Vaccine Play Iliad Draws Nine-Digit B Round; Denmark’s Gubra Launches Venture Creation Unit
Iliad Biotechnologies announced a $115 million Series B round, the largest venture deal of the week, led by RA Capital Management. New investors Janus Henderson and BNP Paribas Asset Management Alts also participated. The funding will accelerate Iliad’s intranasal vaccine program targeting pertussis infection. In parallel, Denmark’s Gubra launched a venture‑creation unit to spin out new biotech companies.
Transparency in Coverage Proposed Rule Aims to Make Price Files More Usable
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has issued a December proposed rule to overhaul the Transparency in Coverage (TiC) machine‑readable files, with implementation slated for 2027. The rule would filter out payment rates that never apply to a...
Exclusive: Key US Infectious-Diseases Centre to Drop Pandemic Preparation
The U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is stripping references to "biodefense" and "pandemic preparedness" from its website and will de‑prioritise related research. About a third of its $6.6 billion budget, roughly $2.2 billion, currently funds emerging‑pathogen and biodefense...
Senate Democrats Revive Biden-Era Push for Federal Nursing Home Staffing Minimums as Advocates Call Policy ‘Outdated’
Seven Democratic senators reintroduced the Nurses Belong in Nursing Homes Act to restore federal staffing standards that were struck down by courts. The bill would require a registered nurse on site 24/7 and a minimum of 3.5 care hours per...
Payers Pledge To Launch Digital Health Payment Models Like CMS’ ACCESS
On Feb 12, HHS announced that health insurers covering roughly 165 million Americans have pledged to implement digital‑health reimbursement models modeled on CMS’s ACCESS program by Jan 1 2028. The ACCESS model adjusts payments based on measurable patient‑outcome impact, shifting from volume‑based to value‑based...
4 Months Trapped in a Hospital for an Obsolete Way of Treating Their Disease
A multi‑drug‑resistant tuberculosis (MDR‑TB) ward in northern Cameroon continues to confine patients like Asta Djouma for months, despite World Health Organization guidelines that deem long‑term isolation obsolete. The government mandates hospitalization until patients test negative, separating them from families and...
CDC, NIH Performance Review Change May Rate More Workers ‘Unacceptable’
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health announced a new performance‑review framework that links lower ratings to easier termination. The policy reclassifies a swath of federal staff into a category with reduced civil‑service protections,...
3-Year EPCORE NHL-1 Data Published Showing 53% Have Deep, Durable Remission
The EPCORE NHL‑1 trial released three‑year data showing that epcoritamab (Epkinly) delivers deep, durable remissions in heavily pre‑treated large B‑cell lymphoma. Among patients who achieved a complete response, 53% remained progression‑free at the data cutoff, with a median CR duration...
Surgery Is Slightly More Cost-Effective than Radiotherapy for Esophageal Cancer in China
A recent Chinese study finds surgery slightly more cost‑effective than radiotherapy for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Using a TreeAge Pro Markov model on 196 real‑world patients, surgery delivered longer median overall survival (41.3 vs 30.4 months) and higher quality‑adjusted life...
The Cyber Siege of Private Practices: Are You at Risk?
The Identity Theft Resource Center’s 2025 Data Breach Report reveals a 79 % surge in U.S. data compromises, with 534 incidents targeting health‑care providers. Private‑practice physicians face precise, AI‑driven attacks that exploit patient records and vendor relationships. Transparency in breach notifications...
Loberamisal Scores a Rare Win for Stroke Neuroprotection
The phase III LAIS trial showed that loberamisal, a novel neuroprotectant, raised the proportion of acute ischemic‑stroke patients achieving an excellent functional outcome (mRS 0‑1) to 69.7% versus 56.4% with placebo when given within 48 hours of symptom onset. The study enrolled 997...
Lawmakers Urge DHS to Exempt Health Care Workers From H-1B Visa Fee in AHA-Supported Letter
A bipartisan group of 100 lawmakers, led by Reps. Yvette Clarke and Michael Lawler, sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security urging an exemption from the $100,000 H‑1B filing fee for health‑care workers. The request is backed by...
