Fetal tissue fight hits Congress today Presented by

With help from Brianna Ehley, Sarah Karlin-Smith and Hugh Ferguson

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The Trump administration quashed a GOP feud over drug prices, and a newly elected House representative — a doctor, no less — spread false information on vaccines.

But first: Critics of fetal tissue research get the spotlight today.

FETAL TISSUE FIGHT HITS CONGRESS TODAY — Two House Oversight Committee subcommittees will host a 10 a.m. hearing on finding alternatives to fetal tissue research, a controversial review pushed by anti-abortion groups.

— How we got here: HHS has paused acquisitions of fetal tissue while it conducts an agency-wide audit, and NIH this week announced that it would spend $20 million to find alternatives to using fetal tissue.

Brett Giroir, HHS assistant secretary of health, last month told Rep. Mark Meadows that the agency is committed to ending use of fetal tissue in research if it can find a suitable replacement. Meadows is chairman of one of the subcommittees hosting today's hearing.

— The three witnesses scheduled to speak today: Sally Temple of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, which has objected to HHS's fetal tissue review, is expected to testify in favor of the benefits of using fetal tissue.

She'll be matched with Tara Sander Lee of the Charlotte Lozier Institute (the research arm of the anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony List) and David Prentice, who is identified as an advisory board member for the Midwest Stem Cell Therapy Center — both critics of the current HHS policy.

— An unusual wrinkle: Prentice is also the Charlotte Lozier Institute's vice president and research director — an affiliation that is missing from the witness list and the institute's own release about the hearing, as of PULSE press time.

It's irregular for two witnesses affiliated with the same advocacy organization to testify at the same hearing, as lawmakers usually try to demonstrate broad support for a policy.

— What health wonks are watching: They are keen to see how lawmakers and HHS officials balance the mounting pressures over ideology and science. Stat scooped Wednesday night that an NIH cancer lab's work could be hindered by the fetal tissue review, one of several flashpoints Democrats are expected to raise today.

Organizations that support abortion rights have been deeply critical of HHS, with Equity Forward out today with a full-page ad blasting Secretary Alex Azar. See ad.

— Final thought: With House Democrats taking control in January, today's lame-duck hearing may have little tangible effect, other than as a showcase for the Trump administration's influential anti-abortion supporters.

But scientists tell PULSE they're concerned that the HHS review has advanced to this point — where Congress will amplify opinions on fetal tissue that aren't shared by leading scientific organizations, even as long-running research projects are being frozen or delayed.

WHITE HOUSE, HHS CONVINCE SENATORS TO HOLD FIRE ON PART B PILOT — The administration quietly quashed an intra-party feud over drug prices, POLITICO’s Adam Cancryn and Sarah Karlin-Smith scooped.

— What Sen. Orrin Hatch wanted: The departing Senate Finance Committee chairman was urging his GOP colleagues to publicly criticize a planned Medicare Part B pilot tying the cost of physician-administered drugs to the lower prices paid in other developed countries.

— How the administration responded: It lobbied lawmakers for weeks, emphasizing that the proposal remains a work in progress — and convincing them to hold their fire, Adam and Sarah report.

Had enough senators signed on to Hatch’s now-defunct letter, it would have exposed an intraparty rift over the president’s drug pricing proposals, which stray beyond the GOP’s traditional market-based ideas.

— What’s next: A proposed rule on the CMS Innovation Center pilot is expected early next year. Lawmakers, like incoming Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, appear willing to wait on the rule release before airing more criticism. More for Pros.

THIS IS THURSDAY PULSE — Where the POLITICO newsroom is abuzz about AP political reporter Elana Schor (our longtime colleague) not just winning on "Jeopardy!" last night, but doing it with panache.

Your author hasn't accomplished anything so mighty this week, fighting the stomach flu, but he'll count climbing out of bed as a victory. Find him on radio program "1A" today, talking the ACA, and send tips to [email protected].

A message from PhRMA: Today, there are several promising vaccine candidates in stage three clinical trials. These trials have tens of thousands of participants, from every walk of life. From development to robust clinical trials, and throughout manufacturing, these vaccine candidates follow the same rigorous process of other vaccines that have saved millions of lives. More.

