Health
What to Know About Bill Gates’s Plans to Shut Down the Gates Foundation
In the next 20 years, Gates believes, progress will be ‘incredible.’
“This is a miraculous time,” he told me, with the most exciting work the foundation has ever done sitting in the R.&D. pipeline now, waiting to be delivered.
It was almost hard to keep up with his survey of breakthroughs: on H.I.V., on tuberculosis, but also on more obscure and neglected diseases like lymphatic filariasis and visceral leishmaniasis. He predicts that maternal-mortality rates in the developing world could be brought into rough parity with those in the rich world, and that childhood deaths could be cut in half.
But in the short term, Gates predicts that childhood mortality will increase in Trump’s term — and not by a little.
Given the various cuts imposed by the Trump administration, Gates says he expects childhood mortality to go up by a million additional deaths per year.
He was stunned by the breadth of the foreign-aid cuts and puts future childhood deaths in Elon Musk’s hands.
“The world’s richest man has been involved in the deaths of the world’s poorest children,” Gates told me, exhibiting a rare burst of real anger about the cuts to U.S.A.I.D. “He put it in the wood chipper, because he didn’t go to a party that weekend.”
Those cuts, he says, were much larger than he anticipated:
I thought there’d be, like, a 20 percent cut. Instead, right now, it’s like an 80 percent cut. And yes, I did not expect that. I don’t think anybody expected that. Nobody expected the executive branch to cut PEPFAR or polio money without the involvement of Congress. What’s going on with H.I.V. research and trial networks, I didn’t expect that either.
It isn’t just America: Other leaders of rich nations are squeezing their aid budgets.
“Take Keir Starmer,” Gates told me.
A day before he’s supposed to fly and see Trump, and he’s like, Oh, my God, I’ve got to show that we’re serious about defense spending. He’s in some meetings saying, OK, how do I increase defense spending from 2.1 percent to 2.3 percent? And somebody says, We could cut the aid budget from 0.5 percent to 0.3 percent. Nobody says, Hey, what about those kids who won’t get vaccines?
Gates calls A.I. a ‘magic wand.’
Throughout our conversation, he returned again and again to the promises of A.I. — not just in the area of drug discovery, but as part of a better delivery mechanism, to make sure that those in need can actually access the world’s most powerful tools.
Since last fall, new and deadly synthetic opioids called orphines have begun appearing in street drugs in the United States. They are far more potent than fentanyl but cannot be detected by standard toxicology tests.
Orphines are still much less common than fentanyl, but they are proliferating quickly. As of last month, they have been found in 14 states, mostly in the South and the Midwest. Law enforcement officials and public health officials are trying to assess the gravity and endurance of the threat they pose.
Here are answers to some basic questions.
What are orphines?
They are a class of opioids that was created in the 1960s by Paul Janssen, a Belgian doctor and pharmacologist, whose teams investigated rapid, safe pain relievers for surgery. As part of that effort, they also developed fentanyl.
Dr. Janssen and others discovered that orphines had life-threatening side effects such as acute respiratory depression and were highly addictive. Within a few years, the research on them was halted.
Researchers characterize orphines as 10 times more powerful than fentanyl, even in quantities no greater than a few sand-size grains. They can be lethal with stunning speed, with victims slumping over abruptly, respiration shutting down, chest walls rigid. Sometimes the classic signature of overdose, “the foam cone” — froth from the nostrils and mouth — does not even have time to bubble up.
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Still, it is possible for people overdosing on orphines to be revived with naloxone, the opioid reversal medication. But numerous doses may be required, many more than the one or two doses typically needed for fentanyl.
Why did orphines start showing up in United States?
Orphines are among the synthetic opioids that started to appear in the street drug supply in the wake of global crackdowns on fentanyl.
In 2018, the Drug Enforcement Administration issued a temporary ban on all fentanyl-related substances, called analogs. That same year, an article in The Journal of Medicinal Chemistry addressed the challenge of developing opioids without toxic side effects and offered orphines as cautionary examples. It described them as dangerous, because they are so powerfully addictive and may affect breathing.
Researchers speculate that rogue chemists, seeking illicit drugs that can evade international drug laws, may have been inspired by the article to develop orphines. By 2019, brorphine, an early orphine, was detected in Europe.
Around that time, another class of cheap, synthetic opioids called nitazenes had been circulating in Europe and the United States, alarming law enforcement and public health officials. But in July 2025, China, a key manufacturing source of chemicals for nitazenes, banned them.
Nitazenes began to fade but, within months, orphines popped up in the American illicit drug supply.
In what form are orphines sold?
