Calling the tie "magic," Pfizer Inc. CEO Albert Bourla defended his firm's decision to spin off its Upjohn unit and merge in an all-stock deal with Mylan N.V., creating a new entity to be named later with pro forma revenues as high as $20 billion. "We have a commercial footprint that is very much focused on China, on emerging markets," he said, which will help Mylan. Read More
Even as the Trump administration is committing itself to helping states implement laws that would allow drug importation from Canada as a way to combat higher U.S. prescription drug prices, Canadians are pushing back against the idea. Read More
Shares of Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:LXRX) fell 70.3% Monday to $1.69 as Sanofi SA terminated a $1.7 billion diabetes collaboration with the company. The decision followed two trials in which Zynquista (sotagliflozin), a dual SGLT inhibitor, failed to make a statistically significant dent in blood sugar control in patients with chronic kidney disease, a common result of diabetes. Read More
The failure of Novartis AG's Entresto in a phase III clinical trial staggered the stock (NASDAQ:NVS) somewhat Monday, down just 1.14%, but the real trauma may well be the loss of roughly $2.5 billion in anticipated sales. Read More
Sexual dimorphism in gene expression is widespread across chromosomes, and is partially conserved across species from mice to humans, the first study to investigate such differences both across species and across tissues has found. Read More
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. agreed to pay the state of California $69 million in what California Attorney General Xavier Becerra Monday called the largest pay-for-delay settlement received by any state. Read More
Ziopharm Oncology Inc., of Boston, said it entered into an agreement with existing investors for the exercise of previously issued warrants to purchase common stock in a private placement, being led by existing stockholder, MSD Partners LP, that is expected to result in gross proceeds of approximately $45 million. Read More
Alvotech ehf, of Reykjavik, Iceland and Cipla Gulf FZ LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mumbai-based Cipla Ltd., said they have entered into an exclusive partnership for the commercialization of AVT-02, a MAb biosimilar to Humira (adalimumab, Abbvie Inc.), in select emerging markets. Read More
