1. Novartis said CEO Joe Jimenez will step down in February and named Vas Narasimhan, global head of the drugmaker’s drug development arm, as his replacement. During Jimenez’s eight-year tenure, Novartis turned its focus away from animal health, OTC products, and vaccines and toward branded prescription drugs. (Reuters)
2. Sanofi Pasteur ended plans to develop a Zika virus vaccine. The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, a federal agency, told the drugmaker last month that it planned to reduce its financial assistance for the project. (Stat)
3. Oncologists still struggle with predictions about whether an individual patient’s cancer will turn metastatic. This raises questions about the benefits of treatment to prevent metastasis. (New Yorker)
4. About 35% of U.S. hospitals hand patients their prescriptions when they are discharged, in order to prevent rehospitalizations and financial penalties. (WaPo)
5. The FDA approved Pfizer’s Mylotarg, a treatment for certain patients with acute myeloid leukemia. The drug, originally approved in 2010, was removed from the market in 2010 over safety concerns. (Reuters)
