In this week’s edition of InnovationRx, we look at the leadership departures at the CDC, Walgreens’ new CEO, Alnylam’s blood pressure treatment and more. (Did someone forward this to you? To get it in your inbox, subscribe here.)
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was thrown into turmoil when agency head Susan Monarez was ousted from her role. Three other key leaders at the CDC also resigned: Daniel Jernigan, director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; Debra Houry, chief medical officer, and Demetre Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. Mark Zaid, Monarez’s attorney, said she was fired for refusing to “rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts she chose.” Deputy Health and Human Services Secretary Jim O’Neill, a biotech investor who has worked closely with billionaire entrepreneur and political activist Peter Thiel, was named acting director of the agency.
Behind the upheaval: federal vaccination policies. Even as COVID resurges across the country, recent changes to immunization schedules will make COVID vaccines harder to get. The updated shots are now generally approved only for those 65 and older, while adults younger than that require at least one medical condition putting them at risk for severe COVID. Retail pharmacies, including CVS and Walgreens, where many Americans receive their vaccinations, are limiting vaccines or requiring prescriptions in certain states, depending on the patchwork of state rules. The approvals also require Pfizer to conduct additional studies on its COVID vaccine, including determining whether spike proteins remain in the body for extended periods of time and studying so-called “Post-COVID Vaccine Syndrome,” which is not a recognized medical condition. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has also appointed Retsef Levi, an MIT professor of operations management who has called for revoking COVID vaccine approvals, at the head of a task force to determine their safety. On Truth Social, President Trump demanded that COVID vaccine makers share data about their shots with the public. It’s not clear what he’s claiming is being hidden; companies share their data with the FDA to get approval, and clinical trial results have been published in peer-reviewed journals, such as the New England Journal of Medicine. On Monday, nine former directors of the CDC, who served under both Republican and Democratic Administrations, penned an op-ed in the New York Times decrying Kennedy’s public health moves. “The loss of Dr. Monarez and other top leaders will make it far more difficult for the C.D.C. to do what it has done for about 80 years: work around the clock to protect Americans from threats to their lives and health,” they wrote. |
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 | | Mike Motz, Walgreens' new CEO Toronto Star via Getty Images |
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| Walgreens named retail veteran Mike Motz, former CEO of office supply chain Staples’ U.S. operations, as its new CEO late last week. The leadership change, effective immediately, came as private equity firm Sycamore Partners completed its deal to take the struggling pharmacy chain private. Motz succeeded Tim Wentworth, a former Cigna exec who had been CEO since October 2023. Sycamore Partners acquired the business in partnership with Stefano Pessina, the chain’s Monte Carlo-based chairman who is worth $6.1 billion, and his family. The companies announced the $10 billion deal in March. That purchase price represents a decimation of value for the retailer, which a decade ago had a market cap of more than $100 billion. Founded in 1902, Walgreens had been publicly traded since 1927. In December 2014, it merged with Switzerland-based Alliance Boots to become Walgreens Boots Alliance. Since then, a failed in-store clinic rollout led it to close hundreds of stores in an effort to reduce debt and stem financial losses. The company also struggled to keep up with changes in retail and healthcare, including the rise of ecommerce and the growing power of drug middlemen known as pharmacy-benefit managers. Walgreens Boots Alliance reported $148 billion in revenue for fiscal 2024, but its net loss widened to $8.6 billion from $3.1 billion the previous year. Sycamore Partners portfolio includes numerous retail chains, among them Staples, Belk, Lane Bryant and The Limited. The transaction is one of the largest leveraged buyouts of the past decade. As part of the deal, Walgreens Boots Alliance will be split into five companies, with Walgreens being the largest. |
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| An investigational therapy from Alnylam Pharmaceuticals did not meet its primary goal of significantly lowering blood pressure in a new phase 2 study, raising questions about its benefit. Still Alnylam, which is publicly traded with a market cap of $59 billion, will move ahead with a large phase 3 study to test whether the therapy, zilebesiran, can reduce the risk of major cardiovascular complications as an add-on to other medications. |
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| Longtime pharma stalwarts John Maraganore and Clive Meanwell launched Corsera Health to focus on cardiovascular disease prediction and prevention with more than $50 million in funding. It’s developed an RNA-based drug to lower cholesterol and blood pressure, and aims to start clinical trials on it before year’s end. It is also developing a proprietary AI model, called Klotho Health, that it says will predict a person’s lifetime cardiovascular risk and determine whether its medicine would be helpful. |
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| PUBLIC HEALTH + HOSPITALS |
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| A survey of more than 1,800 medical students in the U.S. found that about one in five reported food insecurity, nearly double the rate of American households. Higher rates of insecurity were reported by Black, Hispanic and Southeast Asian students. Not surprisingly those who relied on loans for their tuition were more likely to report food insecurity than those with parental support. The survey highlights the financial struggles of medical students as the nation faces a doctor shortage. Recent legislation as part of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act caps federal loans at $200,000, a change that experts fear could lead to more students dropping out or never entering med school. |
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| Social Security praises its new chatbot. Lawmakers and ex-officials worry that rushed-out AI is taking the place of pushed-out, experienced employees. Sen. Maggie Hassan launched an investigation of for-profit methadone clinics’ business practices and treatment of patients. Cigna’s Evernorth Health Services is investing $3.5 billion in specialty pharmacy Shield Health Solutions, which private equity firm Sycamore Partners had acquired as part of its Walgreens purchase. Psychologists and psychiatrists are scrambling to better understand how use of chatbots can fuel delusions and drive psychotic episodes. Paul Offit, a pediatrician and noted vaccine expert, has been dismissed from the FDA’s vaccine advisory committee. House Republicans rejected President Trump’s proposal to cut the National Institutes of Health budget by 40%, opting to keep spending flat at $48 billion. |
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