The FDA may fast-track e-cigarettes with features designed to prevent teens from using them. One idea is to include Bluetooth features that could disable the e-cigarettes near schools. The move is the latest by the FDA to crack down on e-cigarette companies to curb vaping among teens. (CNBC)
Federal prosecutors are investigating free services that pharma companies provide to doctors and patients. The drugmakers being probed include Sanofi, Gilead, and Biogen. The practices are becoming more common, but prosecutors are concerned they may have another, illegal purpose: increasing sales. (Wall Street Journal)
Medtronic is set to acquire Mazor Robotics for $1.6 billion. Medtronic has had a stake in the Israeli medical-device company since 2016 when the two companies formed a distribution partnership. (CNBC)
Employees at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center protested an exclusive cancer data-sharing deal with AI startup Paige.ai. Several board members and executives at MSK had stakes in the startup and stood to benefit from the for-profit venture. (New York Times)
Former Novartis CEO Joe Jimenez has joined the board of startup uBiome. Jimenez, who left Novartis late last year, was recently at the center of the scandal over the drugmaker’s contract with former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. UBiome is planning to launch an R&D unit, focused on metabolic diseases, autoimmune diseases, and cancer. (Endpoints News)
