From Washington, DC,

• STAT News reports,
  • “President Donald Trump said Tuesday he wants Republicans to reach a deal on health care insurance assistance by being willing to bend on a 50-year-old budget policy that bars federal money from being spent on abortion services.
  • “You have to be a little flexible” on the Hyde Amendment, Trump told House Republicans as they gathered in Washington for a caucus retreat to open the midterm election year. “You gotta be a little flexible. You gotta work something. You gotta use ingenuity.”
  • “With his suggestion, Trump, who supported abortion rights before he entered politics in 2015, is asking conservatives to abandon or at least ease up on decades of Republican orthodoxy on abortion and spending policy — something lawmakers and conservatives pushed back on immediately.
  • “At the same time, he is demonstrating his long-standing malleability on abortion and acknowledging that Democrats have the political upper hand on health care after Republicans, who control the White House, the Senate and the House, allowed the expiration of premium subsidies for people buying Affordable Care Act insurance policies. As negotiations on Capitol Hill continue on the matter, some Democrats are pushing to end the Hyde restrictions as part of any new agreements on health care subsidies.”

• The Wall Street Journal relates,
  • “Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa, who represented a district in Northern California for 13 years, has died, shocking colleagues and further narrowing the GOP’s slim majority. 
  • “Colleagues of LaMalfa, 65 years old, praised the farmer and former state legislator for his long record of advocating for rural communities and farmers.” * *. *
  • “LaMalfa’s death further shrinks the already thin House GOP majority to 218-213. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.) formally resigned from the House in the middle of her term this week. There are now four empty seats—two in red-leaning districts, and two in blue districts. 
  • “Also, Rep. Jim Baird (R., Ind.) was in a car accident, sidelining him at least temporarily. His office said he was in the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery.”

• Federal News Network gives us an update on implementation of the Federal Acquisition Regulation overhaul.
  • “The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) and the FAR Council have issued FAR Companion guides and practitioner albums to help the training and education of the acquisition workforce on the new rules.
  • “Additionally, OFPP Administrator Kevin Rhodes held a series of roundtables with contractors, industry associations and others to gain their perspectives of the FAR overhaul. OFPP says these contractors and associations “shared feedback on five priority goals: increasing competition, reducing costs, accelerating the acquisition system, changing cultural norms and deploying best practices.”
  • “Rhodes said in a statement that “the feedback we received will help inform our efforts for the next phase of the RFO.”
  • “OFPP is accepting more feedback through Jan. 12 through its IdeaScale on ways to continue to improve the FAR across the five priorities.”

• The American Hospital Association News tells us,
  • “The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has released updated resources on the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. An updated fact sheet features an overview of the 988 hotline and what people can expect when using the service. It also includes testimonials from individuals who have used it and an FAQ. Another resource highlights key differences between 988 and 911 and explains when the use of each service is appropriate. SAMHSA also provides digital assets on the 988 hotline for sharing on social media.” 

From the Food and Drug Administration front,

• Beckers Hospital Review reports,
  • “Amneal Pharmaceuticals received FDA approval for two denosumab biosimilars referencing Prolia and Xgeva.
  • “The approval, announced Dec. 22, covers Boncresa (denosumab-mobz) and Oziltus (denosumab-mobz), both used to treat conditions related to bone loss and cancer. The drugs are administered by a healthcare provider and are intended to improve access to lower-cost biologic therapies.
  • “With the addition of the new products, Amneal expects to commercialize six biosimilars across eight presentations by 2027. U.S. sales for Prolia and Xgeva totaled about $5.3 billion in the 12 months ending October 2025.” 

From the public health and medical / Rx research front,

• AP reports,
  • “U.S. flu infections surged over the holidays, and health officials are calling it a severe season that is likely to get worse.
  • “New government data posted Monday [January 5] — for flu activity through the week of Christmas — showed that by some measures this season is already surpassing the flu epidemic of last winter, one of the harshest in recent history.
  • “The data was released the same day that the Trump administration said it will no longer recommend flu shots and some other types of vaccines for all children.
  • “Forty-five states were reporting high or very high flu activity during the week of Christmas, up from 30 states the week before.
  • “The higher numbers appear to be driven by the type of flu that’s been spreading, public health experts say.
  • “One type of flu virus, called A H3N2, historically has caused the most hospitalizations and deaths in older people. So far this season, that’s the type most frequently reported. Even more concerning, more than 90% of the H3N2 infections analyzed were a new version — known as the subclade K variant — that differs from the strain in this year’s flu shots.”

