Margaret Manto
@margaretmanto.bsky.social
Soon: Washington Correspondent @STATnews.com. Previously @NOTUS.com @ajijournalism.bsky.social @MIT.edu. Signal me margaretmanto.61
🚨wonk alert🚨 I wrote about how the Democratic landslide could have serious implications for the FDA's funding structure -- by empowering Bernie Sanders www.statnews.com/2026/11/04/b...
Pharma critic Bernie Sanders is set to hold major sway over FDA funding bill
Sanders could use his role in crafting the bill to push for reforms.
statnews.com
NEW: HHS moves to allow compounding of some unapproved peptides, increasing access to the experimental wellness therapies embraced by many in the MAHA movement www.statnews.com/2026/10/28/h...
HHS moves to allow compounding of some unapproved peptides
Kennedy and his MAHA movement have embraced peptides, though there's little evidence for many of the wellness compounds.
statnews.com
Personalized gene therapies have stalled at the FDA. New agency draft guidance would make it easier (and cheaper) for companies to get treatments approved: www.statnews.com/2026/10/27/f...
FDA offers new details on quicker approval pathway for personalized gene therapies
Rare disease advocates applauded the FDA's move to speed access to treatments.
statnews.com
Heartbreaking news about a reporter I've long admired www.statnews.com/2026/10/13/h...
Helen Branswell, whose reporting on infectious diseases and public health drew acclaim, dies at 69
Helen Branswell, STAT's infectious disease reporter who earned the respect of experts and public health officials with her accessible, prescient dispatches, has died at age 69.
statnews.com
Heidi Overton was a young aspiring surgeon from rural New Mexico. Then the pandemic happened. Now she could become FDA commissioner. Read my full profile here: www.statnews.com/2026/09/24/h...
How a young doctor rose from rural New Mexico to FDA commissioner nominee
What to know about Dr. Heidi Overton, Trump's pick to run the FDA, including her medical background and career trajectory.
statnews.com
Exclusive: Heidi Overton plans to tell Senators that as FDA commissioner, she would focus on speeding up clinical trials to compete with China. More on her opening statement for tomorrow's hearing here: www.statnews.com/2026/09/23/h...
Nominee to lead FDA aims to speed up medical research, combat China’s rise
Exclusive: Heidi Overton plans to tell senators she will speed up biomedical research, working with FDA staff.
statnews.com
The FDA’s post-DOGE hiring push is short-staffed due to DOGE cuts Newly centralized HR offices are struggling to keep up with efforts to hire 2k personnel New from me for @statnews.com: www.statnews.com/2026/09/17/f...
The FDA’s rebuilding effort is running into a new challenge
The FDA's plan to hire thousands of new workers is being slowed by an overwhelmed HR center.
statnews.com
New: Sen. Bill Cassidy released a report this morning criticizing the FDA for not tightening restrictions on the abortion pill mifepristone. My latest (and first!) story for @statnews.com: www.statnews.com/2026/08/27/b...
Cassidy criticizes FDA oversight of abortion pill manufacturers in new report
The report raises a high-profile issue for Heidi Overton as she faces confirmation as FDA commissioner.
statnews.com
Today is my first day as a Washington Correspondent covering the FDA for STAT News! Add me to your email lists, let’s get coffee etc: margaret.manto@statnews.com
I’m very excited to be joining STAT News as a Washington Correspondent later this month. www.statnews.com/new-trust-in...
STAT announces pioneering new trust-in-science reporter, new D.C. reporter
BOSTON, Aug. 17 — STAT, the leading media company focused on health and medicine, today announced the selection of two new reporters: Nicholas Florko and
statnews.com
There's something in small-town West Virginia that's really good at getting kids vaccinated. My latest, as part of the @womenjournos.bsky.social Health Journalism Fellowship: www.notus.org/healthcare/w...
An Antidote to the Anti-Vaccine Movement Lives in Rural West Virginia
Growing distrust in the medical establishment is spelling trouble for public health. An answer may be in the very kind of care that’s growing more obsolete.
notus.org
NEWS: RFK Jr. will visit CDC headquarters tomorrow, per an email to agency staff. Kennedy will participate in a ceremony commemorating the officer killed in a shooting at CDC last year, David Rose. He’ll also do a fireside chat with Jay Bhattacharya.
Exclusive: Sen. Rand Paul published Anthony Fauci's diary entries without redacting the names or medical details of over 20 people, including people with cancer, Ebola or HIV. www.notus.org/health-scien...
Rand Paul’s Fauci Diary Dump Exposed Peoples’ Medical Histories
The Republican senator’s office published over 20 individuals’ health information without redaction.
notus.org
Exclusive: Katie Miller has called for Anthony Fauci to be jailed. But since-redacted excerpts from his diary suggest the two had a close relationship in 2020. www.notus.org/health-scien...
