Happy Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. This is the 40th anniversary of holding a federal holiday to celebrate the life and legacy of this great American leader.

From Washington, DC,

• While the Senate is on recess this week, the House of Representatives remains in session on Capitol Hill for Committee business and floor voting.

• This week’s main event on Capitol Hill, at least from the FEHBlog’s perspective is Thursday’s afternoon’s House Ways and Means Committee hearing with Health Insurance CEOs.

• Federal News Network reports,
  • “The Office of Personnel Management extended the deadline to apply for the U.S. Tech Force, due to what it said has been “tremendous interest and a recent surge in applications.”
  • “The Tech Force program initially launched in December, as a way to temporarily hire technologists into government for two-year stints to work on critical tech challenges across agencies. Those interested now have until Feb. 2 to apply for a spot in the program, according to a Thursday social media post. OPM is targeting 1,000 recruits to the program by March.
  • “It’s not clear how many individuals have so far submitted applications to Tech Force. But OPM Director Scott Kupor said more than 35,000 people expressed initial interest in the program.
  • “We’re working through our funnel now of how many of those people will give us a resume, how many people will do the application,” Kupor said Wednesday during an event hosted by Washington AI Network. “From my perspective, the interest is phenomenal.”

• Per a National Institutes of Health news release,
  • “Effective Jan. 31, 2026, Gary H. Gibbons, M.D., director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is retiring from federal service. Dr. Gibbons has led NHLBI since 2012, dedicating his time to championing research research in the prevention and treatment of heart, lung, and blood diseases and sleep diseases and disorders.” * * *
  • “David Goff, M.D., Ph.D., will serve as Acting NHLBI Director while a search for a new director is conducted.”

From the Food and Drug Administration front,

• Beckers Hospital Review points out,
  • “UnitedHealth Group’s Optum Rx is monitoring three notable drug candidates that might be approved in the next few months, according to its winter 2026 report published Jan. 2.
  • “Two of the medications Optum Rx is tracking are also on GoodRx’s list of 11 upcoming FDA approval decisions to watch in 2026 — Anaphylm for anaphylaxis and Sotyktu for psoriatic arthritis. 
  • “Here is a breakdown of the three FDA decisions Optum Rx is closely watching:
    • “1. Anaphylm (dibutepinephrine) is under FDA review for the treatment of severe allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis. If approved, the sublingual films will be the first oral epinephrine product for allergic reactions.” * * *
    •  “2. Bristol Myers Squibb is seeking another indication for Sotyktu (deucravacitinib), an FDA-approved pill for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. The potential new indication is the treatment of adults with active psoriatic arthritis, a chronic autoimmune condition that affects about 1 million U.S. adults.” * * *
    •  “3. Novo Nordisk resubmitted an application for FDA approval of insulin icodec, a once-weekly basal (long-acting) insulin to improve glycemic control in patients with Type 2 diabetes.”

• Per MedPage Today,
  • “Meals and snacks with “GLP-1 Friendly” labels on the packaging are becoming more common in U.S. supermarkets as a growing number of Americans try obesity drugs like semaglutide (Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Zepbound) to lose weight.
  • But the labels aren’t regulated by the FDA, unlike the popular medications themselves. Dietitians say people taking GLP-1 drugs need to read ingredient lists and talk to experts about what nutrients they need — and don’t need.
  • “A drug does not educate you on how to eat properly,” said Suzy Badaracco, MS, a registered dietitian and president of the food trends forecasting firm Culinary Tides. “You’re not magically going to be educated — without a doctor’s help — to eat healthy.”

From the public health and medical / Rx research front,

• The Wall Street Journal reports,
  • “A new study helps explain why you get sick from a common cold virus. The secret, it turns out, lies inside your nose.
  • “Winter brings a surge of respiratory illnesses, including rhinoviruses, the most frequent cause of the common cold. How your nasal-passage cells respond to the rhinovirus helps determine whether you get sick and how bad you feel, according to a new study published Monday in the journal Cell Press Blue.
  • “This study offers a more detailed picture of what’s going on during common cold infections than we ever had,” said Dr. Ellen Foxman, an immunologist at the Yale School of Medicine and senior author of the new research.”

• The Washington Post informs us,
  • “Since the inception of antibiotics in 1910 with the introduction of salvarsan, a synthetic drug used to treat syphilis, scientists have been sounding the alarm about resistance. As a microbiologist and biochemist who studies antimicrobial resistance, I [André O. Hudson] see four major trends that will shape how we as a society confront antibiotic resistance in the coming decade.” * * *
    • “Faster diagnostics are the new front line” * * *
    • “Expanding beyond traditional antibiotics” * * *
    • “Antimicrobial resistance outside hospitals” * * *
    • “Policies on what treatments will exist in the future” * * *
  • “Antibiotic resistance is sometimes framed as an inevitable catastrophe. But I believe the reality is more hopeful: Society is entering an era of smarter diagnostics, innovative therapies, ecosystem-level strategies and policy reforms aimed at rebuilding the antibiotic pipeline in addition to addressing stewardship.
  • “For the public, this means better tools and stronger systems of protection. For researchers and policymakers, it means collaborating in new ways.
  • “The question now isn’t whether there are solutions to antibiotic resistance — it’s whether society will act fast enough to use them.”
• and
  • “As more continues to be understood about the health benefits associated with GLP-1 drugs, a growing body of science is aiming to answer whether the popular weight-loss medication can help with one of the world’s leading causes of death: cancer.
  • “Research into the effects of GLP-1 drugs on the risks of developing and surviving cancer is early, and results so far have been somewhat of a mixed bag. While some studies suggest the medication could be linked to a lower chance of developing certain cancers and better outcomes after being diagnosed, researchers have also found little to no effect on other types. In some cases the drugs have been tied to a slight increase in risk. Experts also noted that the medication’s potential long-term effects are not yet well understood.
  • “We don’t know all the good effects, but we don’t know all the bad effects either,” said Sherry Shen, a medical oncologist specializing in breast cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.”

