Recon: Boston Scientific to purchase Penumbra for $14.5B; FDA delays reviews of two drugs in Commissioner’s voucher program

• Trump unveils healthcare plan featuring direct payments over insurance subsidies (Reuters)
• Hospitals and doctors are ignoring RFK Jr.’s new vaccine schedule and relying on pediatricians’ guidance instead (STAT)
• Democrats say America’s role as a scientific leader is slipping, while Republicans remain unworried (STAT)
• Boston Scientific beefs up heart device portfolio with $14.5 billion Penumbra deal (Reuters)
• Negotiations over ACA subsidy bill drag on (STAT)
• Most Obamacare enrollment closes leaving Americans with higher bills or less health insurance (Reuters)
• Exclusive: US FDA delays two drug reviews in new voucher program after safety, efficacy concerns (Reuters)

• Novo Nordisk Foundation gives $850M to nonprofit to help commercialize research in Europe (STAT)
• BGI Genomics, Roche roll out diagnostic tests for Alzheimer's in China (Reuters)
• UK Wary Of Complexities After EU ‘Unjams’ MDR (MedTech Insight)
• ‘Renewed EU-US Cooperation’: FDA & EMA Release AI Principles For Drugmakers (Pink Sheet)

• Regeneron’s chief scientist on Trump’s drug pricing policy, gene therapy, and the problem with AI (STAT)
• Pharma sector doubles down on AI amid hopes of slashing costs, timelines (Reuters)
• Inside Fosun Pharma's ambition to be a global drug company (Endpoints)
• FDA Change Gives New Hope for Osteoporosis Patients (Bloomberg)
• Ocugen unwraps mid-stage data for eye disease gene therapy (Endpoints)
• J&J reports positive Phase 3 data for Tecvayli in earlier blood cancer setting (Endpoints)
• Scribe Therapeutics plans to test cholesterol-lowering epigenetic editing therapy (Endpoints)
• Manufacturers benefit as pharma customers onshore to US, even as funding pressures persist (Endpoints)
• Jazz sells priority review voucher for $200M, scoring highest price in a decade (Endpoints)
• Health tech funding rounds get bigger when Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst join (Endpoints)
• Weight-Loss Drugs Hold Promise of Big Savings for US Airlines (Bloomberg)

• Should Medicare automatically pay for medical devices that the FDA deems ‘breakthrough’? (STAT)
• Altman’s Merge Raises $252 Million to Link Brains and Computers (Bloomberg)
• Canon Eyes Possible Deals in Medical Devices and Chip Tools (Bloomberg)
• 5 topics to watch as MDUFA negotiations restart (MedTech Dive)
• Edwards Lifesciences Disagrees With FTC Block on JenaValve But Gets Back To Business (MedTech Insight)

• Trump signs bill allowing whole milk back in school meals (Reuters)
• Soybean Oil Surges With US Biofuel Quotas Expected by March (Bloomberg)

• Kaiser Permanente, DOJ reach $556 million Medicare Advantage fraud settlement, the largest of its kind (STAT)
• My grandfather created the hepatitis B vaccine. Would he recognize public health in the U.S. today? (STAT)
• After FDA’s pivot on clinical AI, we need AI safety research more than ever (STAT)
• US Reports 168 New Measles Cases With Outbreak in South Carolina (Bloomberg)