A casual Zoom call with some doctor friends in the early days of the pandemic put retired tennis major champion Andy Roddick on an unlikely path charting the fortunes of a firm that uses telehealth to diagnose sports injuries, Tina writes.

Why it matters: The company Roddick founded, called ViewFi, is evidence of how high-profile athletes and other celebrities are investing in, and sometimes helping run, digital health care companies.

• Roddick, soccer's Megan Rapinoe and Minnesota Vikings linebacker Eric Kendricks, among others, aren't just lending their names to buzzy-sounding ventures for a paycheck but are taking meetings, sizing up the competition and putting their fortunes on the line.
• In the process, they're adding some spark to a sector that's been battered by higher interest rates and a dropoff in deals.

Details: Roddick's venture started with a serious question about how an average person might get the kind of care he got while stalking the courts at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and other tournaments.

• "I asked the loaded question that I didn't know would turn into this," Roddick told Axios.
• He and a team of product and medical brains had an AI-driven virtual diagnostic system with a group of doctors ready for launch within a year.

The big picture: Roddick is a rarity in starting his own company. But other active and retired athletes have thrown their cash and star power into digital health startups.

• Women's World Cup winner Rapinoe invested in behavioral health startup Real and is an adviser to company founder and CEO Ariela Safira. The Vikings' Kendricks and actress Gwyneth Paltrow are also investors in Real, which has raised $53 million.
• Ōura, the smart ring that tracks sleep and physical activity and is valued at $2.55 billion, attracted the likes of former NBA stars Shaquille O'Neal and Manu Ginobili, as well as cycling's Lance Armstrong.

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Monthly Medicare premiums covering physician and outpatient care will rise almost 6% next year as part of a series of hikes CMS announced Thursday, Maya writes.

The big picture: Though inflation pressures are receding, projected growth in health care spending is continuing to drive up the cost of care. A plan to repay providers for underpayments they received from a federal drug discount program is another factor, CMS said.

By the numbers: The standard monthly premium for traditional Medicare Part B coverage, which encompasses physician care, outpatient services and medical equipment, will be $174.70 in 2024, up from $164.90 this year.

• Medicare enrollees may see higher premiums based on their income.
• The annual deductible for all Part B enrollees will be $240, an increase of $14 from this year's $226.
• The deductible for Medicare Part A, which covers inpatient hospital care, nursing home stays and other services, will be $1,632 next year — a $32, or 2%, increase from this year.

Context: Medicare premiums haven't followed a standard trend line. They rose 15% in 2022, largely due to the anticipated price tag for the controversial Alzheimer's treatment Aduhelm.

• But Medicare's subsequent decision to limit coverage of the drug allowed premiums to come down about 3% this year.

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Unproductive investments a few years ago set the stage for the biotechnology sector's current bleak capital market, Stephen Berenson, managing partner at venture capital firm Flagship Pioneering, said at Axios BFD Thursday, Maya writes.

The big picture: A string of late-stage trial failures around 2021 contributed to the public market's current skepticism of biotech, he said. And that poor market outlook is likely to continue for a while.

Context: The IPO market for biotech fell 93% in 2022 from the year prior, according to EY.

What he said: "Companies are going to run out of money unless they're able to prove their value propositions to some constituency, whether it's investors, pharma, merger partners, you name it," said Berenson, a board member for Moderna.

Yes, but: Biotech companies can't let failures stop them from innovating, he said.

• When a company fails a trial "you have to grieve for a couple of minutes. But if you're grieving for much longer, you're not doing your job," Berenson said.

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Illegal flavored e-cigarettes are flooding the U.S. market and circumventing FDA efforts to curb youth vaping.

Why it matters: The situation raises questions about whether the FDA is capable of enforcing new standards in public health — and if some prohibition-based policies lead to unintended consequences.

Driving the news: Seven years after the agency got expanded authority to regulate e-cigarettes, e-cigarettes are arriving from China in Barbiecore colors featuring fruit and ice cream flavors, per the New York Times.

• They account for a major share of the estimated $5.5 billion e-cigarette market, with some offering 5,000 or more puffs per device or as much nicotine as is found in a carton of cigarettes.
• The FDA has greenlit only about two dozen of the approximately 2,000 vaping products on the market and still faces a backlog of applications, the Times reports.

Zoom out: Tobacco companies trying to preserve their market share are joining with lawmakers and some states in calling for tougher enforcement.

• A study of discarded product packages in 10 California cities earlier this year for Altria found nearly all were flavored, despite a 2022 state ban on flavored vapes, menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars.

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Walgreens on Thursday laid out aggressive plans to cut $1 billion in costs over the next year and close 60 VillageMD clinics, Tina writes.

Why it matters: The company has struggled to meet investor expectations and compete with CVS Health, Walmart and Amazon, placing much of its focus on the expansion of primary care.

The big picture: Walgreens lost $6.9 billion for the fiscal year that ended Aug. 31 — including a partially offset $6.8 billion charge for opioid-related claims and litigation.

• Company executives detailed efforts to free up cash, including pulling back clinics from five underperforming markets, closing unprofitable stores and adjusting store hours based on local market trends.
• They plan to reduce costs at headquarters and stop all nonessential projects. They are also requiring all remote workers to return to the office by the end of November.

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Meet Coco, a boxer mix who's Tina's sidekick and just got a clean bill of health at the vet.

• Tina tells us she is 45 pounds but fully convinced she's a lap dog and has never met a couch, chair or bed she didn't like.