The two-study standard was established in the early 1960s, when Congress required FDA to review data from "adequate and well-controlled investigations." Over the past five years, around 60% of first-of-a-kind drugs approved each year have been cleared based on one study.

In the article, Makary and Prasad said FDA's "default position" going forward will be to require one study for new drugs and other novel health products, adding that dropping the two-study requirement reflects modern advances that have made drug research "increasingly precise and scientific."

"In this setting, overreliance on two trials no longer makes sense," they wrote. "In 2026 there are powerful alternative ways to feel assured that our products help people live longer or better than requiring manufacturers to test them yet again."

Janet Woodcock, former drug director for FDA, said the change makes sense and reflects FDA's move in recent decades toward requiring only one study alongside supporting evidence for various life-threatening diseases.

"The scientific point is well taken that as we move toward greater understanding of biology and disease we don’t need to do two trials all the time," she said.

(Perrone, Associated Press, 2/18; Jeffries, Becker's Hospital Review, 2/19)