Recon: US health agencies make early retirement offer to staff; South Africa probes Novo, Sanofi over insulin practices

• ‘Wrong,’ ‘misleading,’ and ‘reasonable’: How Jay Bhattacharya became, for some, the least bad option to run NIH (STAT)
• As RFK Jr. delivers his message on measles, public health experts hear a familiar tune (STAT)
• Questions about Pfizer’s GenAI ‘Health Answers’ (STAT)
• Republicans’ new Medicaid arguments: They’re only cutting waste, fraud, and abuse (STAT)
• Exclusive: US health agency says employees can apply for early retirement (Reuters)

• After Canada required pharma to pay fees, drug agency recommended coverage more often (STAT)
• Sofinnova Partners raises €1.2B to back another 50 to 60 life sciences startups (Endpoints)
• Obesity rates soaring globally in 'monumental social failure', study says (Reuters)
• South Africa's Aspen aims for slice of booming GLP-1 drug market by 2026 (Reuters)
• South African watchdog probes Novo Nordisk and Sanofi over insulin (Reuters)
• UN appeals for funds to help contain Uganda Ebola outbreak (Reuters)
• EU Medtech In Turmoil: Navigating The Impact Of US President Trump’s Orders (MedTech Insight)

• Protagonist drug hits goals in pivotal study of rare blood cancer (STAT)
• Acelyrin rejects buyout offer from Tang’s Concentra, sticks to Alumis merger (Endpoints)
• Tenaya raises about $53M; BeiGene’s PD-1 gets a first-line approval (Endpoints)
• Bourla says Pfizer could transfer production to US to sidestep Trump's tariffs (Endpoints)
• 23andMe rejects CEO's second take-private offer (Endpoints)
• Cerebral CEO David Mou has stepped down (Endpoints)
• GSK, Amgen and AstraZeneca tout Phase 3 data in inflammatory nasal condition (Endpoints)
• Pliant calls it quits on Phase 2b idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis study (Endpoints)
• Bayer faces investors' impatience ahead of fourth-quarter results (Reuters)

• DOJ probes device maker whose test resulted in lucrative diagnoses for UnitedHealth and other insurers (STAT)
• Trump hikes tariffs on China by 10% (MedTech Dive)
• Boston Scientific to buy Sonivie for up to $540M (MedTech Dive)
• FDA’s Cyber Device Regulations Demand Focus on Security, Webinar Says (MedTech Insight)
• AvaSure, Oracle And NVIDIA Launch Virtual Care Assistant For Enhanced Clinical Workflow (MedTech Insight)
• HIMSS 2025: Google Cloud Launches Visual Q&A For Multimodal Search Capabilities (MedTech Insight)

• DTC Advertising: Industry Learning To Live With US FDA’s Clear, Conspicuous And Neutral Rule (Pink Sheet)
• Health plans need to take accountability for a broken system (STAT)
• NIH terminates ongoing grants for LGBTQ+ research (STAT)
• Marty Makary, Trump nominee to lead FDA, pledges to avoid conflicts if confirmed (STAT)
• Sutter Health settles sweeping antitrust case, narrowly avoiding trial (STAT)
• UnitedHealthcare’s copay-only plan is booming, despite backlash over care denials (Endpoints)
• NIH-backed research tries to use stem cells to restore the eye’s outer layer (Endpoints)
• Wild Coast recalling raw cat food on bird flu contamination risk, FDA says (Reuters)