The most common orphine is an analog called cychlorphine (also known as N-propionitrile chlorphine). It seems to be circulating in counterfeit pills or as a powder, bulking and boosting fentanyl. Overdoses and fatalities may occur because the user did not know that the intended drug — such as the stimulant methamphetamine — had been adulterated with the orphine.
Cychlorphine is so new, so difficult to seize that researchers believe it is often being delivered by international mail. In addition to the United States, it has been detected in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, France and Germany, where, cheap and available, it has been nicknamed “poor man’s fentanyl.”
There are indications in Europe that cychlorphine is being used on its own, not just to adulterate other drugs. Medical examiners in the United States are starting to surmise this as well because a few overdose fatalities do not test positive for conventional illicit drugs, like fentanyl and benzodiazepines. When further toxicology tests have been done, cychlorphine shows up as the only deadly drug on board.
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A former Ironman triathlete was stunned to learn that his vision problems were actually the first sign of stage 4 lung cancer.
Dave Nitsche, 57, was initially given just 12 to 24 months to live – but a newly approved drug has helped him surpass that timeframe by several years.
“In 2019, I noticed that I was having trouble seeing with my left eye,” the Canadian man shared during an interview with Fox News Digital. “I went to the optometrist, and they said it was probably a detached retina.”
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After scans revealed fluid buildup and rising pressure, doctors determined that Nitsche had lost vision in the eye — and ultimately removed it. A biopsy of the fluid revealed that it was cancerous.
Next, Nitsche saw more specialists, who extracted fluid from his lungs for more testing. “The next day, the oncologist told me that I had stage 4 lung cancer,” he said.
Dave Nitsche, pictured in Calgary, Alberta in 2025, was stunned to learn that his vision problems were actually the first sign of stage 4 lung cancer. (Dave Nitsche)
Nitsche said his doctors were “very shocked” to find that his initial eye issues had stemmed from lung cancer – particularly because he had never been a smoker.
Azam J. Farooqui, M.D., a hematology and oncology physician at Ironwood Cancer & Research Centers in Chandler, Arizona, agreed that Nitsche’s case was “very surprising.”
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“Cancer can find its way to some very odd locations, but the eye is a very, very rare one,” Farooqui, who did not treat Nitsche, told Fox News Digital. “Usually cancer will get there via a nerve channel or blood vessel, but it’s very uncommon.”
Nitsche, an ex-triathlete who has done multiple Ironman races, hadn’t experienced any other symptoms other than the eye issues. “I was running quite a bit at the time,” he shared. “I had a little bit of back pain here and there, but lung cancer definitely wasn’t on my radar.”
Nitsche, an ex-triathlete who has done multiple Ironman races, hadn’t experienced any other symptoms other than the eye issues. “I had a little bit of back pain here and there, but lung cancer definitely wasn’t on my radar.” (Dave Nitsche)
His first treatment was a targeted therapy called afatinib, which lasted about three months. When doctors found that the cancer had spread to Nitsche’s brain, he began taking another medication called Tagrisso (osimertinib), which crosses the blood-brain barrier.
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After six years, when those drugs stopped working, Nitsche started taking Rybrevant (amivantamab), a chemo-free drug that he receives via IV infusion every three weeks in a supervised medical setting. After a year on the drug, which is developed by Johnson & Johnson, his scans are looking “very, very good,” he said.
“There are days that you feel strong and there are days that you’re a little weaker, but you just adjust accordingly.”
“Science is catching up to me perfectly with all these drugs that I’m on,” Nitsche said. “Now, we’ll just wait for the next thing to come along, and we’ll jump onto that. But for now, the Rybrevant is working perfectly.”
Nitsche has experienced a few side effects, but said for the most part, the drug he is taking is “very tolerable.” (Dave Nitsche)
Nitsche has experienced a few side effects, primarily skin irritation and fingernail infections, but said for the most part, the drug is “very tolerable.”
Compared to the full-dose chemo and other lung cancer treatments, Farooqui agreed that Rybrevant is “very manageable.”
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Other common side effects can include infusion reactions, muscle and joint pain, mouth sores, swelling, fatigue, nausea, bowel changes, vomiting, cough, shortness of breath and low appetite, according to FDA prescribing information.
In rare cases, serious effects can include lung inflammation, blood clots, severe skin reactions and eye problems. Pregnant women should not take the drug due to fetal risks.
Embracing his role as an advocate, Nitsche now speaks openly about his experience and what others should know. (Dave Nitsche)
“If somebody is having too many side effects, or if it is feeling too aggressive, we can do dose reductions,” Farooqui noted. “In my experience, we’ve had patients do really well on it, and we’ve been able to manage their side effects without any major concerns.”
