After an initial defeat against the biggest barrier to mRNA flu vaccines—namely, B strains of influenza—GSK has returned with a reformulated candidate that has delivered the goods in the all-important population of older adults.

Shortly after a positive data drop for Eli Lilly’s efsitora alfa, the Indianapolis-based company is again padding the case for its weekly insulin prospect.

Hundreds of millions of people who live in, or are descended from, regions where the malaria-causing protozoan Plasmodium vivax is prevalent have inherited a unique blood type that evolved to prevent malaria infection. People with the Duffy null phenotype—who are primarily of African and Middle Eastern descent—have red blood cells that lack a surface protein called the Duffy antigen, which is what P. vivax uses to infect cells.

Roche is holding out hopes that its injectable obesity prospect could eventually demonstrate 25% weight loss in late-stage trials, the pharma’s head of metabolism R&D has told Fierce Biotech.

The FDA has launched a study to examine the potential toxicity of metals that can be found within tampons—a regulated medical device, from the agency’s point of view.

Novo Nordisk has lifted the lid on a phase 1 trial of its oral amylin and GLP-1 receptor co-agonist, linking the candidate to 13.1% weight loss after 12 weeks—and highlighting the potential for further reductions in longer trials.

After first adding electrocardiogram support to its smartwatch nearly six years ago (!), Apple is continuing to add health features to its wearables. This week, it raised the curtain on plans to add sleep apnea detection to its Apple Watch as well as to bring long-anticipated over-the-counter hearing aid tech to its latest premium AirPods.

Carisma Therapeutics has been working for years to develop cell therapies using macrophages, immune cells that are better at attacking solid tumors than the T cells that currently dominate the industry. In a partnership with Moderna, now expanded to two undisclosed autoimmune targets, the biotech hopes to seriously simplify cell therapy by bypassing the need to culture patient cells out of the body.

On the heels of disappointing low-dose data results, Zealand Pharma is back with separate findings for its GLP-1/GLP-2 receptor dual agonist that have emboldened the biotech to push the candidate into phase 2b development.

Withings has received a clearance from the FDA for what it describes as the first device that can help diagnose a person with obstructive sleep apnea without the need for any wearable sensors, wires, masks or straps.