NIH nominee Monica Bertagnolli clears Senate panel with bipartisan support despite Sanders’ drug pricing qualms

Na­tion­al Can­cer In­sti­tute di­rec­tor Mon­i­ca Bertag­nol­li re­ceived the Sen­ate health com­mit­tee’s stamp of ap­proval to helm the NIH — but as promised, Bernie Sanders strayed from De­mo­c­ra­t­ic col­leagues and vot­ed against her nom­i­na­tion.

The in­de­pen­dent sen­a­tor from Ver­mont joined five Re­pub­li­cans in vot­ing no, voic­ing con­cerns that Bertag­nol­li isn’t pre­pared to take on the phar­ma in­dus­try’s “greed.” At her nom­i­na­tion hear­ing last week, Bertag­nol­li large­ly skirt­ed Sanders’ di­rect ques­tions about how she would low­er pre­scrip­tion drug costs.

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