ASPR Announces Competition for Antiviral Drug Development Targeting Certain Viruses
The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) has unveiled a $100 million Small Molecule Approaches for Rapid and Robust Treatment Prize to spur antiviral drug development. The competition targets viruses in the Togaviridae and Flaviviridae families, including dengue, Zika, West...
Kainova Closes $32 Million to Advance Cancer and Inflammation Therapies
Kainova Therapeutics announced a CAD 32 million first close of its Series B financing, led by Investissement Québec and supported by existing backers. The funding brings total venture capital to about $90 million USD and will accelerate development of its GPCR‑focused drug candidates. Lead...
Riley Children’s Grief Program Cares for Families After Losing a Child
Riley Children’s Health’s pediatric palliative care department launched a bereavement program that uses memory‑making and legacy projects to support families after a child’s death. The initiative, developed with input from clinicians and bereaved parents, aims to create a scalable model...
Webinar to Discuss Grant Resources for Rural Health Organizations
The American Hospital Association hosted a webinar during its 2026 Rural Health Care Leadership Conference to guide rural providers through available grant programs. Speakers including AHA EVP Michelle Hood and Sanford Health CEO Bill Gassen highlighted practical funding strategies and...
CDC Facing Another Lawsuit Over Grant Cuts In Blue States
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention abruptly cancelled multi‑year public‑health grants that had already been awarded to jurisdictions in Democratic‑led states. The rescinded funding includes Public Health Infrastructure Grants and programs targeting HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. The...
Talkiatry Rakes In $210M to Scale Virtual Psychiatry Group
Telepsychiatry startup Talkiatry closed a $210 million Series D round, bringing total capital raised above $400 million. The funding, led by Perceptive Advisors with participation from Andreessen Horowitz and others, will support scaling its virtual psychiatry platform, which currently employs over 800 psychiatrists...
It’s 2026, but Hospitals Still Haven’t Prevented Snooping in Celebrities’ Records
A Michigan hospital, likely McLaren Northern Michigan, is accused by internet personality Josh Clarke of allowing staff to view his medical records, take selfies in his treatment area, and conceal his presence on a notice board. Clarke’s video alleges that...
Amazon Pharmacy to Expand Same-Day Delivery to 4,500 Cities
Amazon Pharmacy announced a same‑day delivery rollout to nearly 4,500 cities by 2026, adding roughly 2,000 new communities including Idaho and Massachusetts. The expansion leverages Amazon’s logistics network, Prime discounts and One Medical kiosks that let Los Angeles patients pick up...
The Air We Breathe Is A Health Equity Issue
The White House plans to rescind the 2009 EPA endangerment finding, removing federal authority to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The article argues that this deregulation will shift health costs to disadvantaged communities, citing decades of research linking...
Pharma CEOs Should Demand Prasad’s Departure
BioCentury’s editorial warns that the current director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) is jeopardizing patient safety and destabilizing the pharmaceutical industry. The author cites the director’s handling of Moderna’s flu vaccine as a recent example...
Partnerships Push Innovation in the Aging Tech Space
The 2025 LeadingAge Annual Meeting highlighted the need to involve older adults directly in testing and adopting new care technologies. Louisville’s Thrive Center, partnered with CDW Healthcare and Asbury Communities, provides a functional smart‑home lab where seniors can trial solutions...
NIH Will Not Renew Criswell’s Term As NIAMS Director, Adding To Leadership Vacancies
The National Institutes of Health announced it will not renew Linsey Criswell's term as director of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS). Criswell's departure creates another open director position amid a growing list of leadership...
Cognibotics Helps Advance Motion Layer for AI-Guided Surgical Robotics in CAISA
Cognibotics is providing the motion‑control layer for the Vinnova‑funded CAISA project, linking AI perception and path‑planning modules in a paediatric heart‑surgery testbed. The collaboration, involving Region Skåne, Lund University and Cobotic, moves into a demonstrator phase using a 350 m² simulated...
Alrajhi Medicine Replaces Legacy Systems with Oracle Cloud ERP and EHR
Alrajhi Medicine, a Saudi private healthcare network, has chosen Oracle to replace its legacy clinical and enterprise systems with Oracle Health Foundation electronic health record (EHR) and Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications. The unified cloud platform will integrate patient records, finance,...
