Pfizer CEO Backed Mehmet Oz; Trouble Filling NIH Top Job; AI Denies Seniors Care

Welcome to the latest edition of Investigative Roundup, highlighting some of the best investigative reporting on healthcare each week.

Pfizer CEO Maxed Out Political Contributions to Mehmet Oz

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, PhD, made the maximum possible campaign contribution to Mehmet Oz, MD, in his run for U.S. Senate, STAT reported, citing federal campaign finance records.

Oz, who lost the seat to Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), has become known for spreading medical misinformation, and seems a “surprising political ally for Bourla, who runs one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world,” STAT reported.

However, Bourla gave Oz $2,900, the maximum amount allowed for an individual. He made the contribution on August 12 last year — the same day that the Democratic-led House of Representatives passed the Inflation Reduction Act, STAT reported.

“The vote ensured drug pricing policies vehemently opposed by the pharmaceutical industry would become law,” the article stated.

A spokesperson for Pfizer told STAT that the company does not comment on employees’ personal political contributions.

Ultimately, the contribution “illustrates the fervor with which drugmakers hoped to regain some Republican control of Congress in the midterm elections,” according to the news outlet. “Democrats in 2022 pursued aggressive reforms to the country’s pharmaceutical pricing landscape, and the traditionally formidable drug lobby was unable to stop the policies from passing.”

Candidates for NIH Top Job Back Out

The prestigious top job at the NIH remains unfilled as candidates back out, the Wall Street Journal reported.

At least two candidates have walked away, and the White House has struggled to find qualified individuals willing to fill a role that’s likely to involve a pay cut and vitriol from the public, WSJ reported, citing people familiar with the search.

A White House spokesperson declined WSJ‘s request for comment on the matter.

Notably, the Biden administration’s search for a new NIH director has stretched on since December 2021, when Francis Collins, MD, PhD, retired.

“The search has stretched on so long that some potential choices aren’t interested, some of the people said, because a new director would have very little time to establish himself or herself in the post before a potential change in administrations could push that person out,” the article stated. “The short time remaining means the White House has begun to vet internal candidates for the post, the people said.”

Mary Klotman, MD, dean of the Duke University School of Medicine, was a finalist for the job last year, but withdrew her name from consideration after the process dragged on, WSJ reported. Klotman did not return WSJ‘s requests for comment.

People familiar with the matter would not name another woman said to have also been a leading candidate.

AI Denies Seniors Care

Although health insurance companies have long rejected certain medical claims, an investigation by STAT found that artificial intelligence (AI) is “now driving their denials to new heights in Medicare Advantage.”

Specifically, STAT found that insurers are “using unregulated predictive algorithms, under the guise of scientific rigor, to pinpoint the precise moment when they can plausibly cut off payment for an older patient’s treatment.”

“The denials that follow are setting off heated disputes between doctors and insurers, often delaying treatment of seriously ill patients who are neither aware of the algorithms, nor able to question their calculations,” STAT wrote.

In many cases, the haggling takes time patients simply don’t have, STAT reported.

“We take patients who are going to die of their diseases within a three-month period of time, and we force them into a denial and appeals process that lasts up to 2.5 years,” Chris Comfort, MD, chief operating officer of Calvary Hospital, a palliative and hospice facility in the Bronx, N.Y., told STAT. “So what happens is the appeal outlasts the beneficiary.”

To date, AI’s role in such decisions has remained “opaque,” STAT reported. However, the outlet noted that its investigation found that, “insurers with huge financial interests are leveraging it to help make life-altering decisions with little independent oversight.”

“The black box of the AI has become a blanket excuse for denials,” STAT wrote.