Here's what happened in life sciences this past week 💊📰

In Japan, chickens have been genetically engineered to lay eggs that fight cancer, the big guns are coming for Allergan, insights from analysis of more than 100 years of malaria data and other interesting reads from the past week.

General

Pfizer may sell off its consumer health unit. Link

New California law will require drug makers to disclose price hikes. Link

As cancer tears through Africa, drug makers draw up a battle plan. Link

Beijing will allow data from overseas clinical trials for approvals of new drugs. Link

FDA's decision to pass Spark's DNA eye treatment could herald a new era of medicine. Link

OptiNose, the firm behind nasal and throat spray technology, is the latest biotech to go public. Link

Merck ditches cholesterol drug following mediocre trial results. Link

The big guns are coming for Allergan and its controversial Native patent deal. Link

A fascinating new study finds patients report worse side effects when a drug costs more money. Link

Digital Health

P&G subsidiary Swiss Precision Diagnostics is out with a digital, app-connected fertility test. Link

A Fitbit for the stomach. Link

How a company works with pharma to sell drugs via digital ads in doctor's exam rooms. Link

Research

Nanoparticles make superbugs more susceptible to drugs. Link

More evidence for a link between Caesarean sections and obesity. Link

Bedside, portable, low cost, ultrasound brain imaging of newborns. Link

Perspective and Opinions

How fentanyl became America’s leading cause of overdose deaths. Link

Insights from analysis of more than 100 years of malaria data in Africa. Link

What will the next 40 years of DNA sequencing bring? Link

Interesting

In Japan, chickens have been genetically engineered to lay eggs that fight cancer. Link

Artificial Intelligence can diagnose plant disease. Link

The fertility testing racket just got debunked by science. Link

Startups of the Week

Virion Health is UK-based biotechnology company that develops broad-spectrum therapy, potentially simplifying and accelerating treatment by removing the need for differential diagnosis. Initially focusing on influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), the company’s technology combats a range of viruses with a single therapeutic agent.

Circulomics is a biotechnology startup that spun out of Johns Hopkins University to commercialize multiplexed assays for molecular and biomarker analysis.

ImaginAb provides actionable insight into patient selection and treatment progress for cancer immunotherapy, by engineering antibody fragments – called minibodies – that maintain the specificity of full-length antibodies while remaining inert in the body.

PanOptica focuses on developing innovative ophthalmology therapies seeking early-stage assets translated from other diseases and developing select candidates through human clinical proof of concept.