• STAT News adds,
  • “Australia’s 2025 flu season lasted weeks longer than it normally does. Hong Kong’s hit so early that the rollout of seasonal flu shots hadn’t yet started. New York has reported record-breaking flu hospitalizations for the past two weeks. 
  • “Welcome to the winter of subclade K.” * * *
  • “Influenza viruses come in many forms, but the ones that cause the most disease in humans are the flu A viruses H1N1 and H3N2, and influenza B. 
  • “Subclade K is a variant of the H3N2 family of viruses, which can trigger more severe seasons and which seem to be harder on older people, who are among the most vulnerable to flu.” * * *
  • “Subclade K viruses weren’t on the radar when influenza experts from around the globe gathered last February to select the strains the 2025-2026 flu shots should target. 
  • “Even when the vaccine contains viruses that are well matched to those that are circulating, the H3N2 component often under-performs. It offers protection against severe disease, but may not prevent infection.”

• Beckers Hospital Review informs us,
  • “The U.S. has recorded 7,045 clinical Candida auris cases as of Dec. 20 — a 56.1% increase from the 4,514 cases logged in 2023, according to CDC data. 
  • “About half of those cases are in Nevada and California, which each reported about 1,500 C. auris clinical cases in 2025. 
  • “C. auris is an emerging multidrug-resistant fungus that can cause infections and spread quickly in healthcare settings, particularly among immunocompromised patients.”
  • The article lists the number of 2025 C. auris cases in each State.

• Health Day lets us know,
  • “Telehealth might not be the best option for a parent with a sick baby or toddler, a new study says.
  • “Children 3 months to 2 years of age are nearly 50% more likely to land in an ER within three days of a virtual doctor’s visit than those who have an in-person visit, researchers recently reported in JAMA Network Open.
  • “Our study showed that children under 2, whose communication of their needs and symptoms is more subtle, should probably be seen in person,” senior investigator Dr. Natasha Saunders said in a news release. She’s a pediatrician and senior associate scientist with The Hospital for Sick Children in Ontario, Canada.”

• Per a National Institutes of Health news release,
  • “In a world first, a team of researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Emory School of Medicine, Atlanta, has successfully performed a coronary artery bypass — a normally open-heart surgery — without cutting the chest wall. The team employed a novel intervention to prevent the blockage of a vital coronary artery, which is a very rare but often lethal complication following a heart-valve replacement. The results suggest that, in the future, a less traumatic alternative to open-heart surgery could become widely available for those at risk of coronary artery obstruction.
  • “Achieving this required some out-of-the-box thinking but I believe we developed a highly practical solution,” said first author of the study Christopher Bruce, MBChB, an interventional cardiologist at WellSpan York Hospital and NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), as well as an adjunct assistant professor of cardiology at Emory School of Medicine.”

• The Washington Post relates,
  • “The stimulants Ritalin and Adderall have been used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) for decades, but research shows they don’t act on the brain’s attention circuitry as had long been assumed.
  • “Instead, the medications primarily target the brain’s reward and wakefulness centers, according to a new study published in the journal Cell. The research, which used brain imaging data from almost 5,800 children ages 8 to 11, also pointed toward the important role that lack of sleep plays in the disorder.
  • “When I first saw the results, I thought I had just made a mistake because none of the attention systems are changing here,” said Benjamin Kay, one of the study’s authors and a professor of neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
  • “It’s not that the stimulants are ineffective.
  • “The paper clearly shows that they help,” said Nico Dosenbach, another of the authors and a professor of neurology at the university. “They help kids who have a diagnosis of ADHD do better in school and do better on tests, and they help kids who don’t sleep enough ― and a lot of Americans don’t sleep enough.”

• STAT News points out,
  • “Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals said Tuesday that its gene-silencing candidates helped people with obesity lose fat, very early results that could intensify the competition among biotechs to develop longer-lasting weight loss drugs.
  • “In an ongoing Phase 1/2 study, a cohort of patients took two doses of a candidate called ARO-INHBE, spaced one month apart, in combination with Eli Lilly’s Zepbound. They lost 9.4% of their weight after 16 weeks, while those on Zepbound alone lost 4.8%. These data were from patients with obesity and diabetes, who typically don’t lose as much weight on treatments as those who don’t have diabetes.”
  • “Participants on the combination also lost 23% of their visceral fat, the most harmful type of fat that’s stored around the organs, as well as 15% of their total fat and 77% of their liver fat. Excess liver fat can lead to inflammation and scarring in the organ. Meanwhile, those taking Zepbound alone lost 7%, 5%, and 20%, respectively.
  • “While the drug was effective in combination with Zepbound, it’s not clear yet if it can be a viable product on its own. Obese patients taking only two doses of ARO-INHBE experienced a 16% placebo-adjusted reduction in visceral fat, but that has not yet translated into significant overall weight loss, CEO Christopher Anzalone said.”