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Rybrevant has now been approved to treat certain types of non-small cell lung cancer in the U.S. and Canada, and Nitsche said a few of his friends are also taking the drug.
“Doctors gave me a year to two years – they told me to get my affairs in order. And it’s been seven years now,” he said. “I’ll take it.”
“For almost any type of cancer, a diagnosis is not a death sentence.”
Nitsche is now preparing for a 600-mile biking expedition in June to raise awareness for lung cancer. He credits his endurance training and high fitness level with helping to extend his survival.
“There are days that you feel strong and there are days that you’re a little weaker, but you just adjust accordingly,” he said.
Rybrevant has now been approved to treat certain types of non-small cell lung cancer in the U.S. and Canada. (iStock)
Embracing his role as an advocate, Nitsche now speaks openly about his experience and what others should know.
“If you have lungs, you can get lung cancer – but at this point, for almost any type of cancer, a diagnosis is not a death sentence,” he said. “They’re doing so much research on it, especially with lung cancer… I’ve known people who have lasted 12 to 18 years, so for me, seven years is great. So I’ll just keep going.”
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Farooqui echoed the importance of patients “advocating for themselves and getting the most up-to-date therapy there is.”
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At 75, Jane Seymour isn’t fighting the years under her belt — she’s leaning into them. The former Bond girl in “Live and Let Die” and star of “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” has a simple outlook on aging: She’s just grateful for the opportunity.
Her perspective shifted radically in her 40s after a near-death experience involving anaphylactic shock, according to an interview the actress did with Women’s Health.
“I remember looking at my body from above and thinking, ‘That’s your vehicle. I am responsible for taking care of this car,’” Seymour recalled.
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The actress shared the following four key habits she uses to navigate her 70s with vitality.
1. Embrace a positive attitude
Seymour’s perspective shifted in her 40s after a near-death experience involving anaphylactic shock, she told Women’s Health. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Elton John AIDS Foundation)
For Seymour, the mental game of aging is just as important as the physical. She said she approaches every day with a sense of optimism, which she describes as “getting up and not giving up.”
In a recent interview with Future of Personal Health, Seymour said that being depressed over lost youth is “redundant.” Instead of mourning the past, she embraces the present.
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“You were 20, and you had whatever that experience was,” she said. “Now, maybe you’re 70, and it’s a whole new world.”
2. Know your body
Seymour’s fitness routine is built on consistency rather than intensity, she shared. The actress aims to work out at least three times a week, but refuses to push herself to the point of injury.
“You were 20, and you had whatever that experience was,” she said. “Now, maybe you’re 70, and it’s a whole new world.” (Jane Seymour/Instagram)
“I listen to my body,” she told Women’s Health. “I’m not going to overdo it.”
Seymour’s workouts focus on strengthening her core, arms and legs. While her preference is the reformer (a Pilates machine), she is highly adaptable.
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When traveling without workout equipment, Seymour said she performs bodyweight exercises, even doing incline press-ups against a kitchen counter.
“I’m not going to pretend I’m 20 when I’m 70,” she said. “I’m going to be the best I can be at the age I am.”
3. Nourish your body
Rather than fighting the natural signs of a life well-lived, Seymour said she views her appearance as a professional asset.
Seymour focuses on a rigorous skincare and nutritional routine to maintain the “vehicle” she was given, she said. (Emma Mcintyre/Getty Images)
“I’m not chasing wrinkles,” she added. “My laugh lines and even my frown lines are useful in my work – they’re part of my toolkit.”
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The actress said she focuses on a rigorous skincare and nutritional routine to maintain the “vehicle” she was given.
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This includes a daily regimen of exfoliation and hydration, alongside a diet rich in fruits and vegetables.
“I’m going to be the best I can be at the age I am.”
When her filming schedule makes fresh meals difficult, Seymour supplements with antioxidant blends to ensure there are “no nutritional gaps,” aiming for a holistic balance that allows her to “think sharper and move stronger.”
4. Nourish your mind
Perhaps the most profound tool in Seymour’s toolkit, she said, is her commitment to purpose. Inspired by her mother, a survivor of WWII concentration camps, Seymour believes that longevity is tied to how much one gives back to the world.
Seymour, inspired by her mother, a survivor of WWII concentration camps, created Open Hearts Foundation to give back to the community. (Jane Seymour/Instagram)
“My mother always said there’s someone worse off than you, and you can find purpose by helping others – listening and making them feel heard,” she shared.
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This philosophy led Seymour to found the Open Hearts Foundation, a nonprofit that empowers others through grant-making and volunteerism.
“That’s the best way to end the day — knowing it wasn’t wasted.”
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