A closely watched oral antiviral for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 will soon be available in Britain after a conditional authorization by the U.K. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. Developed by Ridgeback Biotherapeutics Inc. and Merck & Co. Inc., the drug will be marketed as Lagevrio (molnupiravir) and made available via a national study this winter, the government said.

A more than 20-year uneasy biopharma romance between two Swiss giants will be ending as Novartis AG plans to sell its stake in Roche Holding AG back to Roche for about $20.7 billion. Roche described it as a “disentanglement of the two competitors” that will allow it to regain “full strategic flexibility.” Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis currently owns about one-third of Roche, whose shareholders get the final say-so when they vote yea or nay at the company’s Nov. 26 extraordinary general meeting. Novartis was very clear about how it views its stake in Roche, as the company said it “does not consider the financial investment in Roche as part of its core business and therefore not a strategic asset” and that it’s time to “monetize our investment.”

Eli Lilly and Co. has withdrawn a filing for its COVID-19 antibody cocktail in Europe after health authorities backed rivals – the day after a $1.29 billion purchase of the same medicines from the U.S. government. Indianapolis-based Lilly began filing data from the combination of bamlanivimab and etesevimab in March to enable a fast authorization by the European Medicines Agency.

Astrazeneca plc has signed an agreement with liquid biopsy testing company Saga Diagnostics AB to develop dPCR assays. Lund, Sweden-based Saga Diagnostics will develop Sagasafe dPCR assays towards undisclosed methylated targets for analysis of tissue samples and liquid biopsies. The assay is part of Saga’s portfolio of “ultrasensitive technologies,” comprising Sagasign for personalized monitoring of cancer burden and minimal residual disease.

LONDON – The U.K. Medicines and Healthcare products Agency (MHRA) is inviting manufacturers to submit electronic cigarettes for approval as medical devices, after drawing up new guidance on the standards that will be required for approval. The move means the U.K. could become the first country in the world where e-cigarettes are available on prescription as smoking cessation aids.

LONDON – Just nine months on from announcing the close of its $6.9 million seed round, Dunad Therapeutics Ltd. has landed a potential $1.3 billion deal with Novartis AG to discover and develop orally available protein degradation drugs. The cash is, of course, backend-loaded, but Dunad is getting a handy $24 million up-front payment and equity investment, and will receive full funding for the research.

PARIS – Defymed SAS reported the formation of the Decapes consortium, which brings together the Institute of Chemistry and Processes for Energy, Environment and Health (ICPEES) and the specialist microtechnology and biomaterials service provider for med-tech companies, Statice. This French consortium is working on a minimally invasive version of Defymed's Mailpan device, which will extend the application range for this artificial pancreas to include other chronic pathologies besides type 1 diabetes.

PARIS – Mauna Kea Technologies SA reported the commercial launch of a new generation of its in vivo cellular imaging for diagnostics in gastroenterology. At the same time, the company is deploying its new needle-based and miniprobe-based multidisciplinary confocal laser endomicroscopy platform in the U.S., as well as in France, Germany and Italy.