Vocal FDA critic to serve as agency's top vaccine regulator
Prasad, a University of California at San Francisco professor and epidemiologist, will replace Peter Marks, whom the Trump administration forced out in late March. Prasad, who is also a hematologist and oncologist, is the latest vocal critic of pandemic-era policies to join the administration.
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Yahoo
2 minutes ago
- Yahoo
An Ohio couple welcomes a baby boy from a nearly 31-year-old frozen embryo
30 Year Old Embryo A baby boy born last week to an Ohio couple developed from an embryo that had been frozen for more than 30 years in what is believed to be the longest storage time before a birth. In what's known as embryo adoption, Linda and Tim Pierce used a handful of embryos donated in 1994 in pursuit of having a child after fighting infertility for years. Their son was born Saturday from an embryo that had been in storage for 11,148 days, which the Pierces' doctor says sets a record. It's a concept that has been around since the 1990s but is gaining attraction as some fertility clinics and advocates, often Christian-centered, oppose discarding leftover embryos because of their belief that life begins at or around conception and that all embryos deserve to be treated like children who need a home. 'I felt all along that these three little hopes, these little embryos, deserved to live just like my daughter did,' said Linda Archerd, 62, who donated her embryos to the Pierces. Just about 2% of births in the U.S. are the result of in vitro fertilization, and an even smaller fraction involve donated embryos. However, medical experts estimate about 1.5 million frozen embryos are currently being stored throughout the country, with many of those in limbo as parents wrestle with what to do with their leftover embryos created in IVF labs. Further complicating the topic is a 2024 Alabama Supreme Court decision that said that frozen embryos have the legal status of children. State leaders have since devised a temporary solution shielding clinics from liability stemming from that ruling, though questions linger about remaining embryos. Archerd says she turned to IVF in 1994. Back then, the ability to freeze, thaw and transfer embryos was making key progress and opening the door for hopeful parents to create more embryos and increase their chances of a successful transfer. She wound up with four embryos and initially hoped to use them all. But after the birth of her daughter, Archerd and her husband divorced, disrupting her timeline for having more children. As the years turned into decades, Archerd said she was wracked with guilt about what to do with the embryos as storage fees continued to rise. Eventually, she found Snowflakes, a division of Nightlight Christian Adoptions, which offers open adoptions to donors that allows people like Archerd. She was also able to set preferences for what families would adopt her embryos. 'I wanted to be a part of this baby's life,' she said. 'And I wanted to know the adopting parents.' The process was tricky, requiring Archerd to contact her initial fertility doctor in Oregon and dig through paper records to get the proper documentation for the donation. The embryos then had to be shipped from Oregon to the Pierces' doctor in Tennessee. The clinic, Rejoice Fertility in Knoxville, refuses to discard frozen embryos and has become known for handling embryos stored in outdated and older containers. Of the three donated embryos the Pierces received from Archerd, one didn't make the thaw. Two were transferred to Lindsey Pierce's womb, but just one successfully implanted. According to Dr. John David Gordon, the transfer of the nearly 31-year-old embryo marks the longest-frozen embryo to result in a live birth. He would know, Gordon says his clinic assisted in the previous record, when Lydia and Timothy Ridgeway were born from embryos frozen for 30 years, or 10,905 days. 'I think that these stories catch the imagination,' Gordon said. 'But I think they also provide a little bit of a cautionary tale to say: Why are these embryos sitting in storage? You know, why do we have this problem?' In a statement, Lindsey and Tim Pierce said the clinic's support was just what they needed. 'We didn't go into this thinking about records — we just wanted to have a baby,' Lindsey Pierce said. For Archerd, the donation process has been an emotional roller coaster. Relief that her embryos finally found a home, sadness it couldn't be with her and a little anxiety about what the future holds next, with possibly meeting the Pierces and the baby in person. 'I'm hoping that they're going to send pictures,' she said, noting that the parents have already sent several after the birth. 'I'd love to meet them some day. That would be a dream come true to meet — meet them and the baby.' Solve the daily Crossword
The Hill
4 minutes ago
- The Hill
Sam's Club freeze dried fruit recalled over possible Listeria contamination
A recall has been issued for a popular dried fruit snack sold at Sam's Club amid concerns that the packages may be contaminated with Listeria. The snack is Member's Mark Freeze Dried Fruit Variety Pack 15-count. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the recall by Doehler Dry Ingredient Solutions LLC, in a press release Thursday, noting that no illnesses had been reported yet from the possible Listeria monocytogenes exposure. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the contamination was discovered by the company during 'internal testing of their products.' The potentially affected products were distributed between July 1-25 and were sold at Sam's Club stores across the U.S. The FDA is advising people not to consume the snack if they purchased it during that window of time. Listeria monocytogenes can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, elderly people, and those with weakened immune systems. Exposure among healthy people can lead to symptoms like fevers, nausea and abdominal pain. Health officials warn that listeria can result in miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.
Fast Company
4 minutes ago
- Fast Company
A Medicare experiment could change who gets Ozempic
If a new experiment pans out, Medicaid and Medicare could begin covering the costly weight loss drugs that price out many Americans who might want to try them. After killing a Biden-era plan with the same goal, the Trump administration is working on a five-year pilot program that would allow state Medicaid programs and Medicare's prescription plan to opt into covering drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, Zepbound and Mounjaro for 'weight management,' The Washington Post reports. In its final months, the Biden administration proposed expanding Medicaid and Medicare coverage for popular weight loss drugs, extending it to roughly 7.5 million people enrolled in those programs. In April, the Trump administration tossed that plan – a move that was somewhat expected given Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s vocal opposition to the weight loss drugs that have taken America by storm. Now, something very similar appears to be back on the table. Differences of opinion Kennedy's view is at odds with other members of the Trump administration, including Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Oz, a former surgeon best known as a daytime television personality prior to joining the federal government, has long boosted weight loss drugs like Ozempic. 'I'll respect you no matter what your weight might be, but for those who want to lose a few pounds, Ozempic and other semaglutide medications can be a big help,' Oz said in a social media post in 2023. 'We need to make it as easy as possible for people to meet their health goals, period.' Oz has also been paid to promote the drugs in the past. In 2019, Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk sponsored a nine-minute long infomercial on Oz's daytime talk show praising the benefits of using Ozempic for Type 2 diabetes. On the other side of the coin, Kennedy at HHS is staunchly opposed to weight loss drugs like Ozempic and has made misleading claims about the class of drugs in the past. 'They're counting on selling it to Americans because we're so stupid and so addicted to drugs,' Kennedy said in an interview he shared on Instagram last year. Kennedy, a prominent figure in anti-vaccine circles before joining the Trump administration, has a long track record of elevating health conspiracy theories, even while promoting other common sense ideas around health and wellness. Kennedy, who opposes the use of many prescription medications, believes that the prominence of processed foods in the American diet is a root cause of many of the country's health woes. What is the status now? While Medicaid and Medicare don't evenly cover GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic for weight loss, 13 state Medicaid programs do offer coverage to treat obesity. For people on Medicaid and Medicare, coverage is much more widely available when GLP-1 drugs are prescribed to Type 2 diabetes. The Washington Post reports that the trial program is slated to start in April 2026 for Medicaid and in January 2027 for Medicare. The program is connected to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, which experiments with new ways to lower costs and deliver coverage for people enrolled in those subsidized insurance programs. According to documents viewed by the Post, the program has yet to be finalized. Whether it goes into effect or not, the experimental plan to extend coverage shows that the anti-Ozempic faction of the Trump administration might find itself overruled when it comes to the weight loss drug.