Medical Emergencies Can Lead to Debt and Bankruptcy — Even for Insured Americans
A new Health Affairs study of nearly 13,000 trauma patients shows that even insured Americans face sharp rises in medical debt and bankruptcy after serious injuries. Within 18 months, the share of patients with debt in collections grew 5.2 percentage...
Senate Questions Health Care Firm for Profiting Off Program Meant for Poor
The Senate Health Committee has subpoenaed Apexus, a for‑profit Texas firm that administers the federal 340B drug‑price program, to explain its earnings and business practices. Apexus reportedly generated $227 million in revenue in 2022 with profit margins above 80 percent, despite the...
Seres to Lay Off Staff, Pause Top Program in Latest Reboot
Seres Therapeutics, a cash‑strapped microbiome drug developer, will cut about 30 % of its workforce and suspend its lead program SER‑155, which targets graft‑versus‑host disease. The company will redirect resources toward earlier‑stage immunology candidates such as SER‑603, aiming to extend its...
New AI Approach Weighs Data ‘Temperature’ to Improve Prediction Accuracy
Penn State researchers unveiled ZENN, a zentropy‑embedded neural network that fuses thermodynamic entropy and a data "temperature" parameter to weigh heterogeneous inputs. By separating signal energy from intrinsic noise, ZENN achieves markedly higher prediction fidelity, demonstrated by a 90% accuracy...
'She Makes Me Laugh': Seniors Are Building Deep Bonds With This Friendly AI Robot
Intuition Robotics’ ElliQ, a voice‑activated AI companion, is forging genuine relationships with seniors living alone, delivering up to 30 daily conversations. In New York, users who kept the robot for a month reported a 95% drop in loneliness, with many describing...
Anterior Secures $40M to Expand AI Deployments in Health Plans
Anterior, a clinician‑led AI platform for health insurers, closed a $40 million financing round, raising its total capital to $64 million with investors including NEA and Sequoia. The company differentiates itself through a “Forward Deployed Clinician” model that embeds medical professionals alongside...
Maven Clinic and Color Health Partner to Expand Virtual Oncofertility Services
Maven Clinic and Color Health have launched a joint oncofertility program that integrates virtual cancer care with a family‑building platform. The partnership targets the roughly 80,000 U.S. young‑adult cancer diagnoses each year, where fewer than half of patients receive fertility‑preservation...
Keragon AI Transforms Healthcare Operations with HIPAA-Compliant Conversational Interface
Keragon has launched an AI‑powered automation platform that links more than 300 healthcare applications through conversational, no‑code prompts while maintaining HIPAA compliance. The solution lets clinical and operations staff design and deploy workflows in minutes, eliminating the traditional reliance on...
Ambience Healthcare Launches “Chart Awareness” To Automate Coding and Clinical Summaries
Ambience Healthcare introduced “Chart Awareness,” an AI capability that reads a patient’s full longitudinal record—including labs, imaging and prior notes—to generate richer clinical summaries. The update adds chart‑aware patient summaries, auto‑extracted diagnostic trends, and coding assistance that can substantiate complex...
Resident Doctors in Scotland Accept Pay Deal, Averting Strikes
Resident doctors in Scotland have overwhelmingly approved a revised pay offer, with 97.1% voting in favour and a 62.4% turnout, averting planned strike action. The British Medical Association secured a deal that provides a 4.25% pay rise for 2025‑26 and...
What Do You Think About Physician Noncompete Agreements?
Physician non‑compete agreements are back in the spotlight as the FTC signals a targeted crackdown on contracts it deems unreasonable, rather than pursuing a sweeping federal ban. The debate pits practice protection against clinician mobility and continuity of care. Medical...
Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease Series: Rheumatic Valve Disease
The TCTMD podcast released a new episode in its Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease series focusing on rheumatic valve disease. Hosts Ami Bhatt and Robert Levine explore the diagnostic hurdles that pediatric patients face, including overlapping symptoms with other cardiac...
