Rest in peace, David. What an amazing legacy working to make medicine more affordable.

Next Up: ▶️ Drug Pricing in Trump 2.0: Where Are We and What’s Ahead? 🗓️ January 16, 2026 @ 12pm ET Featuring experts @avik.bsky.social, @rachelsachs.bsky.social, @martawosinska.bsky.social, and LDI Executive Director @rachelwerner.bsky.social. Register today: ldi.upenn.edu/events/drug-...

Go check our new study out -- this work was the 2nd of my dissertation chapters! 😊

So sad to see this. Stuart was a wonderful person and giant in the field of health policy. He will long be remembered.

My decorating has come a long way this year. Hope 2026 is better for grants / funding / science than 2025 was!

Our most-read story of 2025: Outraged by the Jan. 6 riot, a vigilante spent years undercover climbing the ranks of right-wing militias. He didn’t tell police or the FBI. He didn’t tell family or friends. The one person he told was a ProPublica reporter.

You can explore all ten parts of the series here: www.statnews.com/american-sci...

This looks like Sinbad died and got reincarnated as a chair.

Oncologists should support - not oppose - Medicare drug price negotiation. Lower drug prices benefit patients; this should supersede revenue concerns. So @dusetzinas.bsky.social @rachelsachs.bsky.social and I argue today in @jamaoncology.com jamanetwork.com/journals/jam... 1/

In the spirit of the holidays, we've been featuring people with innovative fixes to health care's toughest challenges. Dr. Lisa Fitzpatrick believes plainspoken information from trusted messengers can help shrink health disparities. tradeoffs.org/2023/02/02/h... less

Merry Christmas Eve! Max and Wiley want to wish everyone a great Holiday week!

don’t wrap presents on the floor without a plan on how to get back up

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led a path of gutting and destruction of public, global health, and medical research resources, among others. How much did it save in federal spending? Nothing...it led to an increase www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...

watching my favorite christmas movie and what is possibly the great american comedy about class and race

Drug pricing watchers: CMMI has now announced its model to expand GLP-1 coverage in Part D/Medicaid. I may have more analysis later, but for now a couple of thoughts. www.cms.gov/priorities/i... 1/4

A donor in Maryland is paying off the debt of about 82,000 meals for low-income students. Administrators estimate the donation will cover two years’ worth of school lunch debt for students enrolled in the free and reduced-priced meals (FARM) program.

CBS News may not want you to see its CECOT reporting, but I'm happy to share this powerful video that our team produced this year.

A often-overlooked fallout of our fragmented drug distribution system: patients with too many medicines, too many prescribers, too many pharmacies, and not enough quarterbacking of the entirety of the patient’s treatment journey. www.wsj.com/health/healt...

Canada was their top customer! And thanks to President Deals, we stopped buying bourbon months ago. Billions and billions of dollars in sales, gone www.kentucky.com/news/busines...

NIH funding is like pizza 🍕. Usually, the NIH gives many researchers a slice of the pie, but this year they decided to just give a few researchers the whole pie. The data show that, disproportionately, early career researchers went hungry. We need Congress to stop NIH multi-year funding mandates.

This has flown below the radar, but it’s a low-key outrage that Trump’s FDA has withdrawn the rule to regulate asbestos in talc products. It’s the opposite of making America healthy. www.notus.org/health-scien...

I'm also in wait-and-see mode on the effects of caps on grad student loans. My big questions are: (1) Can the private market scale up in time? (2) Do students even want private loans? (3) Will grad programs change admissions practices? www.insidehighered.com/news/busines...

In a memo obtained by STAT, the NIH gives specific steps on how grant reviewers can check for alignment with administration priorities. www.statnews.com/2025/12/15/n...

