Senators Press RFK Jr. Over Gardasil Stake Disclosure
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- Four Democratic senators sent a letter saying HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s explanation for disposing of a financial stake in Gardasil litigation conflicts with his earlier written testimony and federal ethics filings (per Reuters).
- Merck agreed to pay $50 million earlier this year to settle litigation over its Gardasil HPV vaccine, and the senators pressed whether Kennedy's son received a share of those fees and how much was involved.
- The senators also asked why Kennedy did not commit to recusing himself from HHS decisions involving Gardasil or from broader vaccine-litigation policymaking.
- The FDA approved Johnson & Johnson's Imaavy as the first treatment cleared for warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia (wAIHA), covering patients aged 12 and older who are currently or were previously treated with steroids.
- The Imaavy approval was based on a mid-to-late-stage study of 115 adults, with the drug infused into a vein every four weeks at a weight-based dose.
- wAIHA is a life-threatening rare blood disorder affecting about 1 in 8,000 people, with 1 to 3 new cases diagnosed per 100,000 annually.
Why it matters: Senators are publicly pressuring Kennedy to explain how his family financially benefited from the Merck Gardasil settlement he now oversees as the nation's top health policymaker, putting his vaccine-policy impartiality under direct ethics scrutiny. The Imaavy greenlight simultaneously gives the roughly 1-in-8,000 Americans with wAIHA their first approved treatment, handing J&J sole first-mover status in a previously drug-free market.
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