TOP STORIES

Merck KGaA is in a “rapid evolution” with up to 80 percent of its pipeline now focused on oncology and immuno-oncology. – Reuters

Is gene-therapy startup Voyager Therapeutics the litmus test whether the biotech IPO bubble has burst? – Xconomy

Blogging will be light today on MedCity News – most of the staff is off for the Columbus Day holiday.

LIFE SCIENCES

Novartis has committed another $15 million to Gamida Cell, an Israeli developer of stem cell therapies. – Reuters

Eli Lilly and Innovent Biologics have expanded their partnership to develop and commercialize more cancer treatments from China. – Eli Lilly

PAYERS-PROVIDERS

Interesting thoughts from the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) Annual Conference over the weekend: fear to do things differently can result in stagnant operations and actually hurt your business; the “forced change” of the Affordable Care Act brings opportunities to the practices who deliver patient care; and “almost all innovation happens by making the connection between fields people don’t realize.” – Physicians Practice

TECHNOLOGY

A nice post-mortem on Health 2.0: don’t disrupt the wrong thing.

“We will get it right if we figure out not only the technology, but the adaptive change” needed for doctors and nurses on the front lines of care.

– Forbes

POLITICS

A painful reminder: there are still plenty of people who can’t afford health insurance. – The New York Times

A LITTLE BIT EXTRA

Watch this video of Amit Singhal, who leads Google’s search operations, about how it plans to thrive in a new world of apps. – Re/code