Skip to content

Category: In the News

Endpoints News — New NIH chief stresses focus on obesity, clinical trial challenges

The new leader of the NIH is worried about obesity. Monica Bertagnolli, who was confirmed as the new NIH director last week, said that during her first meeting with the NIH institute heads, she posed a question: “Is there anybody in this room who isn’t worried about obesity?” “The answer is really no,” she told the…

STAT — New NIH head says government has fallen behind pharma on clinical trials

The new National Institutes of Health director, Monica Bertagnolli, said it’s a “failure” that enrollment in government-funded clinical trials has lagged behind those funded by the pharmaceutical industry. “If you just look at the number of patients who go on government-funded trials, it’s been completely flat over the last decade,” she said at a meeting…

POLITICO — Report calls on FDA to lead task force on post-approval trials

The nonprofit Reagan-Udall Foundation that advises the FDA is recommending the agency lead an inter-agency and industry task force to streamline and strengthen post-approval studies of drugs and devices. For a variety of reasons, many post-approval studies are never completed or take years longer than expected and FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said Tuesday that data…

STAT — Senate confirms Monica Bertagnolli as NIH director

Longtime cancer doctor Monica Bertagnolli is finally heading to the National Institutes of Health director’s office after a nearly two-year effort to install a permanent leader atop the $48 billion science agency. The Senate voted 62-36 Tuesday to confirm her nomination, giving the White House clearance to officially name Bertagnolli the institute’s director, the second…

Bloomberg Law — Senate Confirms Biden’s Pick to Lead Medical Research Agency

Monica Bertagnolli will be the second woman to serve as a confirmed director of the National Institutes of Health, the nation’s premier federal medical research agency. Bertagnolli was confirmed to the post by a 62-36 vote Tuesday. She replaces Lawrence Tabak, who has been acting director for nearly two years. Bertagnolli’s appointment comes at a…

Business Wire — City of Hope Vice Physician-in-Chief Edward S. Kim, M.D., M.B.A, Recognized as a Top Diversity Leader in U.S. Healthcare

Kim is honored by Modern Healthcare magazine for lifelong advocacy for equity in cancer research and care LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–City of Hope, one of the largest cancer research and treatment organizations in the United States, announced today that Vice Physician-in-Chief Edward S. Kim, M.D., M.B.A., has been named a 2023 Modern Healthcare Top Diversity Leader. The prestigious…

The Cancer Letter — High-risk investments by ARPA-H aim to catalyze a new era in cancer research

The recently announced ARPA-H Health Innovation Network would include hospitals, investors, and healthcare organizations—all entities that can contribute to developing and commercializing technologies that may improve patient outcomes. “Working with the federal government, loud and clear feedback from the community is very hard—it’s these very complex interactions with the government,” ARPA-H Director Renee Wegrzyn said…

Select Science — Editorial Article: Digital PCR technology drives progress in early lung cancer diagnosis and personalized therapy

With the help of Bio-Rad’s ultra-sensitive, multiplexed digital PCR system, Biodesix and its research partners are pursuing novel blood tests for the early detection and targeted treatment of lung cancer. Dr. Gary Pestano, chief development officer at Biodesix, discusses how his team is leveraging Bio-Rad’s advanced Droplet Digital™ PCR (ddPCR™) technology to develop novel blood tests…

BCRF — Breast Cancer Advocates And Researchers Convene For 10th Annual Metastatic Breast Cancer Research Conference

The unique event brought together patients, researchers, clinicians, and other stakeholders to discuss new and emerging research on metastatic breast cancer with a focus on patient priorities for better, more effective therapies. There are over 42,000 deaths due to breast cancer in the U.S. each year and nearly 700,000 globally. But it is not disease…

Science — Looking to gamble, newest U.S. health agency places first research bets

A year ago, when applied biologist Renee Wegrzyn took the helm of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), questions swirled around the brand-new agency, which was created by President Joe Biden to fund daring, cutting-edge biomedical research. Would the new organization be sufficiently different from the sluggish, risk-averse National Institutes of Health (NIH)?…