Recon: Big Tech Firms Look to Disrupt Health Care

• Endocrine experts at Crinetics bag $63.5M to push R&D on an experimental pill for acromegaly (Endpoints News) (Fierce)
• Auris’ tinnitus drug fails in phase 3 again (Fierce) (Endpoints News)
• Why the U.S. spends so much on health care (Axios) (STAT-$) (Reuters) (Forbes)
• Amgen faces tough one-two blow as competition mounts for Repatha and Sensipar (Fierce)
• Alphabet Has Filed 186 Health Care Patents. Watch Out, World (Ernst & Young) (Forbes) (Becker’s Health IT & CIO Report)
• How America’s prisons are fueling the opioid epidemic (Vox)
• CVS And Walgreens Partner With Lyft To Get Blue Cross Patients To Pharmacies (Forbes)

• Bolivian women weave devices to patch holes in hearts (Reuters)
• As Shingrix rivalry looms in the U.S., Merck's Zostavax yields share in Korea to SK’s Skyzoster (Fierce)
• Multinationals cause drug shortages – again (Korea Biomedical Review)
• 2017 a record breaking year for biosimilars approvals (The Pharma Letter-$)
• Cabinet OKs India-Iran MoU on cooperation in health and medicine (webIndia)

• Lousy year for shareholders, but Allergan CEO Brent Saunders sprints past Gorsky, Gonzalez with $32M pay package (Endpoints News)
• Biotech tries to break bread with Silicon Valley’s disruptors. It’s awkward (STAT)
• Former Rep. Henry Waxman says lawmakers ‘derelict’ if they don’t address drug prices (STAT)
• Innovative Solutions to Address Rising Drug Prices (CVS Health)
• PierianDx Announces Partnership with Cancer Genetics to Provide Comprehensive Precision Oncology Testing and Workflow Solution (Press)
• Online ‘quality assured’ API trading platform to launch this year (in-PharmaTechnologist)
• AbbVie blockbuster leads 2017 top drug sales; Roche cancer meds follow closely (S&P Global)

• Tracking a successful DLBCL assault in Phase II, MorphoSys sets out to seize quick OK for MOR208 (Endpoints News)
• Standard Textile product could save hospitals millions, study finds (Cincinnati Business Courier)
• BioTime Submits CE Mark Application for European Approval of Renevia (Press)
• In The War Against High Drug Prices, Some Patients Are Collateral Damage (Forbes)
• NIH scientists search for the clocks behind aging brain disorders (NIH)
• FDA Accepts for Filing Supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for Xeomin (incobotulinumtoxinA) in Adult Patients with Sialorrhea (Press)
• Stem cell centers on the rise, claim high efficacy for treatment of knee osteoarthritis despite lack of evidence (Press)

• Exactech wins FDA nod for Equinoxe stemless shoulder (MassDevice) (Press)
• Judge rips into Abbott’s diabetes test strip supplier over discovery fraud (Drug Delivery Business News)
• With these patents, Apple could win the next major platform war (Quartz)
• AliveCor smartphone add-on, algorithm discern high potassium levels in ECG data (Fierce)
• Qiagen pays $40M to work with Natera on prenatal screening tests (Fierce)
• Zoll LifeVest fails to cut sudden deaths in heart attack trial (Fierce)
• At-home genetic testing may be convenient, but it isn’t complete (STAT)
• Calif. Genetic Test Co. Pays $11M To Resolve FCA Claims (Law360-$)
• FDA Warning Wire: Online Eye Exam Gets Agency Side-Eye (Law360-$) (Focus)
• UPenn Study Provides Insight into How Consumers Use Wearable Devices in Relation to Health (India-West)
• Study adds to understanding about utility of ultra-sensitive cardiac troponin measurement in diagnosing and predicting cardiovascular syndromes (Press)
• FDA Clears CereMetrix’s Neuroimaging Analytics and Clinical Workflow Platform (Press)
• United Health Products Receives CE Mark Approval for HemoStyp (Press)
• UTHealth/Memorial Hermann conduct first sinus surgery in US with augmented reality technology (Press)
• Fitbits help track inpatient activity after abdominal cancer surgery (Healio)
• Avinger Provides Update on U.S. Intellectual Property Portfolio: Three New Patents Allowed or Issued for Proprietary CTO Crossing Devices (Press)
• Ciox Health Teams Up with NextGen Healthcare to Streamline Record Retrievals (Press)
• Certara Launches Industry-first Quantitative Systems Pharmacology (QSP) Consortium on Immuno-oncology with Leading Pharma Company Members (Press)
• Mardil Medical Announces First Human Implants of the VenTouch Triad Targeted Ventricular Reshaping System (Press)

• Hospitals missing from gun control debate (Politico)
• Trump Weighs Firing Veterans Affairs Secretary Shulkin (Bloomberg) (NYT)
• Uber Wants Labor Dept.'s Health Rule to Consider Gig Workers (Bloomberg)
• Drug copays sometimes exceed costs (Reuters) (JAMA)
• Participants In Rogue Herpes Vaccine Research Take Legal Action (KHN)
• Opioid Bills Would Up Feds' Control Over Quotas, Imports (Law360-$)
• Will the Supreme Court Take on the False Claims Act Materiality Standard? (FDA Law Blog)
• GOP Leaders' Bill Could Let Patients Use Medical Marijuana (Forbes)
• New Law Broadens Chronic Care Through Medicare (Forbes)
• Patients Overpay For Prescriptions 23% Of The Time, Analysis Shows (KHN)
• Measuring the Toll of the Opioid Epidemic Is Tougher Than it Seems (ProPublica)

• FDA Advisory Committee Calendar

• German doctor warns physicians: never again partake in atrocities (Reuters)
• Digital tech could unlock £22 billion for UK pharma, Accenture claims (The Pharma Letter-$)
• Could 'Slack For Surgeons' Finally Kill Pagers In The NHS? (Forbes)
• NHS under ‘intolerable’ pressure – but no new money until autumn (pharmaphorum)
• No more silo thinking: Reducing Pharmaceuticals in the Environment and AMR (EPHA)

• Drugmakers shift PR focus to corporate brand (Korea Biomedical Review)
• Sales of popular OTC drugs up 5.5% last year (Korea Biomedical Review)
• Baxter Korea launches automated peritoneal dialysis system (Korea Biomedical Review)
• Johnson & Johnson virtual training centers help Asia's surgeons (Nikkei Asian Review)

• Indian pharma market growing strongly in 2018 (The Pharma Letter-$)
• India’s Prime Minister Pledges Massive Push To Fight World’s Top Infectious Killer (HuffPost)
• India's Andhra Bank shares slide amid fraud probe involving ex-director (Reuters)

• Changes to the therapeutic goods advertising framework (TGA) (Focus)
• This Professor Wrote There Was No Evidence For Using Cannabinoids For Pain. Then He Said The Opposite. (BuzzFeed News)
• BlackBerry helps to secure and advance medical research in Australia (Healthcare Innovation)

• Lobby wrap: New pharma registrations for drug approvals, rare drug policy (iPolitics)
• Valeant Receives Health Canada Approval of SILIQ (Brodalumab) For Moderate-To-Severe Plaque Psoriasis (Press)

• Loneliness doesn’t drive seniors to see more doctors (Reuters)
• Another fallout from the Great Recession: Fewer people took their blood pressure and diabetes medications (STAT)
• Artificial Intelligence In Healthcare: Separating Reality From Hype (Forbes)
• For Aspiring Doctors With Disabilities, Many Medical Schools Come Up Short (NPR)
• A startup is pitching a mind-uploading service that is “100 percent fatal” (MIT Technology Review)