• California: Gilead has agreed to buy the German biotech company Tubulis for $3.15 billion. The acquisition will allow Gilead to expand its portfolio of cancer technologies. Tubulis' lead drug is a targeted cancer therapy called an antibody drug conjugate, and it is currently in mid-stage trials for ovarian and lung cancers. The company has another similar drug in earlier stages of development that is being tested across multiple types of tumors. According to analysts at Citi, the acquisition is "an impactful expansion of Gilead's oncology portfolio." This is Gilead's third major acquisition since the start of the year, with the previous two being Arcellx in February and Ouro Medicines last month. Overall, Gilead's acquisitions total $12 billion. (Martinez/Kellaher, Wall Street Journal, 4/7)
• Florida: According to a new analysis from Wakely Consulting Group, around 14% of people who enrolled in ACA plans this year did not pay their first monthly bill, with the number increasing to 25% or more in some states. Normally, the rate of falloff for ACA plan membership early in the year is much lower, only reaching mid-single digits. Rising ACA premiums likely led to more people dropping coverage. Between 2021 and 2025, the percentage of premium payments that were over $500 after subsidies was 4% to 6%. However, this number has since doubled to 8%. "It is simply because the cost of health insurance is more than what they can afford," said Pam Kehaly, CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona. In 2025, the insurer only lost around 2% of its ACA enrollees to nonpayment, but this number has increased to over 30% this year. (Mathews, Wall Street Journal, 4/15)
• Massachusetts: Moderna has launched a large-scale clinical trial of its new mRNA bird flu vaccine. The trial is expected to enroll around 4,000 adults ages 18 and older. It follows an early-stage clinical trial of roughly 300 healthy adults that resulted in positive interim data. Last year, HHS canceled a nearly $600 million contract with Moderna to develop a bird flu vaccine. The contract was originally awarded under the Biden administration, but was later canceled by the Trump administration, which argued that mRNA technology "remains under-tested." After losing its federal funding, Moderna delayed its large-scale clinical trial of the vaccine for several months as it sought alternative funding options. Ultimately, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation invested up to $54.3 million to support the bird flu vaccine. In a press release, Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said the launch of the trial is a milestone for efforts to "strengthen global pandemic preparedness" and that "[o]ur platform technology's efficiency and scalability are critical to supporting global health security and responding to potential future threats." (Roubein, Washington Post, 4/21)

The fight against COVID-19 has pushed healthcare to quickly adopt virtual tools at a rate much faster than normal. Some of the most promising pandemic-related health technologies go beyond just telehealth — for example, analytics and artificial intelligence (AI). Read on to learn three ways AI can be used to help with future pandemics.