In the early days of the second Trump administration, what will happen to various government science agencies is not yet clear. Given the communications blackout imposed on agencies including the NIH and the CDC, most of what is known comes from anonymous sources and secondhand reports. Executive orders affecting the agencies are also still in the process of being interpreted, as well as subject to multiple legal challenges.
For the pharmaceutical industry caught in the crosshairs of a potential trade war, the consequences of U.S. tariffs on China or Europe remain largely speculative, although both would be detrimental, according to a Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization (KoreaBIO) issue briefing Feb. 7.
“This current administration is like nothing that we've seen before,” said a managing partner of a global venture capital firm who spoke to BioWorld on the condition of anonymity. “President Trump’s first term was bad,” he said, “but nobody knows what’s coming.” “This is truly nationalism at its worst, because he won on the campaign [largely] to protect American jobs, claiming that Americans have been unfairly treated.” And it's not just China, he said, but India and other countries will also likely be affected.
Carrying out his campaign promises to reform government, President Donald Trump signed 46 executive orders (EOs) between Jan. 20-31 that have been published in the Federal Register. Of those, 26 were signed after noon and between all the inaugural events on Trump’s first day in office. Since then, he’s signed at least eight more orders, and the administration has issued numerous memos, several of which are intended to implement the EOs. Given the quantity, scope and content of the EOs Trump has issued over the past few weeks, it’s no surprise that they’ve generated controversy, a lot of uncertainty and at least a few court challenges.
The second Trump administration already left a large footprint on the administrative state as it took on trading nations with tariffs that affect device makers. Among these controversies is the question of whether gender should be included in regulatory considerations, such as in the case of a recent update on a 2014 guidance that has been removed from the device guidance webpage.
Med-tech stocks experienced a turbulent year of ups and downs in 2024, as the BioWorld Med-Tech Stock Index saw lows of almost 15% and gains of nearly 5% before closing the year up 0.21%. This modest rebound follows consecutive declines of 4.44% in 2023 and a steep drop of 39.58% in 2022.
It’s one thing for the scientific community to propose a fundamental change to the way obesity is defined and diagnosed. But it’s another for that proposal to be adopted by regulators, especially when the current definition that relies primarily on the body mass index is entrenched in guidance and obesity drug development and approval.
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