Recon: White House wants to slash HHS budget by 12%; Neurocrine to purchase Soleno in $2.9B deal

Welcome to Regulatory Reconnaissance, your regulatory news and intelligence briefing.

In Focus: US

Pill vs. shot: Cost and convenience reshape the weight loss drug market (Reuters)
NIH would get $5 billion cut under Trump’s 2027 budget, but Congress unlikely to go along (STAT)
FDA Releases Trove Of Data On Use of Real-World Evidence In Device Clearances (MedTech Insight)
RFK Jr. Lays Groundwork to Rebuild Weakened Vaccine Committee (Bloomberg)
Recall impacts over 3.1 million eye drop products distributed nationwide: FDA (The Hill)

In Focus: International

Exclusive: US upends global supply program for malaria and HIV amid warnings of gaps (Reuters)
An update on the pharma industry’s reshoring effort (Fierce Pharma)
Biosimilar Streamlining Takes A Further Step Forward In Europe (Pink Sheet)
Takeda ends partnership with Denali amid restructuring (Endpoints)

Pharma & Biotech

Neurocrine Biosciences to buy Soleno Therapeutics in $2.9B deal (STAT)
Amgen's Phase 3 success sets up an eye drug showdown with Viridian (Endpoints)
Stipple Bio launches with $100M to find more precise targets on cancer proteins (Endpoints)
Exclusive: OpenLoop has acquired Season Health (Endpoints)
Eli Lilly takes the court with 150th anniversary campaign to catch Final Four crowd (Fierce Pharma)
With Sanofi and Pfizer deals, Novavax bets on ‘amplification strategy’ to drive vaccines engine (Fierce Pharma)
Ambros Aims To Revive Neridronate For CRPS With Precision Medicine (Pink Sheet)

Medtech

Hologic CEO Steve MacMillan to retire after go-private deal (MedTech Dive)
Boston Scientific closes buyout of Valencia Technologies (MedTech Dive)
Scientists urge EPA not to weaken ethylene oxide emissions standards (MedTech Dive)
Restore Robotics cleared to remanufacture 2 more da Vinci Xi instruments (MedTech Dive)
LSI Panel Says Women’s Health Breaks Out Of ‘Bikini Box’ As New Business Models Catch Investors’ Eye (MedTech Insight)
No Evidence Of Benefit: Two Trials Prompt Calls to End Routine Use Of J&J’s Impella Heart Pump (MedTech Insight)

Food & Nutrition

‘Medical nutrition’ helps keep my son, and many others, healthy. But insurance won’t cover it (STAT)
Shift to natural ingredients opens the door to food fraud (Food Dive)

Government, Regulatory & Legal

UnitedHealth Group is making a $3 billion bet on AI. What does it mean for patients? (STAT)
Supreme Court conversion therapy decision could ripple through medicine (STAT)
What the peptide craze reveals about Americans’ relationship with risk (STAT)
Hatch-Waxman Repairs Could Help Fight Serial Patent Litigations (Pink Sheet)

Regulatory Recon is our regular intelligence briefing for the regulatory affairs space, bringing you the top regulatory, biopharma and medtech news stories from around the globe. Regulatory Recon is published each week on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.

A story’s inclusion in Regulatory Recon does not imply endorsement by Regulatory Focus or RAPS.