Health Canada implemented new regulations to allow the limited import of specific drugs urgently needed in the country that have yet to be authorized by the agency.

The widespread Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2013 to 2016 drew worldwide attention and assistance to the continent and calls for local and global collaboration to target neglected tropical diseases.

HONG KONG – Facing increased U.S. regulatory scrutiny, India's largest drugmaker, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., is outsourcing some of its manufacturing in a deal that provides South Korea's Samsung Biologics Co. Ltd., the biologics manufacturing arm of the Samsung conglomerate, an opportunity to expand its market share.

LONDON – Angle plc has delivered positive results for its live whole cell liquid biopsy in the diagnosis of ovarian cancer and said the technology is now ready for application as the basis of companion diagnostics for use with targeted cancer therapies.

With the annual International Society on Thrombosis and Hemostasis (ISTH) congress about to begin in Berlin, Shire plc disclosed its bid for another try in hemophilia with a candidate from the hopper of Baxalta Inc., acquired for $32 billion last year.

A new deal giving Celgene Corp. strategically important rights to a PD-1 inhibitor developed by Beijing-based Beigene Ltd. will tightly bond the companies' fortunes in both the U.S. and China, putting Celgene in charge of development and commercialization of a key Beigene asset, while Beigene takes charge of selling Celgene's top products in China and advancing new ones.

DUBLIN – European biotechnology firms engaged in drug discovery and development raised a total of $2.302 billion during the first half of the year, putting the sector on course for a creditable performance for 2017 as a whole.

LONDON – Glaxosmithkline plc (GSK) has become the latest pharma to buy into artificial intelligence (AI) as a means to increase productivity in discovery, signing a £33 million (US$42.6 million) contract under which Exscientia Ltd. will apply its technology to design 10 preclinical candidates against targets nominated by GSK.

GUANGZHOU, China – China's health care reforms have made great strides toward developing the country's pharmaceutical industry, but the current ecosystem may not be enough for China to compete on the world stage of drug development, said industry experts and regulators at this week's GF Securities Life Sciences Investment Conference.

Allergan plc, of Dublin, agreed to pay $13 million to the U.S. and 19 states to resolve a whistleblower lawsuit alleging it engaged in a kickback scheme, according to the attorneys representing the whistleblowers.