Project NextGen has no warp speed

The ideas and innovators shaping health care

Jun 08, 2023 View in browser   By Ben Leonard, Carmen Paun and Erin Schumaker FOLLOW THE MONEY Becerra lamented the lack of funding for Project NextGen. | Rod Laskey for POLITICO Don’t expect the Biden administration’s bid to develop a new generation of Covid-19 vaccines to yield the rapid success of Operation Warp Speed. That’s what HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said during POLITICO’s Health Care Summit yesterday in Washington. Becerra downplayed expectations that the administration would be able to repeat the success of Operation Warp Speed, which spurred the development of multiple Covid shots within a year of the disease’s arrival — unless the effort gets a lot more money from Congress. The recent deal to raise the debt ceiling preserved about $5 billion in funding for Project NextGen, which aims to develop new Covid vaccines and treatments. But in an interview with POLITICO’s Adam Cancryn at the summit, Becerra lamented that Congress isn’t funding it like it did Operation Warp Speed. “We’ve got some really innovative approaches and therapies in the works,” Becerra said. “Here’s the difference … they really did have trillions of dollars.” That was an overstatement. Operation Warp Speed didn’t get “trillions of dollars” but did receive an estimated $18 billion. It’s unclear whether Congress will provide additional funding for the project, which the White House announced in May. Among Project NextGen’s goals is the development of mucosal vaccines, shots that offer better protection against variants and vaccines that protect against different types of coronaviruses. Carmen has more takeaways from the summit.   LISTEN TO POLITICO'S ENERGY PODCAST: Check out our daily five-minute brief on the latest energy and environmental politics and policy news. Don't miss out on the must-know stories, candid insights, and analysis from POLITICO's energy team. Listen today.     WELCOME TO FUTURE PULSE New York City | Ben Leonard This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. Most of the focus in Washington on artificial intelligence centers on how agencies should regulate its use by the private sector. But Bakul Patel, who worked on digital health initiatives at the FDA before becoming head of digital health regulatory strategy at Google, told attendees at POLITICO's Health Care Summit that regulators should think about using the technology themselves. “We need to start thinking: How do we… make technology a partner in the regulation?” he said. Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Ben Leonard at bleonard@politico.com, Ruth Reader at rreader@politico.com, Carmen Paun at cpaun@politico.com or Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@politico.com. Send tips securely through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram or WhatsApp. Today on our Pulse Check podcast, host Katherine Ellen Foley takes us behind the scenes of POLITICO's annual Health Care Summit on Wednesday. Katherine spoke with attendees, including Ashish Jha, White House Covid-19 response coordinator, about the transformative impact of technology and innovation on health care and the challenges ahead. Plus, Carmen shares her biggest takeaways from the day. Listen to today’s Pulse Check podcast AROUND THE NATION You're more likely to find buprenorphine at CVS. | AFP via Getty Images Despite the success patients have had using buprenorphine to treat opioid addiction, most pharmacies still often don’t have it available. That’s according to a new research letter, published in JAMA Network Open, in which reseachers from the University of Southern California; Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston; and Bicycle Health analyzed data collected by Bicycle Health, a provider of opioid use disorder treatment. The firm contacted more than 5,000 different pharmacies, and close to half — 42 percent — didn’t have buprenorphine available. Chain pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens were more likely to have the drug in stock at 60 and 70 percent, respectively, but percentages across states varied significantly. In states where the company sent requests to at least 100 pharmacies, those in Florida were the least likely to stock the drug at 37 percent. On the other end, Washington state drugstores had buprenorphine available 84 percent of the time. Buprenorphine is itself an opioid, but it’s used to help patients wean off stronger drugs. “For someone with an opioid use disorder to go through the process of deciding to seek treatment, meeting with a health care provider, and getting a prescription – only to be turned away from a pharmacy that does not stock the medication they need – is coldhearted, unethical, and inexcusable,” Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said. “This must change.” Why it matters: More than 90,000 Americans died of opioid overdoses in 2022, yet most patients go untreated. The Biden administration and Congress want to expand access to buprenorphine, but myriad barriers remain, including stigma. The study’s findings buttress POLITICO reporting that doctors nationwide have struggled to prescribe the drug.   GET READY FOR GLOBAL TECH DAY: Join POLITICO Live as we launch our first Global Tech Day alongside London Tech Week on Thursday, June 15. Register now for continuing updates and to be a part of this momentous and program-packed day! From the blockchain, to AI, and autonomous vehicles, technology is changing how power is exercised around the world, so who will write the rules? REGISTER HERE.     WASHINGTON WATCH Would you like low-fat or skim? | Getty “We’ve really ruined an entire generation of milk drinkers.” – Rep. G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) Kids haven’t been served any whole milk in school since the Department of Agriculture updated rules for the National School Lunch Program. But that could change if Congress moves forward with legislation that the House Education and the Workforce Committee approved this week. The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act would overturn USDA rules requiring schools participating in the school lunch program, which includes public and some private schools, to offer only fat-free or low-fat milk. Contentious debate: The bill, by Pennsylvania Republican G.T. Thompson, drew bipartisan support in committee with advocates disputing the USDA’s view that whole milk is fattening and arguing that kids who don’t like skim and 1 percent milk choose sugary options instead. “We have cheated them out of access to the most nutritional beverage,” said Thompson. The USDA rules, which stem from a 2010 law that ordered the department to update nutritional guidelines, permit schools to serve low-fat or nonfat chocolate milk. What’s next? The bill awaits a vote of the full House.   Follow us on Twitter Ben Leonard @_BenLeonard_ Ruth Reader @RuthReader Carmen Paun @carmenpaun Erin Schumaker @erinlschumaker   Follow us

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