mbarber.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Congress is about to cut #Medicaid by $880 billion. CALL THESE REPS. They are vulnerable--close margins in their elections and with lots of people in Medicaid in their districts. You may call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. List below. Call now and all day tomorrow. 1/

submitted 1 day ago • 8 comments

If people are interested in learning about the ACIP and its decades of contributions to US vaccine policy successes, here’s a short 2014 piece I wrote in NEJM with Adel Mahmoud (timed with its 50th anniversary) www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

No doubt that misguided decisions like this will only further entrench mistrust in @fda.gov but that doesn't mean we abandon having a regulator that rigorously reviews data in order to protect patients from unproven and unsafe medical products, and... www.statnews.com/2025/02/24/p... #MedSky

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

The PDUFA reform literally no one asked for. "In one weekend of mass firings across the F.D.A., much of that effort was gone. Most baffling to many were the firings of hundreds whose jobs were not funded by taxpayers." www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/h...

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

PhRMA's deregulatory agenda for the 2nd Trump administration, in one slide. Magic AI pixie dust, "new and different forms of evidence," and "modernization" of "regulatory expectations" all code words for fewer, smaller, and weaker clinical trials to prove safety and efficacy.

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

Paul Farmer called them "stupid deaths." We built programs, trained workers, supplied drugs, and are now turning off this hard-won infrastructure for no reason, causing so many senseless, preventable deaths. Read @jeremykonyndyk.bsky.social on the USAID freeze. 1/ www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/o...

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

If you were wondering if Pharma CEOS were ever going to speak out about the attacks on science and proven vaccines or drugs, they won't. But they will point to "opportunities" in aligning with the administration that continue to leave patients without access, but advance their bottom line. #MedSky

submitted 7 days ago • 1 comment

Possibly the only person on earth who this will come as a surprise to is Sen. Bill Cassidy. (Despite the inevitable statement he’ll put out arguing that this is not at all inconsistent with those ‘commitments’ he received from RFK in exchange for his vote).

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

USAID’s waiver for 'life-saving' aid got headlines. But funds still aren’t reaching the people who need them. "Even programs with waivers are still frozen, according to people in more than 40 USAID-funded groups, bc the payments system used to disburse funds to orgs has not operated for weeks." 1/2

submitted 6 days ago • 5 comments

@drsforamerica.bsky.social & @publiccitizen.bsky.social are fighting this in the courts (www.citizen.org/news/doctors...) for which we received a temporary restraining order to get websites restored (www.citizen.org/news/judge-g...). Here's how to help: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... #MedSky

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

The US WW2 medical research and development effort catalyzed postwar science, modernized drug discovery, and fueled the postwar National Institutes of Health — reshaping biomedical innovation for decades, from Daniel P. Gross and Bhaven N. Sampat https://www.nber.org/papers/w33457

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

WSJ sub: “Indian Partition went smoothly enough, right? Will try to remember to check this before publishing.”

submitted 14 days ago • 486 comments

In Uganda, USAID has instructed major recipients they can restart work if they slash their budgets by more than 50% and to cut back #HIV services to only treatment and PMTCT. But officials caution that advice is only good for 30 days and they can't offer any guidance on what will happen after that.

submitted 14 days ago • 1 comment

I published a new oped in @statnews.com today, with other professors of law, medicine & public health. On settlement of the landmark US v. Gilead patent infringement case. We call for transparency & robust enforcement of public patent rights in the future. 🧵 1/ www.statnews.com/2025/02/12/h...

submitted 14 days ago • 1 comment

Nobel laureates: Where are the drugmakers, why aren't they out here defending the NIH-backed university research infrastructure that trains their workforce and uncovers new targets and tools for fighting disease? The drugmakers: www.statnews.com/2025/02/11/n... by @adamfeuerstein.bsky.social

submitted 15 days ago • 0 comments

"Bates wrote in a 21-page opinion that the health agencies’ actions would harm 'everyday Americans & most acutely, underprivileged Americans, seeking healthcare' from physicians such as Liou & Ramachandran." @drsforamerica.bsky.social @publiccitizen.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...