Redacted Fauci Diary Entries Depict Him Personally Helping Katie Miller
Katie Miller, who has since called for infectious disease doctor Anthony Fauci to be jailed, has said Fauci’s diary entries are self-aggrandizing.
notus.org
New: Fauci is invoking the Fifth, says Rand Paul has an "unhinged obsession" with jailing him. My dispatch from the ongoing hearing: www.notus.org/health-scien...
Fauci Repeatedly Invokes the Fifth at Rand Paul’s COVID Hearing
In his opening statement, Fauci told the committee that he believed Paul had an “unhinged obsession” with jailing him.
notus.org
Scoop: The FDA's "Simple Reform" reorg has been officially approved by the administration. Changes to the agency's inspectorate and administrative staff will go into effect on October 1, 2026. More here: www.notus.org/agencies/fda...
The FDA Is Officially Codifying DOGE-Era Changes
The agency will stop specializing its field inspectors starting in October.
notus.org
There is now one person working in the WH Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy. I talked to former health officials about how much a single person can get done: www.notus.org/health-scien...
The White House Is Back in the Pandemic Preparedness Game. Barely.
“You can’t run an Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy as an army of one,” a former White House official said.
notus.org
New: The CDC updated its webpage on vaccines and autism this week, winning Sen. Bill Cassidy's support for the CDC director nominee. But it didn't remove a reference to a study linking the hep B vaccine and autism that was retracted in May. More: www.notus.org/health-scien...
The CDC’s Website Still Cites a Retracted Study Linking Vaccines and Autism
The CDC recently updated its webpage, winning over Sen. Bill Cassidy’s support for agency director nominee Erica Schwartz.
notus.org
MAHA is attempting to claim Erling Haaland because he drinks raw milk
Erica Schwartz, Trump's third nominee to lead the CDC, told senators this morning that she will "never betray the science." But she also said she didn't think the Trump administration would ever implement unscientific policies. More here: www.notus.org/health-scien...
Senators Look to Trump’s CDC Director Nominee for Assurances on Vaccines
Erica Schwartz is Trump’s third nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
notus.org
I went to the Great American State Fair on MAHA Monday looking for MAHA. Here’s what I found instead: www.notus.org/health-scien...
The Great American State Fair’s ‘MAHA Monday’ Is Lacking in MAHA
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s signature alternative health movement branding was elusive.
notus.org
“We found it offensive that they tried to say that this was a MAHA-backed initiative, because it absolutely was not." The cotton industry attempted to MAHA itself. Did it work? New on NOTUS: www.notus.org/health-scien...
How an Industry That Runs on Pesticides Won Over RFK Jr.
The health secretary is all in on the cotton industry’s “Plant Not Plastic” campaign. MAHA is furious.
notus.org
“The assumptions here are just really implausible and outright ignore the evidence." The HHS policy research office wrote a brief in support of Medicaid work requirements. @emilyykennard and I talked to the researchers they cited. NEW on NOTUS: www.notus.org/health-scien...
Scientists Say HHS Is Spinning Their Data to Push Medicaid Work Requirements
A government report ignored evidence and misinterpreted research.
notus.org
Tulsi Gabbard is claiming that she has "new evidence" of the US funding bioweapons research in Ukraine. Much of her evidence was already publicly available www.notus.org/health-scien...
DNI Tulsi Gabbard Ends Her Tenure Spreading a Bioweapons Conspiracy
Gabbard resurfaced long-disproven claims about the U.S. funding research labs in Ukraine.
notus.org
New: As news of the hantavirus outbreak swept social media and cable news, some wondered: Why didn’t the administration publicly say what it was doing in response to hantavirus sooner?
How the CDC’s Hantavirus Response Became a PR Crisis
State health officials say communications with the federal government on tracking the outbreak have been normal.
notus.org
NEW: Infectious disease experts are concerned the CDC and NIH aren’t doing enough to respond the hantavirus outbreak. “This, to me, not overstating it, is a travesty,” one said. More here: www.notus.org/health-scien...
Why Experts Are Worried About the U.S. Response to Hantavirus
While it’s unlikely the virus could become a pandemic, health experts say the CDC isn’t doing enough.
notus.org
FDA Commissioner Marty Makary is on “thin ice” with the White House. https://www.notus.org/health-science/fda-chief-marty-makary-thin-ice
FDA Chief Marty Makary Is on ‘Thin Ice’ With the White House
Top concerns include Makary’s ability to respond quickly to the White House desires.
notus.org
New: RFK Jr. has encouraged the CDC to study whether antidepressants “contribute to mass violence.” At an event hosted by the MAHA Institute, he unveiled a plan to reduce how often they’re prescribed. www.notus.org/health-scien...
RFK Jr. Unveils His Plan to Reduce Americans’ Reliance on Antidepressants
The department is encouraging clinicians to “de-prescribe” Medicare patients.
notus.org
