Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, on Wednesday launched an investigation into the “outrageously high prices” of Novo Nordisk’s respective diabetes and weight loss drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy. On Wednesday, Sanders penned a letter to Novo Nordisk’s chief executive officer, Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, notifying him of the investigation and laying out his concerns with various price discrepancies between the drugs and pointing out concerns about the drugs’ pricing. “The scientists at Novo Nordisk deserve great credit for develop ..read more

Anthony Fauci, former chief medical adviser to President Biden, will testify before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic on June 3, making it the first time he will appear before a congressional panel since leaving government work at the end of 2022. Subcommittee Chair Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) announced the hearing Wednesday. Fauci had committed to testify late last year along with agreeing to two days of interviews, which took place in January. The closed-door interviews focused on gain-of-function research, alleged federal records violations, conflicts of interest and conf ..read more

Idaho's state Senate minority leader said the Supreme Court's coming decision on her state's abortion ban makes her "queasy," as conservative justices heard arguments Wednesday in the latest abortion battle before the high court. The Court heard oral arguments on the Biden administration's mandate that hospitals that receive Medicare funding provide an abortion if its necessary to stabilize the health of an emergency room patient. Sen. Melissa Wintrow, the Democratic leader in Idaho's state Senate, said she had little faith the Supreme Court would ultimately defend the Department of Justice's ..read more

Two Arizona state House lawmakers were removed from key committees Monday following the chamber's vote to repeal the state's 1864 abortion ban, with one Republican who voted with Democrats among them. Arizona state House Rep. Matt Gress (R) was removed from the Appropriations Committee, while Rep. Oscar De Los Santos (D) was removed from both the Appropriations Committee and Rules Committee. "I find it shameful that the Republicans are retaliating against me for speaking out for reproductive freedom. I will not be silenced. I will not be intimidated," De Los Santos said when reached for commen ..read more

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday warned access to abortion care could be further imperiled after oral arguments in a Supreme Court case over an Idaho law restricting abortion. The court appeared skeptical about whether a federal law ensuring access to lifesaving care included access to abortion care, when necessary, though the justices were split by both ideology and gender. “The MAGA Supreme Court majority appears ready to rule that the right to ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ doesn't extend to women with pregnancy complications or who otherwise need aborti ..read more

Maria Shriver says her work toward gender equity in medical research is a "human issue," not a political one. "I don't see it as partisan at all because there are Republican women serving. Republican men came from Republican women," Shriver said.  "I don't even look at it as a political issue. I look at it as a human issue," said the NBC News correspondent and founder of the Women's Alzheimer's Movement (WAM) Prevention and Research Center at Cleveland Clinic. Jill Biden joined Shriver and leading researchers Wednesday at the Willard InterContinental Hotel in downtown Washington to spotli ..read more

Doctors in New York City performed the first-ever combined heart pump implant and pig kidney transplant on a terminally ill patient. Surgeons at NYU Langone Health carried out the first-of-its-kind operation on Lisa Pisano in two stages over the course of nine days earlier this month, according to a Wednesday statement from NYU Langone. Pisano, 54, is a New Jersey native who had heart failure and end-stage kidney disease. Chronic medical conditions prevented her from being a candidate for a human heart and kidney transplant, the statement said. In order for her to receive a mechanical heart pu ..read more

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced a new bill in the state Legislature on Wednesday that would allow Arizona abortion providers to be quickly approved for work in California, in response to Arizona implementing one of the country’s strictest abortion laws. An Arizona Supreme Court decision earlier this month implemented an 1864 abortion law preventing access to the procedure in nearly all circumstances starting May 1. Despite calls from national Republicans to replace the law with a less strict measure, Republican state lawmakers have shot down attempts to overturn it. “Arizona Republi ..read more

A divided Supreme Court seemed skeptical that Idaho’s strict abortion ban conflicts with a federal emergency care law, but there appeared to be a split by gender as well as ideology during the nearly two hours of argument.  The four female justices, including conservative Amy Coney Barrett, pushed back the hardest against Idaho’s assertion that its law, which prohibits doctors from performing an abortion except when a woman’s life is in danger, supersedes the federal emergency care statute EMTALA.  Doctors face up to five years in prison for violating Idaho’s law.  The lib ..read more

Added sugars will be limited for the first time in school meals around the country as part of gradual changes in nutrition standards announced Wednesday in a rule from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).  The changes will shed sugar in meals starting in the fall of 2025 and cut back on added sugars in flavored milk. As part of the updates aimed at strengthening child nutrition, schools will be required to “slightly” reduce sodium in meals as well. Sugar will be limited in school meals beginning fall 2025 and will be fully implemented by fall 2027, adjusting the nutrition in breakfa ..read more