A crackdown on political dissent is underway following the assassination of right-wing provocateur Charlie Kirk — from strikes on media independence to censorship of late night hosts to dismissal of government employees who dare question leadership. A similar scenario is playing out at the highest levels of health leadership, as well, but former CDC director Susan Monarez is pushing back.

Ousted last month from the health agency’s top job, Monarez met a Senate committee yesterday and described HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as an ideologist unwilling to listen to government scientists in favor of his own preferred outcomes. Kennedy, in removing leading researchers and experts who disagree with his stance on vaccines and other public health measures, took a page out of Trump’s disciplinary playbook — Monarez told senators she was silenced “for holding the line on scientific integrity” by refusing to sign off on vaccine recommendations without adequate data to back them up.

While the regulatory upheaval intensifies, drugmakers are facing an inflection point on the market as they navigate disruptions in healthcare costs from both U.S. leadership and broader economic forces. Today, we’re exploring pharma’s opportunity to take part in a “$1 trillion opportunity for reinvention” in healthcare, according to a PwC report. With innovation and cost on the rise, the industry has a chance to embrace a new way of doing business — or fall behind by clinging to convention.

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