As FDA parries arguments that its approval standards have changed, allowing for therapies to get on the market faster with little evidence, former FDA chief Robert Califf told a group of stakeholders in the data industry that he, too, is worried that a number of new treatments are getting on the market with no actual understanding of clinical benefit and risk.

California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed controversial legislation designed to eliminate the financial incentives for dialysis firms to contribute to charitable premium assistance programs by limiting reimbursement for certain patients that receive such assistance, and a kidney charity has already said it will stop operating in the state Jan. 1 due to the law.

Federal appellate judges grilled a lawyer for the Trump administration on Friday (Oct. 11) over the administration’s policy allowing states to add work requirements to their Medicaid programs, with all the members of a three-judge panel -- two Democratic appointees and one Republican appointee -- expressing skepticism that work requirements can promote the goals of Medicaid.

FDA is examining the authorities it has under tobacco and drug regulations that it could bring to bear on suppliers and distributors that tamper with vaping products linked to the outbreak of lung illnesses that have now been identified in 49 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands, officials from FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told reporters Friday (Oct. 11).