• Per MedPage Today,
  • “Patients with acute mpox infections experienced persistent physical, behavioral, and psychosocial side effects more than a year after illness, a cohort study suggested.
  • “Among 154 people with clade II mpox infections, 58% had at least one persistent sequelae, 56% of which were related to appearance, 11 to 18 months after illness, reported Preetam Cholli, MD, of the CDC, and colleagues in the Annals of Internal Medicine. 
  • “Specifically, 51% had sequelae at one to two sites, 8% were affected at 10 or more sites, 83% had persistent skin discoloration, and 51% had scars. Most had fewer than 10 scars (82%) or discrete pigmented areas (86%). Persistent physical or appearance-related sequelae were more likely in those with 10 or more acute lesions, merged lesions 2 cm or larger, or bacterial superinfection.
  • “Our findings suggest that clinicians should consider more aggressive monitoring and treatment or early dermatology consultation to try to mitigate the possibility of long-term scarring for lesions at or exceeding 2 cm in size,” Cholli and team wrote.”

• Genetic Engineering and BioTechnology News lets us know,
  • “Learning to read and write is the beginning of literacy, a progression now mirrored in modern genomics. Scientists first read the human genome, a three-billion-letter biological book, in April 2003. Since then, researchers have steadily advanced the ability to write DNA, moving far beyond single-gene construction. New technologies enable the synthesis of viral, bacterial, and yeast genomes. Now, cutting-edge projects are building the tools needed for large-scale chromosome engineering, with the long-term goal of constructing the first human genome from scratch.
  • “In the U.K., a Wellcome-funded five-year proof-of-concept project, Synthetic Human Genome (SynHG), is taking aim at developing the foundational and scalable technologies to achieve reliable genome construction. The £10 million (~$13 million in U.S.) project established a consortium consisting of five university teams from Cambridge, Kent, Oxford, Manchester, and Imperial. Embedded within the ambitious scientific undertaking is also a research wing designed to address socio-ethical implications. According to Wellcome, “Achieving reliable genome design and synthesis–i.e., engineering cells to have specific functions—will be a major milestone in modern biology.”

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

• Beckers Payer Issues tells us,
  • “Bloomington, Minn.-based HealthPartners launched its copay-only health plan, Simplica NextGen Copay, this year. The plan sets prices for in-network care without a deductible or coinsurance.
  • “Moe Suleiman, senior vice president of commercial business, and Maggie Helms, senior vice president, chief data, AI and digital officer, sat down with Becker’s to unpack the effort — and how to do it the right way.
  • “The pair said there can be misconceptions surrounding copay-only plans. Some may believe copay-only plans must replace all existing other plan types in a portfolio, when that is not necessarily the case. Copay-only plans can also stand alongside familiar options, such as a tax-advantaged health savings account, so members can have a choice.”

• KFF offers a table of “Hospital Expenses per Adjusted Inpatient Day by Ownership Type” from 1999 through 2024.

• Radiology Business relates,
  • “The Society of Interventional Radiology and other members of a coalition of imaging industry stakeholders are pointing to a new analysis from the Progressive Policy Institute. It notes that, between 2019 and 2023, the share of physician practices owned by hospitals and other corporate entities leapt from 39% to 59%.
  • “Meanwhile, the proportion of docs employed by such entities increased from 62% to 78%. SIR, AdvaMed, the American College of Radiation Oncology, Philips, Abbott and others in the Office-Based Facility Association (OBFA) contend more must be done to reverse these trends and protect private practices.
  • “Office-based facilities are a cornerstone of affordable, patient-centered care—but they’re under pressure like never before,” Robert Tahara, MD, policy chair of the association and a Pennsylvania-based vascular surgeon, said in a Jan. 15 announcement. “We urge policymakers at all levels to act now to support payment policies and competitive practices that keep healthcare accessible, affordable, and rooted in community practice.”

• Per HR Dive,
  • “Organizations in 2026 are facing culture dissonance as companies expect more from employees without offering more in return, according to a recent workplace trend report from business and technology firm Gartner.
  • “Negative psychological impacts resulting from the pervasiveness of artificial intelligence, as well as poor quality work resulting from an “overwhelming focus on AI adoption” were also among the findings reported in the research, which identified nine trends that CHROs will need to address in 2026. 
  • “Another aspect of AI’s influence has been job seekers’ use of the tech to make their applications easier and more appealing, even as organizations use AI to sift through a high volume of resumes. In the coming year, CHROs will need to focus on the human aspect of recruiting to counteract this trend, per Gartner.”