Top news
* Johnson & Johnson was ordered by a jury to pay $8 billion in punitive damages to a man who said the company failed to warn of risks regarding its antipsychotic drug Risperdal. The Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas awarded the amount to Nicholas Murray, who said his use of Risperdal as a child caused gynecomastia — a condition that involves enlargement of the breast tissue.
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* A two-year analysis from U.S. drug pricing watchdog the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review determined that costs for many of the best-selling drugs in the country had been raised without any new evidence supporting better efficacy. AbbVie Inc.'s blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis drug Humira, Roche Holding AG's cancer medication Rituxan and Pfizer Inc.'s pain drug Lyrica topped the list of nine drugs with the most substantial price increases in 2017 and 2018, according to ICER's analysis.
* GlaxoSmithKline PLC has become the latest company to recall all unexpired stock of heartburn medicine Zantac, also known as ranitidine, on concerns the medicine may have been contaminated with a potentially cancerous impurity called N-nitrosodimethylamine, according to the U.K.'s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. The issue is ongoing and has impacted other companies including Sanofi and Novartis AG.
* Arizona became the first state to pull its support for Purdue Pharma LP's proposed $10 billion nationwide settlement for lawsuits alleging the OxyContin maker of helping fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic, Reuters reported. In a court filing, the state said Purdue had undermined "material terms" of the deal, The Wall Street Journal noted. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said: "Purdue and the Sackler family need to take responsibility for their role in the opioid crisis."
On the policy front
* Jim Greenwood, the longtime head of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, plans to exit the group at the end of next year — timing his departure to come after the 2020 U.S. elections. Greenwood, however, will stay on in a transitional role into 2021 to help his successor "educate the public and lawmakers about the enormously complex and expensive challenge of bringing new medicines to market," said Jeremy Levin, CEO of Ovid Therapeutics Inc., who is BIO's chairman.
* The U.K. government set up a dedicated "support unit" for healthcare suppliers to help them prepare with customs paperwork ahead of a no-deal Brexit on Oct. 31. In a readiness report published Oct. 8, Britain also ensured the stockpile of critical medicines and goods through additional freight capacity and preparations with suppliers and partners.
M&A and capital markets
* One Medical Group Inc., a primary care startup backed by Alphabet Inc., has hired multiple financial firms including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley to prepare for an IPO, according to a CNBC report. The company is expected to file its prospectus in the first quarter of 2020.
* Biotoscana Investments SA confirmed that it is in talks with certain investors about a potential sale, although it has not yet reached a decision. Biotoscana, which is backed by private equity firm Advent International Corp., was responding to reports that Canadian pharmaceutical company Knight Therapeutics Inc. and its Brazilian peer Eurofarma Laboratórios SA are interested in buying a controlling stake in the Latin America-focused biopharmaceutical company.
* Zelda Therapeutics Ltd. is merging with Ilera Therapeutics to create a medicinal cannabis company that will be known as Zelira Therapeutics Ltd. Under the proposed merger of equals, Perth, Australia-based Zelda will acquire the entirety of Ilera Therapeutics — a medicinal cannabis company recently spun out of Newtown Square, Pa.-based Ilera Healthcare LLC — via an all-scrip transaction.
Drug and product pipeline
* The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Ltd.'s photosensitivity drug Scenesse after an extended review of the therapy, prompting a hike in the company's share price. Scenesse, or afamelanotide, is used to increase pain-free light exposure in adults who have a history of damage to the skin resulting from the rare disorder erythropoietic protoporphyria.
* ICER plans to assess the cost-effectiveness of Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s Ocaliva for the liver disease non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH. Ocaliva has been approved for another liver disease, biliary cholangitis, since 2016 and is being reviewed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat NASH, with an expected decision in the first half of 2020.
Operational activity
* Lonza Group Ltd. agreed to manufacture Prevail Therapeutics Inc.'s gene therapy programs for neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson's disease, at a manufacturing facility in Houston.
* Maker of life sciences tools Qiagen NV delivered a flurry of news amid lower-than-expected preliminary third-quarter earnings results that potentially signal trouble on the horizon for its peers who generate sales in China. As of Oct. 7, Qiagen said it expects total net sales growth of about 3% at constant exchange rates for the third fiscal quarter, coming in short of the previously stated guidance of 4% to 5% growth.
The day ahead
Early morning futures indicators pointed to a higher opening for the U.S. market.
In Asia, the Hang Seng fell 0.81% to 25,682.81, and the Nikkei 225 declined 0.61% to 21,456.38.
In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 climbed 0.45% to 7,175.70, and the Euronext 100 was up 0.63% to 1,066.43.
Click here to read about today's financial markets, setting out the factors driving stocks, bonds and currencies around the world ahead of the New York open.
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