Genetically engineered tattoo shows up if a person has cancer, drama abound in Shire/Takeda/Allergan takeover rumors and other interesting reads from the past week.

General

• Biogen strikes $1 billion deal with Ionis. Link

• This cannabis-based drug is (almost certainly) headed for FDA approval. Link

• Drama abound in Shire/Takeda/Allergan takeover rumors. Link

• Bill Gates and the gene therapy war on malaria. Link

• GE rides gene therapy wave with ready-made viral drug factories. Link

• China to restructure its FDA. Link

• Small biotechs dominate the pipeline for microbiome-targeted therapies. Link

Digital Health

• Genetically engineered tattoo shows up if a person has cancer. Link

• This app could help people in rural India determine risk of diabetes. Link

Research

• A stunning breakthrough in the fight against a devastating blood disease. Link

• A drug to end addiction? Link

Perspective and Opinions

• How profitable are HIV drugs? Link

• Applying silicon valley smarts to age-old diseases. Link

• Telemedicine is getting trendy, but doctors may not be keeping up. Link

Interesting

What you learn when you put smelly socks in front of mosquitoes. Link

Startups of the Week

Inventiva (Paris, France), treatments for fibrotic and orphan disease: $43.6M led by Sofinnova Partners.

ReviveMed (Cambridge, MA), AI-driven metabolomic platform for drug discovery: $1.5M Seed led by SV Tech Ventures, Shangbay Capital.

Medical Microinstruments (Calci, Italy), robots for microsurgery: $24.8M A led by Andera Partners.

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