ON ‘PULSE CHECK,’ STRIDE HEALTH TOUTS NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH CMS — Under a newly announced "enhanced direct enrollment” process, the gig economy workers that use Stride Health will no longer need to visit HealthCare.gov when signing up for coverage and getting verified for tax credits. Stride has suggested the partnership will help lower the uninsured rate among the millions of workers for companies like Uber and Etsy.

… POLITICO’s question: If Stride’s announcement is so important, why is it coming in the waning days of the federal platform's open enrollment period? The years-long project was “the greatest example ... of a deep technical integration between a technology company and a government entity,” Stride CEO Noah Lang argues on the podcast. “And the reality is, it was a hard piece of technology with a number of high hurdles to clear when it comes to things like security and privacy.”

… POLITICO's Adam Cancryn and Alice Miranda Ollstein also joined the podcast to discuss the ACA enrollment slump, Medicare for All and the Supreme Court's decision to pass on cases involving Planned Parenthood. Listen to the episode.

CMS adds Noem health aide. Matt Hittle, former legislative director and health policy advisor for Rep. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.), will serve as senior adviser in Administrator Seema Verma's office, POLITICO's Brianna Ehley scoops. Hittle previously worked for the House Ways & Means Committee.

Azar says don't judge ACA enrollment until period is over. The HHS secretary on Wednesday said his agency didn't know why ACA sign-ups are down about 10 percent versus last year, but suggested one hypothesis: More Americans could be happy with the relatively stable ACA premiums and just waiting for automatic reenrollment to kick in.

“If you simply are not making a choice and auto-reenrolling in the plan you were in … you don’t actually show up in the numbers of auto-reenrollment until the last minute in the system,” Azar said at an Axios event. “It’s going to be very important to close the books on open enrollment and see where that stands.”

Senate passes Alzheimer's funding bill. The chamber passed by voice vote a bill, S. 2076 (115), that would provide more resources for state and local public health officials to increase early detection and diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, as well as provide support for caregivers and people living with the disease.

"With today’s Senate passage of the Building Our Largest Dementia (BOLD) Infrastructure for Alzheimer's Act, our elected officials not only recognized the public health threat posed by Alzheimer’s but also supported legislation to meaningfully address it," said Robert Egge of the Alzheimer's Association.

GOP representative-elect, a Tennessee doctor, claims CDC lied about vaccines. Mark Green, who's stepping into Rep. Marsha Blackburn's seat (and was just elected president of the GOP freshman class), told constituents that the CDC has "fraudulently managed" vaccine data and that he believes vaccines may cause autism. The Tennessean first reported Green's remarks, which were made at a town hall on Tuesday night for his constituents.

Green — who at the town hall vowed to "stand on the CDC’s desk and get the real data on vaccines" — walked back his comments Wednesday, saying that he believes in the benefits of vaccines but that "more research" is needed on a possible link with autism.

— FYI to Green: It's been studied. There is no proven link between vaccines and autism.

Jen Kuskowski moves from Senate Finance Committee to McConnell's office. Kuskowski, who currently serves as health policy director to Finance chairman Hatch, will join McConnell's leader office as policy adviser. Kuskowski served as legislative director in McConnell's personal office earlier in her career.

FIRST IN PULSE: Lessons from Pennsylvania's opioid response. A joint analysis from the American Medical Association, Pennsylvania Medical Society and Manatt Health found that the state has increased access to medication-assisted treatment by removing administrative barriers, among other improvements.

"Now that so many states have enacted policies designed to reverse the opioid epidemic, it’s critical that in-depth analysis of those policies be made available to policy makers," said Manatt's Joel Ario. See report. The report is being released on the same day that Pennsylvania is making free naloxone kits available across the state.

Families USA adds ex-Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber to board. Kitzhaber, who served as Oregon governor for 12 years across two stints, oversaw the state's rollout of coordinated care organizations and has continued to stump for health reforms since leaving office in 2015.

Health Care Cost Institute board adds economist Amy Finkelstein, entrepreneur Marshall Votta. Finkelstein is an MIT health economist who won a 2018 MacArthur "genius grant." Votta is a longtime health care strategist who has held positions at companies like RowdMap and NaviNet.

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