NEW DELHI – In what may end up as a landmark $1.3 billion deal, China’s Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Ltd. is set to acquire Indian injectables specialist Gland Pharma Ltd. Read More

TOKYO – Japan will lower the price of Ono Pharmaceutical Inc.’s Opdivo (nivolumab) and reform the guidelines on its usage as the country looks to a future in which the price of drugs add billions in government spending. Read More

Bind Therapeutics Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said New York-based Pfizer Inc. prevailed at a Section 363 auction to purchase substantially all of Bind’s assets. The winning bid of $40 million, subject to U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval for which a hearing is scheduled to take place on July 27, 2016, was selected as the highest and best bid. Nanocarrier Co. Ltd., of Chiba, Japan, has been selected as the back-up bidder. Bind, which filed for Chapter 11 earlier this year, plans to disclose additional terms of its agreement with Pfizer upon court approval. Bind’s assets include its nanoparticle-based platform technology that creates Accurins, particles designed to encapsulate drugs and direct the payload to specific disease cells. Read More

As the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) community hailed work published last week identifying a new gene linked to the disease, Cytokinetics Inc. and Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma Inc. strengthened their existing skeletal muscle activator deal with a focus on ALS, including an option to Astellas for rights to tirasemtiv, currently being tested in the phase III VITALITY-ALS study that could lead to approval applications in the U.S. and Europe. Read More

HONG KONG – A new study led by scientists at the Australian National University (ANU) has provided valuable insights into how the function of the human genome depends on RNA-binding proteins, an important discovery that could ultimately lead to the development of new treatments for heart disease. Read More