WPP CEO Mark Read rolled out plans on Tuesday to restructure the holding company, refocusing it as a “creative transformation company” with an emphasis on four areas: communications, experience, commerce, and technology. Healthcare is included under the communications segment, along with advertising, content, media, PR, and public affairs. (MM&M)
Read also said he isn’t planning to combine any other major creative networks, as the company recently did with JWT and Wunderman and VML and Y&R. (MM&M) The London-based holding company split up its WPP Health & Communications segment in October, folding Sudler & Hennessey into VMLY&R, Ogilvy CommonHealth into Ogilvy, and ghg into Wunderman Health. (MM&M)
New Zealand has passed a law to make medical marijuana widely available for patients. The law will let terminally ill patients begin to smoke cannabis immediately without the threat of prosecution. A national referendum on recreational marijuana is also planned. (Associated Press)
Activist incoming Democrats recently reacted with skepticism to a briefing with business leaders including Johnson & Johnson’s Alex Gorsky. Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) pointed out on Twitter that four CEOs were invited to the briefing but no labor leaders. (Endpoints)
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb targeted makers of insulin for high prices and touted guidances designed to drive down the cost of the drug. Insulins will begin to be regulated as biologics starting in 2020. Three drugmakers — Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi Aventis — control 90% of the insulin market. (STAT)
