Streaming platform Twitch has grown exponentially since the start of 2021, jumping from 17 million daily users to 27 million, as it continues to add more non-gaming content focused on everything from cooking and music to sports and fashion. In this interview, Chief Marketing Officer Doug Scott discusses the launch of performance marketing campaigns, why more brands are attracted to the platform and its growing pool of marketing tools such as the Bounty Board and multiplayer ads.

Janet Woodcock, who directed the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research until she joined Operation Warp Speed earlier this year, will serve as acting FDA commissioner following President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration. Woodcock has been with the FDA since 1986 and has served as chief operating officer, deputy commissioner and chief medical officer, and deputy commissioner for operations; she directed the Office of Therapeutics Research and Review; and she was acting deputy director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

The WaveWriter Alpha spinal cord stimulator system has been released by Boston Scientific in the US. The device is designed to help manage chronic intractable pain of the trunk or limbs.

The FDA has released potency assay guidance for manufacturers of COVID-19 monoclonal antibodies and therapeutic proteins. The document, which takes effect immediately for the duration of the public health emergency, guides manufacturers through the steps of SARS-CoV-2 virus entry into cells and discusses major considerations for several kinds of viral neutralization assays.

Four former CDC directors were interviewed on NBC about the COVID-19 pandemic and the vaccine rollout, among other topics. "Something that transmits easier means that we have to be so much better than we currently are at following the recommendations of CDC, following the recommendations of public health," said Dr. Richard Besser, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Moderna is working with ride-share service Uber on an educational campaign to increase confidence in and access to its COVID-19 vaccine. Plans may include promotions on Uber's network, app messages and rides for consumers to vaccination appointments.

Sanofi Chief Digital Officer Arnaud Robert says the pharmaceutical industry faces digital challenges, so his plans over the next two years include improving patient engagement and digital marketing in specialty care. A new digital leadership team launched an app that groups sales by products and geographic regions and uses AI in creating sales forecasts, Robert said.

Startup biotech firm Atalanta is applying small interfering RNA technology to neurodegenerative diseases based on the work of co-founder Anastasia Khvorova and her lab at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, says Atalanta Chief Scientific Officer Aimee Jackson, formerly of miRagen. Atalanta has partnerships with Biogen and Genentech and is backed by F-Prime Capital.

Spark Therapeutics veteran Katherine High is now the president of therapeutics and a board member at gene therapy maker AskBio, which was recently acquired by Bayer for $2 billion. High was president and head of research and development at Spark, and she will set the the strategic direction of preclinical and clinical programs at AskBio, alongside co-founders Sheila Mikhail and Jude Samulski.

The display of extreme white masculinity at the US Capitol last week may have triggered deep stress and anxiety in some women who are exposed to everyday sexism and subtle or overt threats of violence, say sociology professor Kristen Barber and psychology professor Debra Mollen. Outdated notions of masculinity take an emotional and psychological toll on society, says gender-based violence expert Jackson Katz.