But even with these two new pools of money intended to last two years, the state’s schools may struggle to remove all but the most dangerous sources of lead, considering about half the schools that tested their water between July 2020 and February 2022 found high lead levels. Medical experts say no amount of lead is safe to ingest.
“When you start replacing faucets and drinking fountains in the hundreds of schools that we have in Montana, that gets eaten up pretty quickly,” said Democratic state Rep. Paul Tuss, who added the state funding to an infrastructure bill passed this spring.
If the total were divided evenly among the approximately 590 schools that need to meet the state’s new lead testing rules, each school would receive less than $8,000 from the state to test and upgrade its faucets, pipes and water fountains. The state already knows that 110 schools have had at least one water fixture with lead levels of 15 parts per billion or higher, three times the level that requires action under Montana rules.
Most schools with lead levels over the state limit could address their “exceedances” with the state money, according to state Department of Environmental Quality spokesperson Moira Davin. “Our plan is to address as many schools as possible with this funding,” she said.
But part of the challenge for Montana is that it doesn’t yet know how extensive a problem its schools have. More than a fifth of the state’s schools facing the new rules — 129 facilities — hadn’t completed any sampling as of Aug. 3, said Greg Montgomery, the director of the department’s Lead in Schools program. And replacing a single school’s pipes can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“We are not talking about solving the whole problem here,” said Levin, who worked on lead exposure during her nearly 40 years at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Lead is particularly harmful to children and can lead to brain and nervous system damage and slowed development and growth. It typically gets into drinking water in schools through piping or fixtures. A 2020 state rule requires schools to test water supplies every three years. If lead concentrations surpass 5 parts per billion, fixtures must be addressed — and shut off if higher than 15 ppb.
Jessica Reyes, an economics professor at Amherst College, said prioritizing fountains or pipes with high lead levels after a “first draw” test could help a lot. The test measures lead in water the first time a faucet is turned on for the day, after the water’s been sitting in a pipe all night. That sample provides the best data to pinpoint the greatest risks, she said.
Running all faucets for a few minutes before kids get to school is quite protective for kids, Reyes added, because the quantity of lead diminishes as the water runs. But Reyes likes to imagine a kindergartner who gets to school early for free breakfast and drinks from a water fountain before anyone in the building clears the pipes.
“Everything kids need to grow — lead is the opposite of those,” Reyes said.
Montana officials will decide how to distribute the money from the legislature, reimbursing schools for costs such as installing new faucets, water filters, plumbing and water bottle filling stations. The federal grant, meanwhile, will be used for covering costs related to testing, Montgomery said.
Schools will have to participate in the state’s Lead in Schools program by sampling their drinking water to get any of the state funding, he said, and they won’t be able to use the money on projects completed before the state bill was signed into law.
Montgomery said the amount available to schools would depend on whether they have any fixtures over the “action level,” or fixtures with lead concentrations over 5 ppb. Funding will be prioritized on a first-come, first-served basis, he said.
Even if a school doesn’t have high samples of lead in its test results, Montgomery said, it could seek money to install water bottle filling stations with filters. Schools could also use the money for larger projects such as replacing piping, but, Montgomery said, the state will set a limit on how much each school can get. And, he said, it’s unlikely the money will be able to cover something like a $100,000 pipe replacement project.
The goal is to make money available to all schools, regardless of size, and ensure a couple of schools aren’t “gobbling” the entire amount, Montgomery said. That means schools with extensive issues will likely need to pick which areas to fix.
“We want to make sure the small schools have equal footing as the large schools,” Montgomery said.
Many Montana schools have already launched remediation projects after receiving high lead results.
One sink at Skyview High School in Billings had one of the highest levels of lead detected in schools across the state. Scott Reiter, the executive director of facilities for Billings Public Schools, said the sink was in a control room in the auditorium and people rarely used it. After the results came in, the fixture was removed to make the sink unusable.
On a larger scale, he said, all cold-water piping for drinking and sinks was replaced at Rimrock Learning Center in Billings last summer. Reiter said the school had been remodeled and all fixtures replaced about five years ago, so when lead was detected all over the school, it was clear it wasn’t just one fixture.
“We knew that it had to be in the lines,” Reiter said.
Reiter said the school district used leftover money from a 2013 elementary school district bond to replace Rimrock’s pipes, which he estimated cost $100,000.
While Reiter said he was disappointed costs from the Rimrock pipe replacements and other projects that have already happened couldn’t be reimbursed retroactively, he welcomed the state’s additional funding. “Any help to the schools for something like this is great,” he said.
The Great Falls Public Schools district also exemplifies how extensive and expensive such work can be. The district used $19,511 from an earlier $40,000 state allocation for drinking fountains, water bottle fillers and filters across schools in the district, said Brian Patrick, its director of business services and operations. He said the district also got 783 tests covered by the state, each costing $25.
His district used a bond passed in 2017 to fund a pipe replacement at Lewis and Clark Elementary School, where 23 tests came in at 5 ppb or higher. The pipes were replaced last summer, Patrick said, costing $411,252.
