Trump expected to pick White House adviser Heidi Overton to lead FDA

• The FDA has approved Pasatru™ (garetosmab-grts) as the first and only treatment to reduce new heterotopic ossification (HO) lesions and clinician-assessed flare-ups in adults with Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva (FOP). • The approval follows the OPTIMA Phase 3 clinical trial, a multinational study designed to evaluate the drug's efficacy, safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics in patients with active FOP.

• Moderna and Merck announced that an experimental mRNA vaccine effectively prevented skin cancer recurrence in a large-scale clinical trial. • The therapy utilizes the same messenger RNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines to deliver a customized treatment tailored to a patient's specific tumors.

• The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has established a comprehensive timeline of public health policy actions for the 2025-2026 period under the Trump administration. • The initiatives focus on critical health areas, including the management of bird flu, chronic disease prevention, and HIV/AIDS strategies within the U.S.

• HHS Secretary RFK Jr. is facing criticism for prioritizing general dietary advice over urgent public health responses as infectious disease outbreaks surge across the U.S. • Recent health crises include a massive recall of over 1.5 million dozen eggs linked to a salmonella outbreak that sickened approximately 100 people across 17 states by late July.

• Moderna and Merck are developing personalized cancer vaccines designed to train the immune system to target mutations specific to an individual's tumor. • The treatment represents a potential breakthrough in oncology by shifting toward highly tailored immunotherapy rather than one-size-fits-all approaches.

• Researchers are developing next-generation mRNA vaccines designed to direct the human immune system to attack and disassemble tumors tailored to an individual's specific cancer. • While current breakthroughs are promising for melanoma—which sees roughly 112,000 new U.S. cases annually—clinical trials are expanding to target hard-to-treat cancers of the lungs, bladder, kidney, and pancreas.

• Moderna and Merck announced that a personalized mRNA cancer vaccine successfully slowed the recurrence and spread of melanoma in a late-stage clinical trial. • The vaccine was administered in combination with Merck's immunotherapy drug, Keytruda, to enhance the body's immune response against the cancer.

• An outbreak of the Bundibugyo virus, a rare strain of Ebola, has been detected in the Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. • The first patient developed symptoms in late April and died in Bunia, with further clusters of unexplained illnesses reported in early May near the gold-mining area of Mongbwalu.

• Merck and Moderna announced that their cancer vaccine, intismeran, successfully met its primary endpoint of recurrence-free survival (RFS) and a key secondary endpoint of distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) in the Phase 3 INTerpath-001 trial. • The study focused on patients with completely resected stage IIB-IV melanoma, marking a significant milestone in testing whether Moderna's mRNA technology can be effectively applied to oncology.

• A Salmonella outbreak has been linked to the consumption of jalapenos, with cases reported across multiple states as of August 2026. • Health officials have released a map detailing where infected individuals lived, though they warn the true number of illnesses is likely higher than reported.

• Public health officials are warning of a rising landscape of respiratory viruses for 2025, including Flu, RSV, and COVID-19. • The current situation emphasizes the critical need for timely public information to ensure effective health responses and prevent outbreaks from escalating.