• Per BioPharma Dive,
  • “Immune drug developer Alumis said on Tuesday that its top prospect has succeeded in two Phase 3 trials, helping people with psoriasis eliminate most of their skin lesions after four months of treatment. 
  • “Called envudeucitinib, the drug is a newer type of medicine aimed at a popular target known as TYK2. The first TYK2 blocker, Bristol Myers Squibb’s Sotyktu, was approved in 2022. But Alumis, Takeda and many other biotechs are working on successor drugs and testing them against psoriasis and other immune disorders. Takeda’s medicine produced positive Phase 3 results in December.
  • “Alumis’ data, though, suggest that envudeucitinib has the potential for “class-leading” TYK2 inhibition and a treatment effect approaching what’s observed with injectable biologics, wrote Leerink Partners analyst Thomas Smith. Company shares more than doubled in morning trading, changing hands at around $17 apiece. The company intends to seek U.S. approval of envudeucitinib later this year.” 

• Per Fierce Pharma,
  • “Fresh off of a European approval for a subcutaneous version of Saphnelo, AstraZeneca is doubling down on the benefits of the self-administered drug formulation in lupus patients with a positive phase 3 showing.
  • “In the phase 3 Tulip-SC trial, 56.2% of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) who received a subcutaneous dose of Saphnelo experienced a reduction in disease activity at week 52, the company reported Tuesday. In the placebo group, the result was 37.1%.
  • “The readout adds more detail to the trial’s prior interim analysis, which confirmed a statistically significant result for subcutaneous Saphnelo and a safety profile on par with the currently marketed intravenous infusion version.” 

From the U.S. healthcare business and artificial intelligence front,

• The Wall Street Journal reports,
  • “Eli Lilly is in advanced talks to acquire Ventyx Biosciences for over $1 billion.
  • “Ventyx specializes in one of the hottest spaces in drug development, developing pills to treat diseases like Crohn’s and rheumatoid arthritis.
  • “The acquisition would enhance Eli Lilly’s portfolio in autoimmune conditions, obesity, and related disorders.”

• Modern Healthcare tells us,
  • The University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System acquired Southview Medical Group Jan. 1, the system said Jan. 5. 
  • Under the agreement, UAB Health owns all of Southview Medical’s facilities and will employ its more than 30 providers. 
  • Southview Medical had locations at two UAB facilities, UAB St. Vincent’s Birmingham and UAB Medicine St. Vincent’s One Nineteen, prior to the acquisition.
• and
  • RWJBarnabas Health announced Jan. 5 that it signed a definitive agreement to make Englewood Health part of its system. 
  • Financial details were not disclosed, but RWJBarnabas said it plans to make “significant capital investments” that will improve care access and quality. The transaction is pending regulatory approval. 
  • A timeline for when the deal would be completed was not disclosed.
• and
  • “A joint venture between Kaiser Permanente and healthcare investment firm Town Hall Ventures has launched a second integrated program for older adults in California.
  • “Habitat Health opened its Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly center in Compton, California, on Thursday. It began enrolling eligible adults older than age 55 last month, a Habitat Health spokesperson said. 
  • “The company plans to roll out other PACE programs in California and expand to Illinois, the spokesperson said.”

• Fierce Healthcare informs us,
  • “Health system and hospital executives see the promise of automation and artificial intelligence to customize patient outreach and help address persistent engagement challenges.
  • “AI-powered personalization technology can nudge patients to take action, which could help address long-standing challenges with medication adherence while also reducing no-show rates and closing care gaps. 
  • “According to a recent survey from Lirio and Sage Growth Partners, 60% of executives from U.S. health systems, independent hospitals and physician groups cited automating patient outreach to ease administrative burden as their top priority. Most executives (96%) said AI and automation can reduce administrative burden related to patient engagement. About half of executives said their organizations struggle to personalize engagement content, such as text messages or emails, at the patient level.
  • “But this operational priority doesn’t currently match up with AI investment strategies.
  • “Among the surveyed executives, 35% said their organizations have yet to make investments in AI tools for patient outreach. At the same time, most health systems are channeling AI investment into operational efficiency. The majority of executives (83%) said their organization has invested in AI-based solutions for automated documentation and other tasks to improve clinician workflows.
  • “The disconnect between AI priorities and investments often comes down to the speed at which different technologies demonstrate value,” Amy Bucher, M.D., chief behavioral scientist at Lirio, told Fierce Healthcare.”