Why The CDC's Vaccine Committee Won't Meet This Week |
In this week’s edition of InnovationRx, we look at the legal ruling against RFK Jr.’s vaccine agenda, Roche’s big AI drug development bet, an E. coli outbreak in raw milk cheddar, R1 Therapeutics’ $78 million raise, and more. To get it in your inbox, subscribe here.
A federal judge in Boston ruled that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s efforts to overhaul vaccine policy in the United States were likely illegal.
The preliminary ruling from Judge Brian E. Murphy said that Kennedy’s remake of the vaccine advisory panel and his changes to the childhood vaccine schedule violated the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs how federal agencies put into effect policy changes.
The ruling isn’t final, as the Trump Administration can, and likely will, appeal and the lawsuit may still proceed to trial. However, it is a win for the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups that had accused the Trump Administration of acting unlawfully in its efforts to overhaul vaccine policy. That’s because these types of rulings are only typically granted if a judge thinks a party will succeed.
“This is a significant victory for public health, evidence-based medicine, the rule of law, and the American people,” Richard Hughes, an attorney for the medical groups, said in a statement cited by USA Today.
The decision halts Kennedy’s order, announced in January, to end broad recommendations for children to be vaccinated against diseases that include RSV, hepatitis A and B, flu, Covid and rotavirus vaccine. While the CDC’s recommendations are not legally binding, states and doctors typically follow them, and they can affect insurance coverage.
The Trump Administration’s efforts to cut back on recommended vaccinations comes at a time when preventable diseases have been spreading, particularly among unvaccinated children. For example, the CDC reports there have been more than 1,360 cases of measles so far this year–more than half the number reported in all of 2025.
The injunction also postpones the next meeting of the overhauled vaccine advisory panel, which had been scheduled for this week. Kennedy, who had been an anti-vaccine activist before becoming HHS Secretary, had purged the committee and brought in his own members last year.
Roche Launches New ‘AI Factory’ To Develop Drugs Faster
Pharmaceutical giant Roche said on Monday that it is launching a new large-scale “AI factory” with thousands of the latest Nvidia chips to accelerate the development of new drugs and diagnostics.
Roche said the company has ramped up its AI capacity by purchasing 2,176 Nvidia Blackwell GPUs, which will be deployed across the U.S. and Europe. That brings its total GPUs to more than 3,500, which it claims is the greatest number owned by any pharmaceutical company. Roche, which made the announcement in conjunction with Nvidia’s GTC conference in San Jose, hopes to use that technological firepower to discover, develop, manufacture and commercialize therapies faster.
While Roche, which has a market cap of $340 billion, is based in Switzerland, its U.S. subsidiary Genentech is well known for developing drugs to treat cancer and immune system diseases, including Herceptin (for breast cancer) and Avastin (for colon and lung cancer). Roche brought in $78 billion in revenue last year at current exchange rates.
The company declined to disclose how much it is spending on this effort, but it is “a substantial sum,” Aviv Regev, executive vice president and head of Genentech research and early development, tells Forbes. “It does highlight how important AI is for our business.” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has said its Blackwell chips cost between $30,000 and $40,000 a pop, which would place the company’s investment at $65 million or more for the chips.
FDA Investigating An E. Coli Outbreak Linked To Raw Milk Cheddar Cheese
The FDA is investigating an outbreak of E. coli linked to Raw Farm brand cheddar cheese, which is made with raw milk. The FDA recommended that Raw Farm voluntarily recall their raw milk cheeses from the market, but the company declined to do so.
Forbes profiled California’s Raw Farm in December 2024 when the family farm – the country’s largest producer of raw milk – was doubling down on its production amid a bird flu state of emergency. “I’m the raw milk guy,” cofounder Mark McAfee said then. “I’m the only guy that knows this stuff.”
Raw milk, which has recently been promoted by the MAHA movement, can harbor a number of pathogens, including bacteria and viruses, that can make people ill to the point of hospitalization or death. Ever since French scientist Louis Pasteur invented pasteurization – which heats milk to at least 145 degrees Fahrenheit to kill harmful bacteria – back in 1862, that’s been the standard in America.
Bay Area-startup R1 Therapeutics emerged from stealth with $78 million in funding and a license for a new therapy for chronic kidney disease from China-based Alebund Therapeutics. R1 plans to start mid-stage clinical trials on the treatment this year. The funding round was led by Carlyle’s Abingworth, DaVita Venture Group and F-Prime. Dr. Krishna Polu, the company’s cofounder and CEO, is a nephrologist who has worked as an advisor to Abingworth.
More people are buying ketamine online, but with little regulation or oversight, some who use the psychedelic-like anesthetic are dying.
How compounders of GLP-1 weight loss drugs helped pressure Lilly and Novo to cut prices and reshaped the industry.
The Wall Street Journal investigates how the boom in autism therapy became Medicaid’s fastest-growing jackpot–with payments as high as $800 an hour.
Nevada regulators issued fines of up to $10,000 for peptide providers at an anti-aging festival where two women became critically ill.
The White House lifted a hold that prevented the NIH from spending money on medical research.