Recon: Prasad went against FDA staff to refuse to review Moderna’s flu vaccine; Sanofi ousts Paul Hudson as CEO

• Trump administration revives effort to launch pilot initiative reworking drug discount program (STAT)
• Prasad overruled FDA staff to reject Moderna’s flu vaccine application (STAT)
• The old Vinay Prasad never left. He just changed jobs (STAT)
• How employers feel about the state of healthcare (and GLP-1s) (Endpoints)
• CDC moves to cut $600M in grants to Democrat-led states (MedTech Dive)
• Dozens of Democrats call for removal of newly appointed OB-GYNs from vaccine advisory panel (The Hill)

• European VCs band together to improve the landscape for biotech startups (STAT)
• Even Europeans don't see a future in Euro biopharma anymore: Endpoints Signal (Endpoints)
• In Mexico, at least 28 have died from measles outbreak that started 2025 (Reuters)
• Bringing Net Zero Onto The Radar For UK Healthtech Innovators (MedTech Insight)

• Talkiatry raises $210 million, eyeing opportunity to use AI for engaging with patients (STAT)
• Big Health raises funding as investors see glimmer of hope for digital therapeutics (STAT)
• BridgeBio drug for genetic cause of dwarfism succeeds in key study (STAT)
• Paul Hudson out as Sanofi CEO (STAT)
• Terray says its AI model beats a popular open-source model at predicting how molecules bind with proteins (Endpoints)
• In a first, one CAR-T therapy is going up directly against another in trial (Endpoints)
• Utah startup Leash Bio warns AI models could 'cheat' in biology. It bets its own 'dinky' model shows the way forward (Endpoints)
• CSL's bleak earnings report helps explain why it made CEO switch (Fierce Pharma)
• J&J’s Tremfya roars into 2026 with massive TV ad spend, trailed by AbbVie’s Rinvoq and Skyrizi (Fierce Pharma)

• FDA Approves First Home-Use Pancreatic Cancer Treatment Device (MedTech Insight)
• US import block on vapes could cut illegal sales by a third, BAT says (Reuters)
• Neurent raises $74M to commercialize treatment for nasal condition (MedTech Dive)
• AdvaMed names Melissa Torres as new leader for technology and regulatory affairs (MedTech Dive)
• Zimmer plans US salesforce reorganization (MedTech Dive)
• Edwards focuses on earlier TAVR adoption (MedTech Dive)
• Solace Health Raises $130M In Series C Round Bringing It To $1Bn Valuation (MedTech Insight)

• FDA to reassess safety of snack food preservative BHA (Food Dive)
• Fresh produce has a messaging problem (Food Dive)

• RFK Jr's vaccine agenda faces Boston judge who has handed Trump setbacks (Reuters)
• Drug injection fades as smoking grows more common, marking sea change in U.S. fentanyl epidemic (STAT)
• Students, faculty mystified as NSF turns back applications for prestigious fellowship program (STAT)
• Four states sue Trump administration over cuts to public health funding (Reuters)