Congress

FDA sent warning letters to four e-cigarette and hookah companies Thursday (Aug. 8) telling them to remove 44 flavored e-cigarette and hookah tobacco products from the market, as none of the products have received marketing authorization.

Senate Finance Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is pressing FDA to resume surprise inspections of foreign drug manufacturing facilities as part of the administration’s newly unveiled plan to allow prescription drug imports.

AARP spent at least $700,000 on prescription drug pricing-related television ads in five states that span the territory of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and of a handful of GOP senators who face competitive 2020 re-election races.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced a rural health agenda on Thursday (Aug. 1) that bundles three bills she introduced this week, one with support from Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), that would incentivize more physicians to work in rural areas, expand access to federally qualified health centers (FQHC) and increase use of telehealth in rural areas.

Senate Democrats are using the Congressional Review Act in a bid to block the Trump administration’s policy changing the purpose of the Affordable Care Act’s 1332 waivers.

In light of a deadly pig disease sweeping across China, bipartisan leaders of the House Energy & Commerce Committee want FDA to brief lawmakers on the potential threat to the U.S. supply of heparin, the only anticoagulant drug used in the United States for open-heart surgeries and kidney dialysis.

Freshman Democratic Rep. Katie Porter (CA) last week dived straight into an ongoing controversary over industry-funded premium assistance programs by asking HHS’ Office of Inspector General to investigate the American Kidney Fund and suspend the advisory opinion that lets AKF take contributions from dialysis firms without facing anti-kickback penalties.

The American Medical Association and America’s Health Insurance Plans are sparring over the arbitration policy in the House’s surprise billing fix as Senate health committee Chair Lamar Alexander (R-TN) weighs adding a similar policy to his bill.

Hemp farmers, producers, manufacturers and processors, including those in tribal communities, told a Senate panel they are eagerly awaiting FDA’s next move on regulating cannabis-based products, namely those containing cannabidiol (CBD) derived from hemp, as those regulatory steps will drive the market.