• California: Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) on Monday announced that he will begin treatment for blood cancer. Garamendi, who represents California's 8th Congressional District, was first elected to Congress in 2009. In a post on X, Garamendi said that he recently "received the dreaded call" from his doctor telling him he had cancer. "Thus began my journey with multiple myeloma," he said. "I am thankful to have caught this early, and we are confident that I will soon be in remission." According to Axios, Garamendi is the latest member of Congress to report health issues amid a reelection campaign. Last month, Rep. Sheila Jackson (D-TX) announced that she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and is currently undergoing treatment. (Contreras, Axios, 7/9)
• North Carolina: Novo Nordisk has announced plans to build a $4.1 billion factory in North Carolina to help increase supplies of their GLP-1 drugs Ozempic and Wegovy. Currently, there are widespread shortages of GLP-1 medications, and drugmakers are working to increase production to meet demand. According to Axios, Novo's new factory will be 1.4 million square feet, doubling the company's physical presence in North Carolina. The factory will handle aseptic manufacturing and finished production and is expected to add 1,000 new jobs in the area. The new facility is Novo's third in the city of Clayton, North Carolina, and is expected to be completed by 2029. "It took us a century to reach 40 million patients, but through this expansion and continued investment in our global production, we're building Novo Nordisk's ability to serve millions more people living with serious chronic diseases in the future," said Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen. (Bomey, Axios, 6/24; Kresge, Bloomberg, 6/24)
• Texas: TMA on Monday urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to apply the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to overturn the Chevron doctrine to two separate disputes over surprise billing regulations. Under the Chevron decision, the power to interpret complex regulatory questions no longer lies with the agencies tasked with enforcing them, but instead with the courts. So far, TMA has filed several lawsuits against the No Surprises Act, with the first being in October 2021. Last August, CMS paused the surprise billing arbitration process for the second time after a judge in Texas ruled that a fee increase and batching rule associated with the process violated the Administrative Procedure Act. According to Advisory Board experts, surprise billing, Medicare drug price negotiations, and Medicare Advantage payments are all areas of healthcare that are likely to face more challenges in the future following the Chevron decision. (Clason, Bloomberg Law, 7/9)

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