Political:

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has called for the Biden administration to update the Bayh-Dole Act by this October, forcing a debate on how much the government can control drug prices into the spotlight, Bloomberg Law writes.

A recent court case, USA vs US Stem Cell Clinic LLC, gives the FDA more room to regulate unapproved cell therapies, as they did not meet the standards for the surgical procedure exemption and thus did not qualify for it, the Regulatory Affairs Professional Society reports. In the case, the FDA alleged that US Stem Cell Clinic LLC manipulated stem cell tissues before injecting them into patients.

Social:

Members of California’s life science sector, such as Biocom California, are taking steps to improve diversity in their field, The San Diego Union Tribune writes.

STAT offers us a case study of how wastewater epidemiology helped identify an outbreak of COVID-19 in a small town without any other resources—and the potential privacy concerns it brings up.

Environmental:

As warehouses pop up to meet the growing demand for e-commerce, California groups are working on passing rules that help curb the pollution they produce, Bloomberg writes.

Professional Development:

Looking to hire new talent? Offer services and programs targeted towards those caught up in the ‘last-mile’ problem.

Economic:

Redditors turn their focus away from meme stocks and zero in on biotech, Entrepreneur writes. No explanation was currently granted as to why the switch was made.

Six months after authorizing Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, former FDA chief Stephen Hahn joined Flagship Pioneering, the venture firm backing Moderna, FierceBiotech reports.

Technology:

The FDA laid out its recent efforts in preventing ransomware attacks while voicing its apprehension for current healthcare and medical device security, MedTech Dive writes.

Another one of the gene therapies from Biogen’s subsidiary Nightstar Therapeutics has fallen through a key clinical trial, BioPharma Dive reports. Despite the failure, Biogen’s share price seemed to be mostly unaffected by the news, which could possibly be attributed to the FDA’s approval of Biogen’s Alzheimer’s drug aducanumab.

Legal:

A suit brought on by the Sergeants Benevolent Association Health & Welfare Fund claims that AbbVie subsidiary Forest Laboratories kept generics of its Alzheimer drug Namenda off shelves by using unlawful tactics, Fierce Pharma writes.

Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch is suing drug makers such as Eli Lilly over accusations that they worked together to raise the price of their drugs, Endpoints reports. The suit said that roughly 12% of the state’s population is uninsured and roughly 60,000 of those uninsured residents are diabetic, thus forcing them to pay exorbitant prices out of pocket.