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Medical devices

Medical device industry 'not doing enough on cybersecurity' | Fierce Biotech

Two thirds of medical device manufacturers surveyed by the Ponemon Institute and Synopsis said a cyberattack on their medical devices is "likely" or "very likely." Less than a fifth of device makers are actively working to solve the problem, according to the survey.

Safety, quality and clinical practice

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the development of a learning health care system | JAMA Network

Dr. Andrew Bindman looks back at his time as director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and suggest a way forward for putting evidence-based practices into use.

Information technology

Lack of access to health data said to limit potential of machine learning | Health Data Management

A dearth of health data is hindering the ability for researchers to conducting machine-learning training. Data are often trapped, which is holding back machine learning, according to those who attended a machine-learning conference in Boston this week.

Pharmaceuticals

Drug approvals bounce back as R&D labs churn out new winners | Reuters

The slowdown of drug approvals in 2016 may have been an anomaly rather than a new trend. This year, the FDA has approved 21 new prescription medicines, just one less than the total number approved in all of last year.

FDA chief proposes rule changes to fight high drug prices | The Wall Street Journal

The FDA head wants to get cheaper generic medicines into the marketplace faster in order to curtail high drug prices.

UnitedHealth and Merck strike a deal to explore linking payments to drug performance | CNBC

In a move towards a fee-for-value model, UnitedHealth Group's Optum has partnered with Merck to come up with a method for reimbursing drugmakers based not on cost but on efficacy of the drugs.

In other news

The brain detects disease in others even before it breaks out | Science Daily

Humans can detect disease in others through sight and smell. Healthy people tend to prefer socializing with other healthy people and weed out disease in others through sight and smell, according to a new study.

Health benefits of moderate drinking may be overstated, study finds | Science Daily

Researchers may have been overstating the benefits of moderate alcohol consumption and the risks of abstention, as people who practice both habits are affected by other factors, like smoking.