Kavanaugh Accuser Wants FBI Investigation Before Testifying, But GOP Senators Not Open To Negotiating Terms

The New York Times: Christine Blasey Ford Wants F.B.I. To Investigate Kavanaugh Before She Testifies
The woman who has accused President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee of sexual assault all but ruled out appearing at an extraordinary Senate hearing scheduled for next week to hear her allegations, insisting on Tuesday that the F.B.I. investigate first. Speaking through lawyers, Christine Blasey Ford said she would cooperate with the Senate Judiciary Committee and left open the possibility of testifying later about her allegations against Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh. But echoing Senate Democrats, she said an investigation should be “the first step” before she is put “on national television to relive this traumatic and harrowing incident.” (Baker, Stolberg and Fandos, 9/18)

In other national health care news —

Politico: Obamacare Lawsuit Boosts Democrats In State AG Races
Democrats believe they have their best chance in years to flip crucial state attorney general seats by trumpeting the same message that drew furious protesters to town halls and to the polls last year: Republicans are trying to take away your health care. These down-ballot races usually fly under the radar, but they are front and center in 2018 as many Democratic officeholders have turned the positions into the cornerstone of resistance to President Donald Trump, challenging dozens of his policies in court, from the separation of immigrant families at the border, to the ban on travel from several Muslim countries, to the crackdown on marijuana sales in states that legalized the drug. (Ollstein, 9/18)

The New York Times: U.S. Loses Track Of Another 1,500 Migrant Children, Investigators Find
The Trump administration is unable to account for the whereabouts of nearly 1,500 migrant children who illegally entered the United States alone this year and were placed with sponsors after leaving federal shelters, according to congressional findings released on Tuesday. The revelation echoes an admission in April by the Department of Health and Human Services that the government had similarly lost track of an additional 1,475 migrant children it had moved out of shelters last year. (Nixon, 9/18)

The Associated Press: White House Sets 'New Direction' In Biodefense Strategy
The Trump administration on Tuesday released a new biodefense strategy that it said takes a more comprehensive approach to preparing the nation for deliberate biological attacks and natural outbreaks of infectious disease. The goal of the strategy, which was required by Congress, is to more effectively prevent, prepare for and respond to biological threats, which the document said are "among the most serious threats" facing the U.S. and the world. (9/18)

The Hill: New Ads Pressure Lawmakers Against Easing Costs On Drug Companies
Drug-pricing advocates are launching a six-figure ad campaign to try to stop Congress from rolling back a move targeting drug companies. The ads from Patients for Affordable Drugs Now seek to counteract an aggressive lobbying push by drug companies to undo a change from February that shifted billions of dollars in new costs onto them. (Sullivan, 9/18)

Modern Healthcare: AHA Launches 340B Hospital Transparency Effort
The American Hospital Association has launched a new effort it hopes will bring more transparency to the 340B drug discount program. Under the so-called 340B stewardship principle initiative, the trade association plans to encourage hospitals to release information on their 340B savings and what they usually do with that money. (Dickson, 9/18)

Stat/ProPublica: Black Patients Are Being Left Out Of Clinical Trials For New Cancer Therapies
’s a promising new drug for multiple myeloma, one of the most savage blood cancers. Called Ninlaro, it can be taken as a pill, sparing patients painful injections or cumbersome IV treatments. In a video sponsored by the manufacturer, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., one patient even hailed Ninlaro as “my savior.” The Food and Drug Administration approved it in 2015 after patients in a clinical trial gained an average of six months without their cancer spreading. That trial, though, had a major shortcoming: its racial composition. One out of five people diagnosed with multiple myeloma in the U.S. is black, and African-Americans are more than twice as likely as white Americans to be diagnosed with the cancer. (Chen and Wong, 9/19)