Monica Bertagnolli, President Biden’s nominee to lead the National Institutes of Health, spent her confirmation hearing today stuck in the middle of Republicans’ and Democrats’ bickering over her agency’s role in high drug costs, ultimately refusing to commit to either party’s approach.
Bertagnolli similarly walked a line on government funding for gender-affirming care research and other hotly politicized health care issues, though she did stress that transgender youth are some of the country’s most vulnerable people.
The long-awaited hearing came months after Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) pledged to stall her confirmation process until Biden did more to address high drug prices, like an assurance that the NIH would insert reasonable pricing requirements into deals with commercial drugmakers.