New CDC Chief Embraces Science, Vows To Tackle AIDS Epidemic And Opioid Crisis In Emotional Speech

The Washington Post: In Emotional Speech, CDC’s New Leader Vows To Uphold Science
Robert Redfield Jr., the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, gave a deeply personal agencywide address Thursday in which he repeatedly underscored the importance of science and data and said the CDC's most critical public health mission is to protect Americans “from that which we don't expect.” (Sun, 3/29)

Stat: U.S. Can End AIDS Epidemic Within Seven Years, CDC Director Says
The AIDS epidemic in the United States could be ended in the next few years, the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Protection predicted Wednesday, saying that health officials have all the tools they need to prevent its spread. Dr. Robert Redfield, a former AIDS researcher who has spent decades treating people infected with HIV, made the remark in an all-hands meeting for CDC staff on his second full day at the Atlanta-based agency. Redfield is the agency’s 18th director. (Branswell, 3/29)

In other national health care news —

The Wall Street Journal: Walmart In Early-Stage Acquisition Talks With Humana
Walmart Inc. is in preliminary talks to buy insurer Humana Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, a deal that would mark a dramatic shift for the retail behemoth and the latest in a recent flurry of big deals in health-care services. It isn’t clear what terms the companies may be discussing, and there is no guarantee they will strike a deal. If they do, the deal would be big: Humana currently has a market value of about $37 billion. (Mattioli, Nassauer and Wilde Mathews, 3/29)

The Hill: Azar Taps Former CVS Executive To Help Lower Drug Prices
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar is tapping a former CVS Caremark executive to lead the agency’s efforts to lower drug prices. According to HHS, Daniel Best will be Azar’s senior adviser for drug pricing reform. Best was most recently a vice president of industry relations for CVS’s Medicare Part D business. This included the company’s prescription drug plans, Medicare Part D plans and other clients. (Weixel, 3/29)

Stat: FDA Charts Biosimilars' Future — But Drug Makers Aren't All On Board
In his recent public appearances, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has sounded a repeating note: drug prices are too high, and especially prices for complicated protein-based drugs called biologics. The answer, he says, is in part encouraging generic biologics, called biosimilars, to enter the market. And one way in which the FDA can do so, Gottlieb told an assembled crowd of insurers at an industry conference earlier this month, is to set clearer standards for what these drugs have to prove to be considered equivalent — or interchangeable — to the originals. (Swetlitz, 3/30)

The Hill: Senate Dems Say Changes To Family Planning Program Could Undercut Access To Care
Recent changes to the Title X family planning program for low-income women and men could undercut access to reproductive health care, Senate Democrats argued in a letter to the Trump administration Thursday. In a funding announcement released last month, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said grantees should be able to provide primary health services, as well as reproductive health services. (Hellmann, 3/29)

Stat: Guidelines For Abortion Pill Were Properly Eased, Report Finds
A congressional watchdog agency has concluded the Food and Drug Administration properly conducted a review of the controversial Mifeprex abortion pill before relaxing usage guidelines two years ago, a move that prompted complaints by some lawmakers and anti-abortion activists that the shift was politically motivated. (Silverman, 3/29)