Politico's Pulse Check

A federal court in California could decide whether social media firms need to pay for the damage they’ve allegedly done to Americans’ mental health. Ruth Reader talks with Carmen Paun about the consolidated complaint, which will test a novel legal theory on product liability. Plus, Krista Mahr breaks down what we know about the newly named members of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Anti-abortion groups are pushing back against Republican lawmakers in some conservative states. Alice Miranda Ollstein talks with Lauren Gardner about some groups’ fear that GOP-controlled legislatures will water down their near-total abortion bans and stir up politically contentious debates over already-vetted laws.

Jeff Zients is on his way back to the White House as President Joe Biden’s new chief of staff, where the managerial prowess he showed as Covid czar will be put to the test. Adam Cancryn talks with Ruth Reader about his track record.

More-than-typical shortages of common over-the-counter and prescription drugs have caused headaches for sick Americans and those managing chronic diseases. Erin Schumaker talks with Alice Miranda Ollstein about the demand shortages and supply disruptions. Plus, Alice's dispatch from the first March For Life rally on the National Mall since the fall of Roe.

The watchdog arm of Congress  called on the Department of Health and Human Services to better oversee its funding of research into “enhanced potential pandemic pathogens.” Ben Leonard talks with Ruth Reader about why this adds fuel to a contentious debate in Washington over so-called gain-of-function research.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) is aiming to introduce health care cybersecurity legislation during the first quarter of 2023 that could set minimum standards for health care organizations to protect patient data from hacking threats. Ben Leonard talks with Lauren Gardner about his conversation with Sen. Warner with thoughts from some of biggest advocacy groups in the space, CHIME and AHA.

The Biden administration plans to widen the testing of bathroom waste for Covid variants and other pathogens when international flights arrive. Krista Mahr talks with Megan Messerly about collecting wastewater samples from long-haul flights, which administration officials and public health experts see as part of a revolution in biosafety infrastructure, and a critical plank of national security in the post-pandemic era.

Soaring Covid and seasonal infections like flu and RSV have compounded long-term problems at the NHS. Long wait times for treatment and a chronically understaffed and burned out workforce have raised a contentious debate about whether the U.K. should move away from its single-payer system. Helen Collis talks with Lauren Gardner about what the changes could look like.

The Covid public health emergency, which looks likely to end as soon as April, could curtail access to drugs used to treat substance use disorders and mental illnesses. Ben Leonard talks with Ruth Reader about what's holding the DEA back from setting up a special registration process.

Federal officials are paying attention to promising programs emerging on the frontlines of the opioid epidemic — in prisons and jails. Krista Mahr talks with Ben Leonard about her report out of the Maine State Prison.

Alice Miranda Ollstein talks with Adam Cancryn about his report that senior Biden officials are targeting an end to the Covid-19 emergency designation, which would trigger a complex restructuring of major elements of the federal response.

Ben Leonard talks with Lauren Gardner about the debate over HHS's directive requiring doctors to send patients test results before they have a chance to explain them.

On Friday, the FDA granted accelerated approval to Leqembi, previously known as lecanemab, made by Eisai and Biogen. The drug is the second that targets amyloid proteins in the brain, which are thought to cause progressive dementia. Katherine Ellen Foley talks with Megan Messerly about the future of the drug.

According to the latest data from the HHS’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration annual survey, one in three Americans had a substance abuse disorder or mental illness in 2021. Lauren Gardner talks with Daniel Payne. Plus, Ben Leonard talks with Amy Abernethy, the former No. 2 at the Food and Drug Administration and now president of Verily’s clinical research business, about barriers to improving trials, the new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health and more.

The coronavirus Omicron strain XBB.1.5, which has become the dominant strain in the U.S. in just a matter of weeks, could drive a new wave of cases, a World Health Organization official told reporters Wednesday. Lauren Gardner talks with Carmen Paun about what the WHO knows and what it doesn't — yet.

Katherine Ellen Foley talks with Alice Miranda Ollstein about the influx of new demands that anti-abortion groups have presented to the 118th Congress.

Katherine Ellen Foley talks with Ruth Reader about the state of artificial intelligence in health care and why it hasn’t reached its promise yet.

Carmen Paun talks with Daniel Payne about the trajectory of the mpox outbreak in 2022 and what lessons we can learn from it.

In June, the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision — throwing the future of abortion access in the U.S. into flux. Since then, roughly a quarter of states have made accessing the procedure illegal in most circumstances, while others have bolstered protections for doctors and patients. At the federal level, members of Congress and the Biden administration have been grappling with how to respond. Megan Messerly talks with Alice Miranda Ollstein about the state abortion fights they followed in 2022 and what they’re looking at next year.

Mark Cuban is famous for his "Shark Tank" reality TV show on ABC and is one of America's most prominent investors. But he's also trying to disrupt the prescription drug space. Earlier this year, he made a foray into health care, launching the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company to take on the pharmaceutical market and lower drug prices. Ben Leonard talked with him about the Cost Plus Drug company he founded with Dr. Alex Oshmyansky and how he plans to pull it off.