submitted 15 days ago • 0 comments

2024 horizon: strengthen access conditionalities and planning on NIH-funded research 2025 horizon: NIH, fund research

submitted 15 days ago • 0 comments

BREAKING: @publiccitizen.bsky.social on behalf of @drsforamerica.bsky.social for the lawsuit around the removal of clinical information & data from CDC, FDA, and HHS webpages was granted a temporary restraining order - by 11:59 pm, the pages must be restored. #MedSky www.citizen.org/news/judge-g...

submitted 15 days ago • 1 comment

Today! In 2h - 8 am EST / 1 pm London

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

Feels strange to advertise a talk in these times, but if pharmaceutical markets sound like a (relatively) cheerful distraction, tune in or swing by. This is a new talk covering some new projects I'm excited about, and it would be lovely to see some friendly faces.

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

"Many of my good friends have their funding withdrawn or frozen based on the DEIA wording such as 'diverse microbes'" a scientist reliant on federal research grants told me, adding NSF proposals with terms including 'disabilities' and 'female' have been put on hold

submitted 18 days ago • 195 comments

Here is the court order immediately reinstating all USAID staff placed on admin leave —though, only through next Friday Feb 14. The court notes govt “had no response” to the question why firings had to happen now (save unsupported possible “corruption”). Preliminary injunction hearing Weds 2/12.

submitted 18 days ago • 1 comment

One of the many horrific examples in this article: “Without regular injections… participants will not have enough cabotegravir to stop a new [HIV] infection, but there will be enough in their systems that, if they were to contract the virus, it could easily mutate to become drug-resistant”

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

The goal here is not reform but destruction. Think it makes no sense? It doesn’t. Authoritarians want to bring universities to their knees. This is how to do it. www.statnews.com/2025/02/07/n...

submitted 19 days ago • 21 comments

“You cannot pause a plane in midflight and expect that everything is going to be O.K.,” Gawande says. “That’s what they were trying to do with lifesaving health and humanitarian assistance around the world.” So glad for this convo to get a lot off my chest. www.newyorker.com/podcast/poli...

submitted 18 days ago • 5 comments

Working in global health, I've heard every version of these justifications for anticipatory obedience this month. Theirs is a divide & conquer strategy and a false game. Giving up abortion and trans rights is both wrong and not going to win back NIH or PEPFAR, folks. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/08/o...

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

1. Today the NIH director issued a new directive slashing overhead rates to 15%. I want to provide some context on what that means and why it matters. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

submitted 19 days ago • 270 comments

#Tuberculosis : Thank you @johngreensbluesky.bsky.social for the support. #Blueksky users can learn more about our work around the world treating TB here: www.msf.org/tuberculosis #IDSky #MedSky #AidSky

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

BREAKING: We have an early limited win in our suit. www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...

submitted 19 days ago • 1 comment

Upcoming Seminar! Join @mbarber.bsky.social as she explores the economics of drug production, global supply chains, and how #MarketStructures & power asymmetries affect accessibility, affordability, and distribution of #EssentialMedicines. Register: bit.ly/4g65qDx

submitted 33 days ago • 0 comments

If this is true, this could be devastating for HHS, essentially gutting already limited public capacity on public health, health regulation, and health care delivery. www.wsj.com/health/healt... #MedSky

submitted 20 days ago • 1 comment

The Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) Program treated lymphatic filariasis, blinding trachoma, river blindness, schistosomiasis, and intestinal worms. Since 2006, it leveraged $30bn in donated medicines, providing 3.1 bn treatments to people in > 30 countries. web.archive.org/web/20240829... 1/2

submitted 19 days ago • 1 comment

The Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) is (was?) a global biomedical research funding organization. CDMRP conduct(ed) "high-impact, high-risk, and high-gain projects that other agencies [and the private sector] may not support."

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

Just received this photo from a friend of a warehouse in Kinshasa. These are tuberculosis medications--ALREADY PAID FOR--that aren't being distributed due to the Trump Administration's stop work order. TB treatment is being interrupted in SO many patients around the world. What does that mean? (1/2)

submitted 19 days ago • 169 comments

Feels v strange to post a paper this week, but @akapczynski.bsky.social, Trudel Pare, Sahil Agrawal, and I wrote a legal roadmap to help states win (and defend) public pharma initiatives. We've sent it out, so law review folks- check your inboxes! #lawsky papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

submitted 20 days ago • 1 comment