Merck is dropping up to $3 billion to acquire EyeBio, a drug company specializing in eye disease treatments.

The move comes as Merck—one of the largest pharma companies in the world—seeks to diversify its portfolio and make up for an anticipated drop in revenue from its blockbuster drug Keytruda, a cancer-treating drug, which loses patent exclusivity in 2028. Keytruda single-handedly brought in $25 billion in 2023, representing more than 40% of Merck’s global drug sales.

“We continue to execute on our science-led business development strategy to expand and diversify our pipeline,” Dean Y. Li, EVP and president of Merck Research Laboratories, said in a statement announcing the acquisition. “The EyeBio team, under the leadership of Dr. David Guyer and Dr. Tony Adamis, has a strong track record of developing groundbreaking ophthalmology therapies. By combining our strengths, we aim to advance with rigor and speed the development of their promising pipeline of candidates targeting retinal diseases.”

Merck will pay EyeBio $1.3 billion up front and up to $1.7 billion more in milestone payments.

Keep reading here.—MA

If you’re wearing socks, get ready to have them knocked off. These numbers from PRS Global are quite a sight. Just look at ’em:

• Every nurse hired through PRS saves hospitals $51,500—and that’s not including the cost savings from eliminating contract labor.
• Of the 4,000+ nurses PRS has hired at hospitals, they average a 93% retention rate (and have a six-month guarantee).

PRS knows it’s hard to find experienced RNs, med techs, and PTs for hospitals and skilled nursing facilities. That’s why they partner with these facilities to address their workforce challenges and bolster their staffing resilience with global talent.

Hiring through PRS isn’t meant to be a quick fix. It’s designed to meet long-term workforce needs. Think: mitigating turnover, workforce attrition, and pay disparity.

Get help curbing burnout and boosting patient satisfaction. Schedule a call with PRS Global.

Women’s health tech company Materna Medical raised an additional $5.7 million in funding, the first close of a $20 million Series B2 funding round led by medtech investing firm InnovaHealth Partners.

The Mountain View, California-based company has developed two products to treat pelvic floor conditions and has raised a total of $57.6 million over seven funding rounds, according to Crunchbase.

"We’re thrilled to have completed the first close and excited about the investors still seeking to participate in the final close later this year,” Tracy MacNeal, Materna Medical’s president and CEO, told Healthcare Brew. “Given the unmet needs in maternal health, investors can see the tremendous opportunity for both social impact and a great return on investment."

Materna Medical’s flagship product, the Milli Vaginal Dilator, is designed to treat people with vaginismus, a disorder characterized by involuntary tensing of the muscles surrounding the vagina, according to Cleveland Clinic. The Milli device received FDA clearance in 2023 to be sold over the counter.

Keep reading here.—MA

The question of who to trust on health matters has grown more complex since the Covid-19 pandemic. As a new virus spread across the world, we faced a near-constant deluge of information on how best to protect ourselves that was often in flux and sometimes conflicting. (Sanitize your packages! But wait, maybe don’t bother.)

During the pandemic, employers became a vital partner in disseminating critical health information to their workforces. And four years on, the employer is the institution employees trust most for addressing their health needs and concerns, according to a recent report from Edelman.

Employers are more trusted than government, business on health. The report draws from a survey of more than 15,000 people across 16 countries that was fielded March 4–13. When asked to assess how much they trusted different institutions “to do what is right in addressing my health needs and concerns,” 68% of employees rated their employer somewhere between six to nine on a nine-point scale. This is higher than the share that reported this level of trust in business (52%), non-government organizations (49%), government (43%), or media (41%).

Keep reading the full story here on HR Brew.—CV

Testing, testing. Have you checked your test codes lately? Ya know, there are new allergy profiles and test codes that you could be using. Find them in this Lab Ordering Guide (LOG). Simply enter your zip code and choose the allergy profile you’re looking for. From there, these guides can help you interpret test results.