February 18, 2026
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Morning Rounds Writer and Reporter

Good morning. Before Robert F. Kennedy Jr. became federal health secretary, he had a thing for taking his shirt off online. A year in, it's clearer than ever that this habit has not subsided. (Click hyperlink at your own risk.)

courts

Proposed $7.25B settlement to resolve weedkiller cancer lawsuits

Jugs of Roundup line a store shelf.

Haven Daley/AP

Thousands of lawsuits in the U.S. allege that the agrochemical maker Bayer failed to warn people that its popular weedkiller Roundup could cause non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. While Bayer, which acquired the product in 2018, still disputes the claim, the company agreed yesterday to a $7.25 billion settlement to resolve those lawsuits.

The settlement still needs to be approved by a Missouri court, and it’s not a guarantee. A 2020 Roundup settlement attempt fell through after a judge raised concerns.

The announcement comes as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments on the company’s assertion that the EPA’s approval of Roundup without a cancer warning should invalidate any claims filed in state courts. (It’s unclear exactly when that hearing will take place, but the agreement will not affect the proceedings.) The AP has more.  

one big number

360

That’s how many federal data collections have removed gender identity or sexual orientation demographic measures since the beginning of the Trump administration, according to a new report from UCLA’s Williams Institute. That includes national surveys, surveillance systems, administrative records, and more.

Gender identity data constituted the vast majority of the removals, due to President Trump’s executive order declaring only two sexes. But at least 60 datasets also removed information on sexual orientation, which the White House has not called for. The report also found that 83% of the removals were done through “non-substantive change requests,” which are usually used for minor changes and do not include a formal notice-and-comment period.

“Reliable data collection is fundamental to how the federal government identifies and responds to community needs,” Elana Redfield, one of the report’s authors and federal policy director at the Williams Institute, said in a press release. The true impact of the change will likely only be revealed over time, as existing data on gender identity becomes outdated and no new data has been collected, she added.

cancer

Will doctors use AI-powered oncology tools?

Pancreatic cancer cells

National Cancer Institute/USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center 

Here’s a moment in the practice of medicine that experts agree could be eased by AI: when an oncologist doesn’t have a clear indication which treatment will work better for a patient. Each unsuccessful treatment takes, and wastes, precious time. To address this issue, companies are developing AI-powered digital pathology tools that can glean more information about a tumor than a doctor’s human eyes can see.

“I think it’s a really promising direction for getting the right treatment to the right person,” oncologist Danielle Bitterman said. But how comfortable doctors feel actually using these tools will depend on many factors, including the strength of the clinical validation and the transparency of the algorithm. Read more from STAT’s Angus Chen on what tools have already hit the market and the data backing them up.

notable quotable

‘In general, we’ve been very pro vaccines … Now, you can never make everybody happy’

That was FDA Commissioner Marty Makary speaking yesterday at an event held by the pharmaceutical industry group PhRMA. Makary struck a decidedly different tone than the other top federal health official at the forum, CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz. Oz had a friendly on-stage conversation with Pfizer CEO and PhRMA board chair Albert Bourla in which he talked about the benefits of vaccines, welcomed the idea of closed-door meetings with executives, and suggested industry leaders consider government jobs.

But Makary was grilled by former CNBC reporter Bertha Coombs about the agency’s more skeptical approach to the regulation of vaccines, including the recent decision by top official Vinay Prasad to refuse to review Moderna’s application for a new flu shot. Read more from STAT’s Lizzy Lawrence and Daniel Payne about the industry’s seemingly positive relationship with Oz and its more tenuous feelings toward Makary.

first opinion

Same blood test, different results

In the midst of a health crisis a few years ago, patient advocate Samantha Bonsack learned a startling fact: The thyroid-stimulating hormone test — one of the most commonly ordered laboratory blood tests in the country — is not standardized. Depending on which company’s analyzer processes the blood, the same sample can yield results differing from 20% to 40%.

“What makes this failure especially frustrating is that the scientific solution already exists,” Bonsack writes in a new First Opinion essay. The CDC, along with an international clinical chemistry group, created a validated protocol to streamline the results from different companies. But the FDA has never required manufacturers to recalibrate, and the CDC lacks enforcement power. Read more on what Bonsack says should be a straightforward fix to this long-ignored problem.

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What we're reading

  • 988 suicide hotline is getting more calls than ever. Many states have no clear plan to fund it, KCUR

  • Opinion: I was a Moderna exec when the Covid vaccine rolled out. That spirit of possibility is no more, STAT
  • Confessions of a brain-training dropout, Boston Globe
  • Biotech startup raises $175 million to advance Alzheimer’s antibody therapy, STAT