The U.S. Department of Justice announced July 31 that Illumina Inc. agreed to pay $9.8 million to settle allegations it sold genomic sequencing equipment that suffered from cybersecurity problems. The settlement concludes a qui tam lawsuit filed by a former employee and highlights the hazards of poor cybersecurity for med-tech firms.

Sava Technologies Ltd. raised $19 million in a series A funding round for its multi-molecule biosensor platform that can detect biomarkers just beneath the skin, in real-time. The funds will go towards its first product, a continuous glucose monitor, which early clinical data showed can generate accurate glucose readings for up to 10 days of continuous wear.

While U.S. President Donald Trump’s country-by-country reciprocal and newly negotiated tariffs go into effect today, a separate, global biopharma sector tariff of, possibly, 200% continues to loom over the sector. For many stakeholders, a biopharma sector tariff of even 25%, as first proposed by Trump, would be a disaster in the making, especially when combined with the pressures of Medicare price negotiations and the president’s escalation of most-favored-nation pricing.

The Senate Appropriations Committee met July 31 to markup legislation that would fund the Department of Health and Human Services – including an additional $400 million for the National Institutes of Health. The increase in NIH funding repudiates the Trump administration’s efforts to drastically cut those appropriations, which is an outcome marking a clear win for companies in the life sciences.