Healthcare, Pharma & Life Sciences

SAN DIEGO – October 16, 2026 -- QuidelOrtho Corporation (Nasdaq: QDEL) has granted restricted stock units covering an aggregate of 50,323 shares of its common stock to two newly hired, non-executive employees.

Compensation Committee approves grants under 2026 Inducement Plan

The Compensation Committee of the company's Board of Directors approved the awards, which carry a grant date of October 16, 2026. They were issued under the company's 2026 Inducement Plan as an inducement material to each employee's entering into employment with the company.

The grants comply with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4), which governs equity awards made to individuals as an inducement to join a listed company.

Sheridan – October 16, 2026 -- The global cancer diagnostics market is valued at USD 29.3 billion in 2026 and is projected to reach USD 41.5 billion by 2031, a CAGR of 7.2%, according to a new study by Wissen Research.

Demand starts with patient volume. The International Agency for Research on Cancer counted about 20 million new cancer cases and 9.7 million cancer deaths worldwide in 2022, and expects annual new cases to pass 35 million by 2050. Each patient may need screening, diagnosis, staging, molecular characterization and follow-up.

Rancho Cucamonga – October 16, 2026 -- Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) ranked No. 34 on the 2026 Fortune and Great Place To Work Best Workplaces in Health Care list, its fifth consecutive year on the ranking.

Employee survey returns 87% favorable rating at IEHP

The 2026 Great Place To Work survey went to more than 3,800 IEHP team members. In the survey, 87% of respondents said the health plan is a great place to work. IEHP earned Great Place To Work certification in April for the sixth year in a row.

Glendale, Calif. – October 16, 2026 -- Reveleer has appointed Jean-Luc ("JL") Neptune, MD, MBA, as Chief Medical Officer to lead clinical strategy across risk adjustment, quality, and member management programs serving 12 million covered lives.

Neptune will set clinical direction for Reveleer products and shape the company's approach to AI, value-based care, and health care payment reform. He brings more than 20 years of experience putting new technology in front of clinicians at the point of care, first as a physician and later as a digital health founder.

Reveleer cites a gap between AI adoption and operational readiness

Citing its own 2026 State of Technology in Value-Based Care report, Reveleer says AI adoption has outpaced operational readiness. Health plans, it argues, need AI that scales quickly and remains transparent enough to trust.

Arlington – October 16, 2026 -- The Bone Health and Osteoporosis Foundation (BHOF) has named Kenneth G. Saag, M.D., M.Sc., North American Editor-in-Chief of Osteoporosis International (OI) for a five-year term starting Dec. 15, 2026.

Saag will serve alongside Professor René Rizzoli, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of the journal's European office. The two will set editorial direction with the journal's editors, Editorial Review Board, authors, reviewers and publisher. Saag will also oversee Archives of Osteoporosis in collaboration with the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF).

Ipswich, Mass. – October 16, 2026 -- New England Biolabs (NEB) has secured co-exclusive rights to sell seqWell's TnX Transposase and the right to manufacture the enzyme and include it in NEB kits and products, under a strategic partnership announced alongside the commercial launch of TnX Transposase (Unloaded).

NEB gains sales and manufacturing rights under the agreement

The deal gives NEB two rights: co-exclusive sales of TnX Transposase, and manufacturing of TnX for incorporation into its own kits. seqWell keeps selling TnX-based library preparation kits through its own channel.

NEB cites more than 50 years of enzyme manufacturing and quality control as its contribution. seqWell supplies the engineered enzyme and its transposase expertise.

Westlake, Texas – October 16, 2026 -- Virbac has donated more than 29,000 doses of IVERHART MAX Chews to KC Pet Project, the municipal animal shelter for Kansas City, Missouri, to protect its dogs against heartworm disease and intestinal parasites.

Shelter treats 300 heartworm-positive dogs while screening 8,263 intakes

KC Pet Project cares for more than 16,000 pets each year. It took in 8,263 dogs over the past 12 months, and each receives preventive care at intake. The donation supports that standard of care for every dog entering the shelter.

The shelter is currently treating about 300 dogs diagnosed with heartworm while in its care, according to Dr. Heather Kennedy, chief veterinary officer of KC Pet Project.

Global – – October 16, 2026 -- Only 17% of health and life sciences leaders report a centralized approach to internal data governance, according to 2026 Voice of Our Clients (VOC) research, even as organizations move generative AI from pilots into production.

Data governance gaps widen across partner ecosystems

The VOC research found that 54% of the health and life sciences business and IT leaders interviewed have a holistic data strategy across their internal enterprise. Across external ecosystems of partners and suppliers, the share with a holistic strategy falls to 32%, and the share with centralized data governance falls to 14%.

Enterprise AI depends on trusted data and governance that extends beyond individual experiments, so these gaps limit how far AI programs can scale.

Oakland – October 15, 2026 -- Blue Shield of California has appointed Erin Brewer, a strategic advisor and former Lyft chief financial officer, to its Board of Directors, adding more than 25 years of finance and operations experience as the nonprofit health plan pursues its affordability agenda.

Brewer led Lyft through its first full year of profitability

Brewer joined Lyft as CFO in 2023. In that role and in her current advisory capacity, she helped lead a financial transformation that included the ride-hailing company's first full year of profitability.

She oversaw global organizations covering finance, investor relations, internal audit, corporate strategy and business development. Earlier, she held leadership positions at Charles Schwab, Atlassian and McKesson Corporation.

San Francisco – October 15, 2026 -- Benchling launched Science Foundries, a product that lets R&D teams run entire scientific processes with agents and scientists working from the same data, and made it available to its customers the same day.

Teams select a process or goal, such as producing proteins, optimizing a lead or improving a manufacturing process. They then define which steps agents run and where scientists must approve. Agents execute and monitor work, coordinate handoffs and flag key decisions to scientists.

Benchling has spent the past 18 months building AI into its platform. The company says agents are the fastest-growing capability it has released. Science Foundries extend agents from individual tasks to complete workflows.