It's gene editing without the editing, on AI and medicine's tension between privacy and improving care, a very useful CRISPR explainer and other interesting reads from the past week.

General

The Philippines plans to sue Sanofi over Dengvaxia, its dengue vaccine. Link

The UK trumpeted a series of life sciences investments as proof that big pharma would not abandon the country after Brexit. Link

Sage shares soar as depression drug nails a mid-stage trial. Link

Transparency in drug trials: Who gets it right? Link

There's a gene-based Zika vaccine and it's showing early promise. Link

Novo Nordisk gets a clutch diabetes win. Link

Digital Health

Samsung announced its 2018 M&A focus on digital health, specifically on preventative health and related technologies. Link

Could this be the first prescription video game? Link

Health Wizz leverages blockchain technology to give patients power over their data. Link

Taking DNA sequencing into the field with small, portable devices that plug into laptops. Link

Research

It's gene editing ... without the editing. Link

Revolutionary tech lets us see inside a beating heart. Link

Perspective and Opinions

A new age of discovery for biology. Link

On AI and medicine's tension between privacy and improving care. Link

When buying prescription drugs, some pay more with insurance than without it. Link

Should digital doctors have their own medical specialty? Link

Interesting

A very useful CRISPR explainer. Link

What makes some parents fall for anti-vaccine messaging. Link

Notable Deals

Metacrine

Metacrine is a San Diego based biotech company focused on developing innovative drugs that materially benefit patients with metabolic disease. Closed a $22M Series B financing.

Lumicell

Lumicell is developing a novel system that enables real-time detection of tumor tissue in patients so that no cancer cells are left behind during surgery. Raised $28.7M in Series C financing.

Neumentum

Neumentum is developing and plans to commercialize products that effectively treat pain, without the risks of abuse, misuse and diversion seen with opioid analgesics. Raised $6m in Series A funding.

Obsidian Therapeutics

Obsidian has developed a suite of platform technologies that allow for control of protein activity in cells, thereby enabling tunable cell and gene therapies. Completed a $49.5m Series A financing. 

MicuRx

MicuRx aims to discover and develop antibiotics with improved safety profiles to improve the treatment of resistant bacterial infections. Closed a ¥100m financing.

Neon Therapeutics

Neon Therapeutics is a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company and a leader in the field of neoantigen-targeted therapies. Completed an additional $36m extension to its Series B financing.

Lumen Bioscience

Lumen uses biotechnology tools in Spirulina, a blue-green algae, to make high-value proteins and other molecules for foods, cosmetics, medicine, and industry. Raised $13m in funding.