“It doesn’t get fixed in one fell swoop,” Patrick said.
This article was produced by KFF Health News, a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF. It has been published with permission.
B | 由于是该技术首次从预防性疫苗（如新冠疫苗）突破至肿瘤治疗领域并获得关键阳性结果，有券商机构直呼迎来mRNA肿瘤疫苗的“GPT时刻”。 浙商证券8月21日研报指出，V940的Ⅲ期成功对中国创新药行业具有直接的映射和催化意义。其将促使全球大型药企重新审视mRNA肿瘤疫苗资产价值，国内具备差异化技术平台和临床进度优势的企业有望在后续授权合作中获得更高定价权，同时mRNA产业链上游的递送系统、酶原料、生产外包等环节也将持续受益。
C | 需要注意的是，在V940大获成功前，其联合方案已经历了长达5年的随访期。
D | 事实上，创新药研发从不是一蹴而就，眼下还有无数管线处在试验进程中等待结果揭晓。在mRNA之后，还有哪些赛道有望读出优异数据？ ▌WCLC、ESMO召开在即 学术会议是创新药板块重要催化剂之一，也是各管线公布数据的重要窗口。目前在全球范围内，每年有约二十余场肿瘤治疗领域的国际性学术会议召开。从举办规模、全球影响力、学界认可度来看，ASCO（美国临床肿瘤学会年会）、ESMO（欧洲肿瘤内科学会年会）以及WCLC（世界肺癌大会）等，通常被视作世界几大顶级肿瘤学会议。 近期，2026年世界肺癌大会（WCLC）年会将于9月12日至15日在韩国首尔举行。结合官网公开资料，目前共 8项重磅研究将在大会主会场进行报告，其中有三款ADC（抗体药物偶联物）将现身最新突破性摘要（LBA）口头报告，分别是： 戈沙妥珠单抗联合帕博利珠单抗治疗NSCLC（非小细胞肺癌），其III期EVOKE-03/KEYNOTE D46研究主要结果即将公布。
E | 其中，戈沙妥珠单抗是由吉利德研发的一款针对Trop2靶点的ADC，目前已在中国上市。 由宜联生物研发的依康坦博妥塔单抗（Tam-Peli，YL201）将公布其Ⅲ期TAISHAN-302研究的完整数据。YL201是依托宜联生物自有TMALIN平台开发的B7-H3靶向ADC，此前已在I期临床中展现出优异的抗肿瘤活性。 由翰森制药研发的Risvutatug Rezetecan（HS-20093/GSK5764227）将公布其针对复发性小细胞肺癌（SCLC）的III期ARTEMIS-008研究主要结果，其证实了B7-H3靶向ADC具有OS获益的价值。 除ADC外，二代IO赛道亦有望在本次会议上频繁露出。
F | 所谓二代IO，是指在第一代IO（以PD-1、PD-L1、CTLA-4等单靶点单抗为代表）基础上，通过靶点组合、分子结构优化和联合疗法升级，以克服第一代IO的局限性（如低响应率、耐药性、毒副作用）的新一代肿瘤免疫治疗药物。
G | 据悉，包括维立志博LBL-024联合化疗、君实生物JS207联合化疗及荣昌生物RC148（ABBV-1480）联合化疗等二代IO疗法，均预计现身WCLC大会。RC148与JS207均为PD-1×VEGF双抗，其中RC148是艾伯维获得其大中华区外独家权益后的首批关键肺癌概念验证读出之一。
H | 另一场顶级肿瘤学会议——2026年欧洲肿瘤内科学会（ESMO）年会将于10月23日至27 日在西班牙马德里举行。
I | 根据ESMO官网，本届大会共有47项由中国学者主导的研究入围口头报告环节覆盖消化道、乳腺、胸部等多个瘤种，并涉及新兴疗法、转化研究与人工智能等前沿方向。据机构统计，从技术路线来看，ADC与双特异性/多特异性抗体合计占比过半，翰森HS-20122、信达IBI3001、正大天晴TQB2102等双抗ADC同步入选口头环节。
▌WCLC、ESMO召开在即 学术会议是创新药板块重要催化剂之一，也是各管线公布数据的重要窗口。目前在全球范围内，每年有约二十余场肿瘤治疗领域的国际性学术会议召开。从举办规模、全球影响力、学界认可度来看，ASCO（美国临床肿瘤学会年会）、ESMO（欧洲肿瘤内科学会年会）以及WCLC（世界肺癌大会）等，通常被视作世界几大顶级肿瘤学会议。 近期，2026年世界肺癌大会（WCLC）年会将于9月12日至15日在韩国首尔举行。结合官网公开资料，目前共 8项重磅研究将在大会主会场进行报告，其中有三款ADC（抗体药物偶联物）将现身最新突破性摘要（LBA）口头报告，分别是： 戈沙妥珠单抗联合帕博利珠单抗治疗NSCLC（非小细胞肺癌），其III期EVOKE-03/KEYNOTE D46研究主要结果即将公布。
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