Top News
* Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. was bracing for another strike as labor union Histadrut called on employees to protest the impending 14,000 layoffs at the drugmaker as part of a wider restructuring plan to cut costs, Reuters reported. Meanwhile, Israel's Globes reported that Teva was looking to sell its SLE distribution division and the Migada plant in the Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona to a competitor or financial investor.
* GlaxoSmithKline PLC increased its stake in Glaxo Saudi Arabia Ltd. to 75% from 49% to benefit from Saudi Arabia's plan to boost local manufacturing of pharmaceutical products. The company also plans to inject over £180 million in its operations in the country over the next three years.
* Pfizer Inc.'s board approved a new $10 billion share repurchase program in addition to $6.4 billion remaining under the company's current authorization. The drugmaker also declared a first-quarter dividend of 34 cents per common share, up about 6% from 32 cents per share in the previous quarter.
On the policy front
* The U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed a new, risk-based enforcement approach to homeopathic treatments that have not proven to offer clinical benefits. The FDA's proposed approach prioritizes enforcement and regulatory actions involving unapproved drug products labeled as homeopathic that have the greatest potential to cause risk to patients.
* Indian drugmakers, fearing that they may end up paying additional tax on old stocks of medicines, are considering legal action against the move, The Economic Times of India reported.
M&A and capital markets
* Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. sold $1.5 billion worth of debt in the form of 9.00% senior notes due Dec. 15, 2025.
Drug and product pipeline
* Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said a panel of the European Medicines Agency recommended the approval of Yervoy for treating skin cancer in pediatric patients.
Operational activity
* Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. is selling a rare pediatric disease priority review voucher to Novartis AG for a lump sum payment of $130 million. Ultragenyx received the voucher in November from the U.S. FDA after the approval of Mepsevii as the first treatment for an inherited metabolic condition called mucopolysaccharidosis type VII.
* Allergan PLC executive vice president and COO Rob Stewart is leaving the company to join Amneal Pharmaceuticals LLC as president on Jan. 25, 2018.
* Novartis AG's Sandoz division won a patent battle against Amgen Inc. after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that branded drugmakers cannot use state law to force biosimilar developers to reveal patent information under the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act, FiercePharma reported.
* Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. agreed to pay $5 million to settle a probe by the U.S. Justice Department regarding the packaging of five blister-packed prescription products. The India-based company disagreed with allegations that packaging for the medicines violated the Consumer Product Safety Act, but said it chose to settle to avoid unnecessary costs of prolonged litigation.
Our features
Regeneron seeks to carve out a piece of the crowded cancer combo market: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Sanofi may have entered the immuno-oncology race late, but they are confident they can gain ground following positive phase 2 data for targeted cancer drug cemiplimab. Regeneron, which sells the cholesterol-cutting Praluent and new eczema drug Dupixent with Sanofi, is not known for being an oncology company. It is moving into a field crowded with new therapies and dozens of phase 3 trials, specifically for the checkpoint inhibitors that target a link between cancer cells' PD-L1 protein and healthy cells' PD-1 receptor.
Other features
* A new study suggests that individuals can reduce the spread of sexually transmitted infections if they take antibiotics within 24 hours of intercourse — although the practice is not recommended for long-term use, STAT News reported.
The day ahead
Early morning futures indicators pointed to a higher opening for the U.S. market.
In Asia, the Hang Seng increased 0.70% to 29,253.66, while the Nikkei 225 dropped 0.15% to 22,868.00.
In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 rose 0.11% to 7,545.49, and the Euronext 100 inched up 0.01% to 1,051.09.
The Daily Dose is updated as of 6:30 a.m. ET. Some external links may require a subscription.