Ubie and Mayo Clinic to Launch “Smart Support” AI Triage Platform
Ubie, a Google‑backed AI health platform, has teamed up with Mayo Clinic to co‑develop “Ubie Smart Support,” an AI‑driven triage system that merges chat and voice interfaces into a single digital front door. The solution will assess symptoms, route patients...
GE HealthCare Installs Allia Moveo at USF Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation
GE HealthCare’s Allia Moveo, a compact cable‑free C‑arm with a lateral wide‑bore for Cone Beam CT, has been installed at the University of South Florida’s Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS). This makes CAMLS the first Florida and...
A Guide to the Best Disaster Recovery Solutions for Health Care Organizations
Healthcare providers face heightened risk from cyber attacks and natural disasters, making robust disaster recovery essential. Vendors such as Dataprise, Veeam, Acronis, Zerto, and Carbonite offer cloud, hybrid, and on‑premises solutions that promise rapid recovery, HIPAA compliance, and proactive monitoring....
Andor Health Scores Three Premier Contracts to Automate Virtual Care
Andor Health, a leader in agentic AI, has secured three national contracts with Premier Inc. The agreements span Virtual Care (effective Dec 1, 2025), Clinical Communications & Collaboration (Feb 1, 2026), and Remote Patient Monitoring (Mar 1, 2026). They grant Premier members access to ThinkAndor®, an...
Terray’s AI Model Accelerates Drug Potency Prediction, Pose Not Needed
Terray Therapeutics unveiled TerraBind, an AI model that predicts small‑molecule potency without generating a binding pose. The model delivers roughly 20% higher accuracy and a 26‑fold efficiency boost versus the open‑source Boltz‑2 benchmark. By eliminating the computationally intensive pose step,...
RxERP Integrates Embedded Microtransponder Technology for Improved Pharmaceutical Traceability
RxERP has signed a licensing agreement with p‑Chip Corporation to embed light‑activated microtransponder tags into its pharmaceutical ERP serialization workflows. The embedded tags provide a permanent, tamper‑resistant digital ID that links directly to RxERP’s receiving, inventory, verification and reporting records,...
Blinded by Science: The Importance of RWD and Post-Market Surveillance
The explosive uptake of GLP‑1 drugs—now used by roughly 12% of U.S. adults—has spotlighted both their therapeutic benefits and emerging safety concerns. Post‑market surveillance, leveraging real‑world data (RWD), is uncovering rare vision‑related adverse events that clinical trials missed. AI‑driven analytics...
STAT+: BridgeBio Drug for Genetic Cause of Dwarfism Succeeds in Key Study
BridgeBio Pharma's oral drug infigratinib met its primary endpoint in a pivotal trial of more than 100 children with achondroplasia, delivering an average growth increase of 2.1 cm per year versus placebo. Adjusted analysis showed a 1.74 cm per year advantage, both...
7 Million Cancers A Year Are Preventable, Says New Report
A new WHO‑backed study in Nature Medicine estimates that 7 million cancer cases each year—about 37 % of the global burden—are preventable. Tobacco, infections and alcohol together account for roughly 25 % of all cancers, with tobacco alone responsible for 3.3 million cases. The...
Rethinking Employer Coverage for High-Cost Medications
Employers face a projected 9% rise in health‑benefit costs for 2026, driven largely by soaring prescription drug expenses. GLP‑1 receptor agonists, originally diabetes treatments now popular for weight loss, have become the fastest‑growing cost component, with 79% of employers reporting...
Chronic Rhinitis Solution NEUROMARK Secures €62.5 Million as Irish Startup Neurent Medical Closes Series C
Neurent Medical announced an oversubscribed €62.5 million Series C round, led by MVM Partners and Sofinnova Partners, to accelerate the commercial rollout of its NEUROMARK system for chronic rhinitis. The funding will expand European market presence, deepen clinical evidence, and support a...
New Method Can Find Hidden Eggs to Aid in Fertility Treatment
Researchers at AutoIVF introduced OvaReady, a microfluidic device that scans discarded follicular fluid and retrieves eggs missed by traditional microscopy. In a study of 582 patients across four U.S. clinics, the system found additional viable eggs in 316 cases, yielding...