UnitedHealth punts Change deal deadline to 2022
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Today's Rundown

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Regeneron's COVID antibody loses effectiveness against omicron, so it's working on a new version

After admitting that its COVID-19 antibody REGEN-COV loses its effectiveness against the omicron variant, Regeneron revealed that it is working on a new treatment to defend against the mutated strain. The new version could be ready for trails in the first quarter of next year.

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Top Stories

Pfizer joins $119M round for Novartis-backed cytokines biotech Anaveon to bankroll phase 2 studies

Pfizer and Novartis' venture arms have joined investment firms in backing a $119 million series B for Anaveon. The Swiss biotech will deploy the proceeds on a phase 1/2 study in solid tumors.

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UnitedHealth pushes back deadline for Change Healthcare acquisition to April

UnitedHealth and Change are awaiting the completion of an investigation into the merger by the Department of Justice, which has been probing the deal on antitrust grounds.

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Glucose sensor developer Know Labs turns its AI toward a potential new moneymaker: NFTs

The company has latched onto the recent craze for trading non-fungible tokens, raising $4.2 million from sales of images that were algorithmically created using patterns driven by its deep learning platform.

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Biogen hits the gas pedal on Aduhelm confirmatory trial, hoping to deliver results in 2026

Biogen is looking to get initial data from the FDA-mandated confirmatory trial for its Alzheimer’s disease drug Aduhelm out in four years, as the fate of this drug, and Biogen itself, rests in the balance.

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Up to $1.5B on the Horizon for Alpine in four drug biobucks pact

Horizon Therapeutics will dole out up to $1.5 billion in milestone payments to bring up to four Alpine drugs from the horizon all the way to the top of the Alps.

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A list of the 20 highest paid specialties in 2021 as average pay for doctors slumps amid rising inflation: Doximity

The financial and workplace pressures brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic are putting a major strain on physicians, impacting their pay as well as job satisfaction, according to a new survey. Doximity reports average compensation is essentially down due to inflation. Here's a look at which specialties are still seeing the most growth in 2021.

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Tasso's at-home blood sampling device for virtual clinical trials snags European approval

Forget finnicky blood draws and painful finger pricks—now, blood samples can be collected with the push of a button.

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Gilead’s Yescarta in line for $1.5B sales in earlier lymphoma thanks to game-changing data, fast production: analyst

Newly unveiled data will likely establish CAR-T therapies as the new standard of care in certain second-line patients with aggressive B-cell lymphoma. For Gilead Sciences’ Yescarta, that indication could mean $1.5 billion in sales over time, analysts at RBC Capital Markets said.

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Valneva, Arcturus add to bombardment of booster boasting for COVID-19 shots

It’s the battle of the boosters. A day after Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline said their COVID-19 shot works well as a booster for other shot regimens, Valneva and Arcturus Therapeutics are adding to the chorus.

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CMS actuaries: Healthcare expenditures spiked 9.7% in 2020 amid COVID-19 response

U.S. healthcare spending skyrocketed in 2020 as the federal government invested significantly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new data from CMS.

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