Greg Simon, head of the Biden Cancer Initiative, kicked off the 2018 MM&M Transforming Healthcare conference by describing a lack of patient healthcare data sharing that affected even the former vice president’s late son. “Our system is not designed to help people share, and that’s one of the things we have to help change,” he said. (Follow MM&M‘s website and Twitter account throughout the day for the latest from the Transforming Healthcare conference.)

Ex-Novartis CEO Joseph Jimenez discussed payments made to Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, saying there should have been more due diligence before finalizing the deal. The former chief executive took responsibility for the contract and said current CEO Vas Narasimhan was not involved. (Forbes)

Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky said he believes his company will successfully navigate President Donald Trump’s drug pricing plan. However, Gorsky advised Trump to consider “unintended consequences” that proposals for lowering drug prices could have on the healthcare system. (CNBC)

Novo Nordisk is making progress on stem cell cures for Type 1 diabetes. The pharma company has been researching and developing embryonic stem cell lines to work toward the cure. It also plans to expand its stem cell pipeline to research Parkinson’s and chronic heart failure. (Endpoints)

The FDA has declined approval of Evolus’ Botox rival. Issues included chemistry, manufacturing, and control processes. Evolus said the problems were not related to clinical or non-clinical items, and it plans to respond to FDA’s questions in 90 days with a complete submission. (Reuters)