Recon: Verily Picks up $1B in Funding; NICE Backs Pfizer's Xeljanz for Ulcerative Colitis

• Alphabet's Verily gets $1 billion in funding round led by Silver Lake (CNBC) (Endpoints)
• Payers expect drug prices to rise 3 percent to 5 percent annually over the next three years (STAT)
• Scoop: MedImmune chief Bahija Jallal is leaving AstraZeneca and joining the trek into biotech (Endpoints)
• Biotech IPO Market: Closing The Books On 2018’s Crazy Year (LifeSciVC)
• Genetic screening for newborns yields some answers, more questions (NBC)
• Medicaid Patients In Puerto Rico Don’t Get Coverage For Drugs To Cure Hepatitis C (KHN)
• When Medicine Makes Patients Sicker (KHN)
• House Democrats make Day 1 largely about health care (Politico)
• Drug pricing is pharma’s top concern in 2019 (PMLive)
• How The Federal Shutdown Is Affecting Health Programs (NPR)
• Mom: High insulin prices led to son's death (CBS)
• Trump’s FDA Might Greenlight Drug-Prescribing Apps for Chronic Ailments (Bloomberg)
• The FDA is still letting doctors implant untested devices into our bodies (Washington Post)

• ‘Neglected diseases’ are anything but neglected by the billion-plus people living with them (STAT)
• Daiichi Sankyo lines up a $900M deal for rights to a cholesterol drug looking to disrupt a blockbuster market (Endpoints)
• Sanofi sharpens focus on mRNA for cancer with equity investment in Germany’s BioNTech (Endpoints)
• Swiss biotech Oculis raises cash, nabs Novartis eye drug in extended series B (Fierce)
• EU Court Ruling Puts Pressure On Orphan Drug Developers (Pink Sheet-$)
• NICE approves Xeljanz for Ulcerative Colitis (PharmaTimes)
• Patient who visited Burundi tested in Sweden as possible Ebola case (Reuters)

• Startup Spotlight: Vedanta Biosciences eyes large-scale clinical trials for microbiome drugs (STAT)
• Orphan Drugs Compose Majority Of Novel US Approvals For First Time Ever In 2018 (Pink Sheet-$)
• FDA Ups Pressure On Stem Cell Therapy Makers To Follow Product Approval Rules (Pink Sheet-$)
• FDA Picks Wave's DMD Program For Innovative Trial Pilot (BioCentury)
• The Claim By Bristol-Myers Squibb CEO That The New Company Will Be A 'Magnet For Talent' Is Naïve (Forbes)
• Novo Nordisk’s first diabetes innovation challenge winners head to the lab (Fierce)
• AmpliPhi Biosciences and C3J Therapeutics Agree to Merge (Press)
• Bristol-Myers Squibb And Celgene's Big Winner? Los Angeles Billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong (Forbes)
• For CAR-T Cancer Fighters in the Real World, Two Roads Diverge (Xconomy)
• Jazz triggers Codiak’s first exosome alliance with a $76M ante and up to $1B-plus in milestones (Endpoints)
• Tizona Lands $105M from AbbVie in Cancer Drug R&D Alliance (Xconomy)
• Fujifilm Cellular Dynamics to Invest $21M in Facility Near Madison HQ (Xconomy)
• Verrica To Submit NDA For Contagious Skin Disease Therapy (BioCentury)
• Joining forces with Skyhawk, C4 Therapeutics, Biogen buys more shots on goal on SMA, Alzheimer’s (Endpoints)
• Juno founders set their sights on creating an ‘epic’ new biotech with high-rolling investors at their back (Endpoints)
• Deserted by Takeda, Mersana abandons lead drug (Endpoints)
• A biotech startup breaks a 3-year silence, displaying a $65M raise and a next-gen approach to PARP (Endpoints)
• Axing staff and shelving cancer programs, Selecta hopes laser focus on gout will prove a way out (Endpoints)

• Pfizer Initiates Phase 2b/3 Clinical Trial for PF-06651600, an Oral JAK3 Inhibitor, for the Treatment of Patients with Moderate to Severe Alopecia Areata (Press)
• Trial of Fingolimod versus Interferon Beta-1a in Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis (NEJM)
• FOLFIRINOX or Gemcitabine as Adjuvant Therapy for Pancreatic Cancer (NEJM)
• Apixaban to Prevent Venous Thromboembolism in Patients with Cancer (NEJM)
  OncoNano Receives Authorization to Proceed from FDA for IND Application and Fast Track Designation for ONM-100, Intraoperative Imaging Agent to Detect Tumors and Metastatic Lymph Nodes That Often Go Undetected During Surgery (Press)
• Aura Biosciences Announces Successful Outcome of End of Phase 2 Meeting with FDA for AU-011 for the Treatment of Patients with Choroidal Melanoma (Press)
• Aerie Pharmaceuticals Announces Positive Topline Results of Netarsudil Ophthalmic Solution in Pilot Phase 2 Study Supporting Clinical Development in Japan (Press)
• BerGenBio Announces Start of Phase II Investigator Initiated Trial Evaluating Selective AXL Inhibitor Bemcentinib in High-risk MDS (Press)

• What Will 2019 Bring for Medtech? (MDDI)
• Endologix recalls Nellix stent graft, bans off-label use (MassDevice)
• Senseonics touts first U.S. trial implant of 180-day CGM (Drug Delivery)
• Click Therapeutics teams up with Otsuka on digital therapeutic for major depressive disorder (mobihealthnews)

• As Hospitals Post Sticker Prices Online, Most Patients Will Remain Befuddled (KHN)
• Most U.S. patients not using online medical portals (Reuters)
• PhRMA comments to administration on International Pricing Index Model (PhRMA)
• Coming Soon for Expanded Access Policies (FDA Law Blog)
• The Latest on Predictive Coding (Drug & Device Law)

• FDA Advisory Committee Calendar

• South Australian man faces criminal charges for dealing with counterfeit and unapproved medicines (TGA)

• Gene engineers make super-size plants that are 40% larger (MIT Technology Review)