| | | | |  | | By Carmen Paun, Daniel Payne, Gregory Svirnovskiy, Ruth Reader and Erin Schumaker | | | | | 
Manipulating DNA with artificial intelligence requires better regulation, President Biden and bipartisan lawmakers agree. | Getty Images | Scientists could use synthetic nucleic acids and artificial intelligence to engineer new living organisms. It’s a risky enough proposition that President Joe Biden tasked the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in his AI executive order last fall with writing rules to ensure the acids aren’t used for nefarious purposes, like the creation of a virus with pandemic potential. Now lawmakers are getting antsy. A bipartisan group has written to the office asking for the rules to be developed “effectively and without delay.” The authors — five Democrats and five Republicans — include Reps. Julia Brownley (D-Calif.), Andy Harris (R-Md.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). They also laid out what it would take for the rules to be properly implemented: — Building a confidential and secure federal database to facilitate the screening of potentially dangerous sequences — Stress testing nucleic acid synthesis providers twice a year by, for example, having third parties attempt to order sequences of concern — Setting up international screening standards so American companies aren’t disadvantaged by regulation
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Winchester, Conn. | Shawn Zeller/POLITICO | This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. Indiana’s transportation department is piloting highway technology that aims to power electric vehicles wirelessly while they drive, Inside Climate News reports. The goal: electrifying long-haul trucks, quelling consumer range anxiety, and one day, cleaner air. Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Carmen Paun at cpaun@politico.com, Daniel Payne at dpayne@politico.com, Ruth Reader at rreader@politico.com or Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@politico.com. Send tips securely through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram or WhatsApp.
| | |  Pharmacies are doing yeoman's work vaccinating America, a new report says. | Eli Hartman/Odessa American via AP | Retail pharmacies have greatly helped the government’s efforts to keep Covid-19 at bay — and that could have implications for how public health leaders tackle future threats. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reviewed the share of updated Covid shots given at pharmacies, with researchers trying to understand what did — and didn’t — work in their distribution. What they found: Of the Covid vaccines given from September 2022 to September 2023, 67.7 percent were administered through the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program. Access and convenience are major assets to the program, Nkenge Jones-Jack, one of the report’s authors, told Daniel. Nearly 90 percent of Americans live within five miles of a pharmacy, she said, and the flexible hours and ability to walk in without an appointment also aided a faster vaccine response than what might have been possible through other providers or care sites. “Those are a couple of factors that make pharmacies really great vaccinators during public health emergencies,” she said. Why it matters: The performance of pandemic initiatives could change public health policy. “This program can serve as a model for future public health services, particularly when there is a public health emergency,” Jones-Jack said. Even so: Disparities in uptake among different demographics persisted during the vaccination efforts, both for the first series of shots and the updated versions, according to CDC data.
| | | | POLITICO IS BACK AT THE 2024 MILKEN GLOBAL CONFERENCE: POLITICO will again be your eyes and ears at the 27th Annual Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles from May 5-8 with exclusive, daily, reporting in our Global Playbook newsletter. Suzanne Lynch will be on the ground covering the biggest moments, behind-the-scenes buzz and on-stage insights from global leaders in health, finance, tech, philanthropy and beyond. Get a front-row seat to where the most interesting minds and top global leaders confront the world’s most pressing and complex challenges — subscribe today. | | | | | | | | |  AI tools have arrived in health care, prompting more formal efforts to vet them. | Kirill Kudryatsev/AFP/Getty Images | The blistering rise of new AI tools in health care has regulators and doctors grappling with a central concern: quality control and trust. Enter the Massachusetts-based Health AI Assurance Laboratory, a product of the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School and the MITRE Corp., a nonprofit that sponsors federally funded research and development. The initiative will evaluate AI tools for their safety, the transparency of how they work and their efficacy in diverse patient populations. Officials hope it will grow the state’s AI ecosystem and foster student career opportunities. Researchers will track AI technologies in simulated clinics, inpatient facilities, ICUs and hospital-at-home settings. What they’re saying: “Given the immense potential of AI to transform everyday life, we want to be mindful of its overall impact,” Patrick Larkin, who runs the Innovation Institute at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, the state agency funding the new lab, said in a release. “That means supporting investments that ultimately provide startups and established companies with the necessary tools, methods, processes, infrastructure and a simulated real-world environment to develop and refine their AI-driven solutions.” | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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