Digital health technology leader WellDoc announced today it has entered a commercial partnership agreement with LifeScan Inc., one of the Johnson & Johnson Diabetes Care Companies (JJDCC) and a world leader in blood glucose monitoring, to deliver across the United States a best-in-class digital health solution for Type 2 diabetes. The companies will integrate WellDoc’s clinically validated BlueStar® diabetes management platform and mobile application, which is the first digital therapeutic approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for adults who live with Type 2 diabetes, with LifeScan’s OneTouch Verio Flex™ blood glucose monitoring system with built-in Bluetooth® Smart Technology and the OneTouch Reveal digital system. The combined offering will seek to create a comprehensive, data-driven and payer-reimbursed program for Type 2 diabetes management.

GlaxoSmithKline plc (LSE/NYSE: GSK) today announces a series of agreements with Aspen (JSE: APN) aligned with GSK’s strategy of simplification through focusing on core therapeutic areas.
GSK will divest its anaesthesia portfolio to Aspen for £180 million plus milestones of up to £100 million. In addition to this divestment, GSK and Aspen have entered into parallel agreements to terminate their collaboration in Sub-Saharan Africa and for Aspen to exercise its option to acquire GSK’s remaining thrombosis business in certain retained markets.

Altimmune, Inc., a clinical stage immunotherapeutic company, today announced that Christine Brennan, PhD, Principal at Novartis Venture Fund, has joined its Board of Directors effective immediately. Dr. Brennan replaces Florent Gros from Novartis Venture Fund.
“We are extremely pleased to welcome Dr. Brennan to our Board. She has an impressive background in the biopharmaceutical industry, and her experience and guidance will be invaluable as we continue to advance the clinical development of our three drug candidates,” said Bill Enright, President and Chief Executive Officer of Altimmune. “We would also like to thank Mr. Gros for his service to Altimmune over the past year.”

Johns Hopkins University, Georgetown University and the University of Virginia were among the top Washington-area universities making an appearance on U.S. News and World Report’s 2017 Best Colleges edition released Tuesday.

$248 million in cash from Sanofi, and the same amount in a capital contribution by Verily (not in cash) have breathed life to a new company — Onduo — where the two equal partners will wage battle with a formidable enemy: diabetes.

Everyone likes to talk about innovation, but how can you stop simply talking about and start driving real innovation in biotech? We looked at some of the most ground-breaking, silo-busting movers and shakers around to bring you the “Top 5 Ways to Innovate in Biote

ExeGi Pharma, LLC announced the launch of the new probiotic formulation, Visbiome™ and Visbiome™ Extra Strength. Visbiome contains the pioneering probiotic blend developed by Professor Claudio De Simone, M.D., Ph.D. (the “De Simone Formulation”), and it has the same strains, in the same concentrations and proportions, and is therapeutically equivalent to the VSL#3®1 probiotic blend produced before January 31, 2016. Visbiome, a medical food, delivers anti-inflammatory probiotic bacteria in high concentrations, normalizing the gut flora and providing sustained relief from symptoms of multiple gastroenterological conditions including ulcerative colitis, chronic pouchitis and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

Mandates for the provision of telemedicine have driven insurance companies and employers to jump into arrangements with pre-smartphone era companies like Teladoc, MD Live, and American Well.

Nope, this isn’t a scene out of Free Willy.
It’s actually taking place in the Army Bay, New Zealand, where a kayaker casually jumped out of his vessel to hang out with a curious orca on Monday. Tim Stewart is said daring kayaker, who told the NZ Herald he went down to the ocean after he heard of orca sightings in the area.

Smart money VCs are on pace to participate in fewer cybersecurity deals through the end of this year, compared to 2015. This year, through Q2’16, the top two dozen smart money VCs participated in nearly 30 cybersecurity funding rounds — deals that totaled $657M in aggregate.