Jason Mast
@jasonmast.bsky.social
Covering science, medicine & business for STAT Reach out on Signal: JasonMast.05
Prime Medicine claims victory in dispute over gene-editing technology with Beam Therapeutics www.statnews.com/2026/07/08/p... via @statnews.com
Prime Medicine claims victory in dispute over gene-editing technology with Beam Therapeutics
Prime Medicine said it had won an arbitration dispute against Beam Therapeutics, a clash that had pitted two well-backed gene-editing companies against each other.
statnews.com
A year after distressed buyout, what’s become of Bluebird Bio? In a rare and boastful interview, new CEO David Meek lambasted rivals and bragged the company would dominate the sickle cell gene therapy market for years. Apparently, its already profitable www.statnews.com/2026/07/02/g...
A year after distressed buyout, what’s become of Bluebird Bio?
Bluebird Bio was a dark biotech morality tale when David Meek bought it. He says the new company, Genetix, is already making money.
statnews.com
Rep. Tom Kean took leave to get help for depression. But as a member of Congress, due to voting for Medicaid work reqs, and as part of the New Jersey state leg, he hasn't made it easy for others to do the same. New w/ @hurwitz.bsky.social at @motherjones.com. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Tom Kean Jr. sought help for depression. He hasn’t made it easy for others to do the same.
The lawmaker spent nearly two decades voting against paid leave.
motherjones.com
Moderna co-founder Kenneth Chien on the future of mRNA — and Moderna www.statnews.com/2026/06/29/m... via @statnews.com
Moderna co-founder Kenneth Chien on the future of mRNA — and Moderna
In a Q&A, Kenneth Chien, no longer with Moderna, predicts the company's mRNA cancer vaccine will be transformative for biotech.
statnews.com
Moderna co-founder Kenneth Chien on the future of mRNA — and Moderna www.statnews.com/2026/06/29/m...
Moderna co-founder Kenneth Chien on the future of mRNA — and Moderna
In a Q&A, Kenneth Chien, no longer with Moderna, predicts the company's mRNA cancer vaccine will be transformative for biotech.
statnews.com
Next-gen CRISPR tools improve editing accuracy in embryos, but also stoke ethical concerns www.statnews.com/2026/06/25/c...
Next-gen CRISPR tools improve editing accuracy in embryos, but also stoke ethical concerns
The use of genome editing in early embryos has pulled back the curtain on the role of one of the key genes that orchestrates the first stages of human development, researchers reported.
statnews.com
EXCLUSIVE: Eli Lilly gave compassionate use access to retatrutide, their unapproved powerful obesity drug, to a 79-year-old man in April. The application was arranged by a top doctor at NIH, and cleared by the FDA. www.statnews.com/2026/06/23/e...
Eli Lilly gave extraordinary obesity drug access to a 79-year-old patient. Who was it?
Exclusive: STAT has learned that Eli Lilly and the FDA allowed a 79-year-old to gain extraordinary access to an experimental obesity drug through the agency’s “compassionate use” program.
statnews.com
this is perhaps the scariest thing i've seen come out of this administration. top five, at least. 30 - 70 years for protesting. apnews.com/article/prai...
8 convicted of terrorism charges in Texas immigration center shooting sentenced to decades in prison
A demonstrator who shot and wounded a police officer during a protest outside a Texas immigration center July 4 has been sentenced to 100 years in federal prison.
apnews.com
Scientific American is being sold to LabX Media, publisher of Discover: group.springernature.com/gp/group/med... They've fired me and other union staff, ahead of June 26 vote ratification. My rates are suddenly more reasonable, if you need editing or reporting - Argonaut2026@gmail.com
Springer Nature to divest its consumer media businesses | Springer Nature Group | Springer Nature
Strategic divestment of consumer media portfolio enables Springer Nature to focus on its core business Transaction supports the long-term development
group.springernature.com
The Trump administration is targeting a landmark, decades-old mandate that allowed people with disabilities to receive care in their community “This is potentially devastating for the rights of people with disabilities,” Via @rosebroderick.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2026/06/22/d...
Trump administration targets disability integration mandate in DOJ memo
A new memo from the Department of Justice seeks to upend landmark disability laws and court rulings.
statnews.com
"Congenital syphilis is a sentinel event demonstrating failure of the local public health program." STI specialist Jeffrey Klausner on why he's so concerned about the sorry state of congenital syphilis control in the United States. www.statnews.com/2026/06/17/c...
As a physician, I have never been more concerned about rates of congenital syphilis
“As a physician and former public health official, I have never been more concerned about those rates of congenital syphilis,” writes Jeffrey D. Klausner.
statnews.com
Amid confusion over Pfizer’s emergency penicillin program, newborn is diagnosed with preventable syphilis www.statnews.com/2026/06/15/p...
Amid confusion over Pfizer's emergency penicillin program, newborn is diagnosed with preventable syphilis
Congenital syphilis should be preventable. An Arizona case shows how drug shortages and procedural hurdles are fueling a growing public health crisis.
statnews.com
As states follow Trump’s Medicaid fraud playbook, people with disabilities struggle to find care www.statnews.com/2026/06/15/m... via @rosebroderick.bsky.social
As states follow Trump's Medicaid fraud playbook, people with disabilities struggle to find care
Medicaid cuts and fraud crackdown trickle down to states, threatening people with disabilities.
statnews.com
I subscribe to @sciam.bsky.social, have I mentioned you get a great games section! #ScienceSky 🧪
Scientific American@sciam.bsky.social · 4mo agoHey Bluesky! 👋🦋 We’ve been reading your replies about our paywall, and we’re listening. We want to share why it’s there—and an easy, low-cost way to read more. TL;DR: You can unlock every Scientific American article for 90 days for just $1 spklr.io/6003EyRIR More context below 🧵 1/6
@statnews.com is the first news/journalism publication I’ve paid for with my own dime (not subsidized by my school or employer). It’s harder to sift between signal and noise now more than ever. I think it’s well worth it to be a paying subscriber.
