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If at first you don’t succeed, try again, the saying goes. And that seems to be JP Morgan Chase’s approach to lowering employee healthcare costs. Months after disbanding Have Health, its joint venture with Berkshire Hathaway and Amazon, the financial firm is launching its own healthcare business unit: Morgan Health. It will invest up to $250 million and enter into partnerships related to employer-sponsored healthcare. Haven showed that even the top corporate juggernauts could be waylaid by the complexities of the healthcare system, so there’s skepticism as to whether this new strategy will work. 

More and more companies are giving employees added vacation days in order to battle burnout, Forbes reporter Kristin Stoller reports. But the main question is: will they take it? American workers left an average of 33% of their paid time off on the table last year. Experts recommend setting an example from the top down. Bosses should encourage employees to take their days. Enjoy the long Memorial Day weekend

Study Highlights Why Clinical Trials Need To Include More Age Groups

A new study found lower survival rates for lung cancer patients aged 66-89 treated with immunotherapy, versus the clinical trial data. This distinction is important because over the past few years, immunotherapy has become a key part of cancer treatment, and drugs in this category can pull in billions of dollars in revenue every year. The main reason is clinical trials have shown these treatments can lead to vastly improved outcomes compared to chemotherapy with fewer side effects. However, the results of the study suggest it’s important to include more age groups in clinical trials, since the samples skewed younger than the real-world population using the drugs. Read more here.

Noteworthy

Medicare Advantage mergers are taking off as companies look to expand into new markets. 

Dr. Oz and Tony Robbins bring fame but also controversy to startup Intrinsic, which just raised a $113 million Series A round. 

Google unveils new artificial intelligence app to diagnose skin conditions in the EU.

Coronavirus Updates

Half of U.S. adults are now fully vaccinated against Covid-19 — but public attention has returned to how the pandemic originally began. President Biden says U.S. intelligence agencies have two theories about the beginning of the pandemic: either the virus naturally evolved through animals, or it was being studied in a lab and accidentally “leaked” into the public. The president says that he’s asked officials to find the answer within the next 90 days. Meanwhile earlier this year the administration shut down a Trump-era project pursuing the same question over concerns about poor work quality and politics.

Why Vaccine IP Protection Is Actually Important

The widespread support for waiving patent protection for Covid-19 vaccines is symptomatic of a larger problem, argues contributor Rita Numerof. That’s a lack of understanding of the nature of drug development and why IP protection is so important. Read more here.

Other Coronavirus News

Legislators grilled bank CEOs today for collecting billions of dollars in overdraft fees during the pandemic. 

A new survey shows that Americans are mildly optimistic about the economy, but some people are the most skeptical about their personal prospects. 

Royal Caribbean will become the first cruise company to start testing limited cruises in June. 

At least fifty doctors in India died in one day trying to save patients in the country’s massive Covid-19 surge. 

Across Forbes

As The Universe Expands, Does Space Actually Stretch?

How This Democratic Senator’s Son Made $100 Million In Stocks And Why He Fled To Low Tax Florida

The War Between Gamers And Cryptominers — And The Scarce Global Resource That Sparked It

What Else We are Reading

Biogen's New Alzheimer's Drug Faces Hurdles Reaching Patients, Even if It's Approved (Bloomberg)

When health records are held ransom, patients are the hardest hit — and last to know (STAT)

One-time CRISPR hit lowers cholesterol in monkeys (C&EN News)