One citizen said that federal agents in Idaho pointed guns at her children, ages 6 and 8, and dragged her 14-year-old daughter out of a truck and zip-tied her. The mother told investigators that an agent threatened to “fucking blow your head off.” By @nicolefoy.bsky.social

Well camouflaged. 😄

If you have a few bucks to spare this is a great business where we adopted one of our most cherished family members! gofund.me/4a128f2f6

Great to see this @dusetzinas.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/rach.... "Important to monitor effects of these products on patients’ health and on overall health care spending for patients, payers, and society to ensure equitable access to them at fair prices for all" www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

Good thing economists don't care about having fans.

I am a member of quicksand generation. Why did we learn so much about this as kids? Princess Bride? Anyway, I did NOT expect quicksand in Arches. Mind blown.

This is heartbreaking.

Tariffs on medical goods resulted in $3.4 billion in duties assessed between February and July 2025—more than 10 times the same period in 2024, with 55.8 percent pass-through, from Manho Kang, Xiangtao Meng, Katheryn N. Russ, and James Waters www.nber.org/papers/w34531

Cancer-drug trials under enroll patients at high risk of serious adverse events and underestimate drug-induced harms. Regulating representativeness could improve external validity, from Jason Abaluck, @leilaagha.bsky.social, and Sachin Shah www.nber.org/papers/w34534

Summarizing the current state of pricing and coverage for GLP1s in the US with @rachelsachs.bsky.social in @nejm.org this week! Read it before things change (again)! www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

💬 Viewpoint: Combination-only approvals for new #HIV drugs limit generic substitution and sustain high antiretroviral prices, even after key patents expire. #WorldAIDSDay2025 ja.ma/4pwRTKi

When my mom did radiation I was shocked - a 15 minute appointment 5 days a week with a 30 minute drive each way is crappy no matter how motivated you are for treatment

Current NIH policy under Bhattacharya (at the behest of Project2025 architect Russell Vought) is killing the next generation of researchers. If you value research, tell your members of Congress that the NIH needs more than funding. It needs sound leadership. www.statnews.com/2025/12/08/t...

How you spend your days matters. Knowing the time impact from the treatments pursued (or not) can help patients and their families to be prepared for making informed decisions about cancer care. What an honor to be part of this work.

I didn’t really get how much “health care contact days” is a meaningful patient outcome until I got sick thank you @ishaniganguli.bsky.social @dusetzinas.bsky.social @jamanetworkopen.com

Millions of Americans are skipping cancer screenings because they don't know they cost $0 out-of-pocket. New study with Wendy Epstein proves that info works. We're looking for partners 🤝 & funders 💵 to scale up and save lives. 🚀 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author...

Lots more detail in the paper (jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...), but our findings provide the first evaluation of FDAAA and its enhanced safety-related regulatory authorities, and its impact on drug safety and public health, and informs current PDUFA VII negotiations! @reshmagar.bsky.social (5/5)

Here, here. "Congress must now also exercise its oversight responsibilities to ensure repairs to FDAs current and future capabilities, infrastructure, human resources, and reputation begin as soon as possible." Big deal coming from investors/companies. www.nopatientleftbehind.org/evidence-bas...

Call open for an NBER conference on Medical Innovation Policy I'm co-organizing with @dusetzinas.bsky.social. Friday the 13th, naturally! Open to anyone (not just economists) working on the issues, and papers at different stages. www.nber.org/calls-papers...

Missed title opportunity of the decade.

The news right now is horrifying. Why would anyone do this to people?

Well, that graph is something else.

An auction full of Muppets and Jim Henson items you say? I have now identified the things in life I value and would spend a lot to own (that and my silly cats).

Amazing! Science is so cool. Hunter syndrome: Boy with rare condition amazes doctors after world-first gene therapy share.google/POY4UXyNcBUL...

Faculty at a Big 10 school with a prominent athletic program here: my retirement (that I signed a contract for) was cut 10% this year. I also have to clean my office with a broken, donated vacuum. But this is nice too, I guess.

In good company alongside some cutting-edge basic science, our recent @bmj.com study examining the association between cancer drug profitability and utilization made the @mskcancercenter.bsky.social research highlights! www.mskcc.org/news/msk-res... @dusetzinas.bsky.social