Jason Ukman@jasonukman.bsky.social · 3mo agoRobust, original, independent journalism isn't cheap to produce, and isn't cheap to consume. But if you're interested in health and medicine — as well as the business of health and medicine — 66 cents a day for @statnews.com is a discount worth considering. marketing.statnews.com/stat-plus-md26
Five years after disaster, a rare disease community gets new chance at treatment www.statnews.com/2026/05/11/a... via @statnews.com
Five years after disaster, a rare disease community gets new chance at treatment
Some boys had astonishing recoveries. But other boys died. Now Astellas is returning to revised gene therapy for XLMTM.
statnews.com
A phenomenal story from @theresagaff.bsky.social about how access to gender-affirming care for adults, like with kids, is shrinking. www.statnews.com/2026/04/20/t...
Even for trans adults, care is hard to find: ‘I could not do it on my own’
State restrictions, Trump administration policies, and waning public support are further limiting adults' access to transgender care
statnews.com
The race to catch KRAS, pancreatic cancer’s ‘greasy ball,’ and create the most promising drug in decades www.statnews.com/2026/04/19/d...
The race to catch KRAS, pancreatic cancer’s ‘greasy ball,’ and create the most promising drug in decades
Daraxonrasib, a pancreatic cancer drug from Revolution Medicines, is showing unprecedented success. For patients like Leanna Stokes, survival time doubled.
statnews.com
This is horrific. A U.S. citizen describes the facility in Arizona that her husband was brought to while he waited to be put on a deportation flight. Dozens of people were crammed into tiny cells, there was a "chain of people vomiting" from filthy toilets, no medical care, and only one meal per day.
The experimental pancreatic cancer drug that Ben Sasse is taking just posted extraordinary results in a clinical trial. It's far from a cure, but any hopeful news in this notoriously deadly, intractable disease is good news. Via @jasonmast.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2026/04/13/r...
Revolution Medicines touts ‘unprecedented’ data for pancreatic cancer pill
In a trial, metastatic pancreatic cancer patients on the medicine lived twice as long as those on chemotherapy.
statnews.com
New: 5 years after lupus breakthrough, CAR-T is still surprising autoimmunity researchers. Via @isabellacueto.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2026/04/09/a...
5 years after lupus breakthrough, CAR-T is still surprising autoimmunity researchers
CAR-T therapy is toting up more remissions in autoimmune disease, and generating a flood of experimentation and investment.
statnews.com
decade ago, a new class of Duchenne drugs sparked a civil war in the FDA. There were anecdotes, boys and parents in dire need, but little data Today those drugs are back. For a small subset of patients, they have led to among the best results experts have seen www.statnews.com/2026/04/08/d...
A decade ago, these drugs tore apart the FDA. Today, they might be some patients' best hope
A mother's persistence helps revive an all-but-abandoned drug class and could aid her son and thousands of others with neuromuscular conditions.
statnews.com
🚨 The Pentagon is now sending a Marine expeditionary unit — meaning thousands of marines — to the Middle East. If you work at the Pentagon or in the armed forces, please text me on Signal: premthakker.35 Your anonymity will be protected.
One by one, hospitals are abandoning trans kids as they preemptively cave to HHS threats over Medicaid/Medicare funding. They ought to consider the terrible message walking away from some kids sends about their dedication to caring for all of them. My latest @opinion.bloomberg.com (🎁 link):
Hospitals Are Walking Away From Trans Kids. They Shouldn’t
Over the last year, through fear and intimidation, the Trump administration has succeeded in shrinking transgender adolescents’ access to gender-affirming care. One by one, programs that previously se...
bloomberg.com
Stanley Plotkin, the 93-year-old "godfather of vaccines," is watching his field’s achievements slip away. www.statnews.com/2026/03/02/s...
A titan of vaccine development sees his field’s achievements slip away
Stanley Plotkin, the 93-year-old "godfather of vaccines," is watching his field’s achievements slip away.
statnews.com
Now more than ever, independent journalism is vital. Please consider supporting the work of @science.org's journalists: 1. Sign up for @nerdychristie.bsky.social's *excellent* ScienceAdviser newsletter: www.science.org/content/page... 2. Subscribe for $25/year. www.science.org/content/page...
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Brain-computer implants have helped some patients with ALS or paralysis move, speak and function So why are they not yet approved? Companies, researchers and regulators can't agree on how to actually prove, in large trials, they work Via @rosebroderick.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2026/02/26/b...
Brain implants: What's standing in the way of pivotal trials, FDA approval
Thirty years after scientists demonstrated how brain implants can help rhesus monkeys move robotic limbs using only their mind, the clinical pathway for the technology is still a little out of focus.
statnews.com
Hi — new to BlueSky! I’m a journalist covering how health policy and systems impact people. Lately I’ve reported on federal cuts hitting a rural bioscience hub, a town recovering from meth, and a man who said he had to break Medicaid rules. Based in Montana, I write for both 📰 and 📻
