Top news
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* Germany's Merck KGaA booked pre-exceptional EBITDA of €1.01 billion, or €1.31 per share, compared to €1.08 billion, or €1.43 per share in the year-ago period. Net sales for the quarter reached about €3.85 billion, up 0.5% from €3.83 billion in the fourth quarter of 2016.
* Meanwhile, the company also said the phase 2b study of evobrutinib in relapsing multiple sclerosis met its main goal of reducing certain lesions, or areas of damage in the central nervous system, in certain patients with multiple sclerosis, a potentially disabling disease.
* U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said drug innovators are plotting with payers, like insurers and pharmacy benefit managers to blunt the market incentives for companies seeking to develop biosimilars — medicines intended to be lower-cost versions of biologic therapies.
Meanwhile, the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, or PCMA, which lobbies on behalf of PBMs, said it was "unfair to blame payers" when they have "no control over the prices drugmakers set, how quickly FDA approves biosimilars or when FDA will finalize workable interchangeability guidelines to increase uptake of biosimilars."
* Merck & Co. Inc. and Eisai Co. Ltd. agreed to jointly develop and commercialize Eisai's cancer drug Lenvima both as a single treatment and in combination with Merck's Keytruda. Lenvima is approved for treating certain thyroid cancer patients and in combination with Novartis AG's Afinitor to treat patients with a type of kidney cancer.
On the policy front
* An Oregon bill requiring drug companies to disclose certain information such as marketing costs when raising the price of a prescription medication was approved by the state's legislature and is pending approval by Gov. Kate Brown. The bill is one of several approaches lawmakers nationally are considering to deal with rising drug costs.
* Dan Polster — the U.S. District Judge that is overseeing more than 355 lawsuits that blame corporations for the opioid epidemic — says test trials may be needed to help parties define settlement options, Reuters reported.
M&A and capital markets
* Bayer AG confirmed it is in exclusive talks with Rhein, Germany-based chemicals company BASF SE for the potential sale of its entire vegetable seeds business. Bayer is selling the unit to allay the EU's anti-competition fears regarding its proposed $62.5 billion deal to acquire the agriculture company Monsanto Co.
Drug and product pipeline
* VBL Therapeutics said its drug VB-111, in combination with Genentech Inc.'s Avastin, failed to meet its goal of improving the survival of patients with a type of brain cancer.
* Esperion Therapeutics Inc. said its cholesterol drug bempedoic acid reduced the levels of bad cholesterol in patients with the atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, or ASCVD, which raises their risk of having a heart attack.
* Aptose Biosciences Inc. is granting OHM Oncology the rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize its cancer therapy APL-581.
* Pfizer Inc. intends to terminate its research collaboration to develop cancer treatments with CytomX Therapeutics Inc. The two companies entered into the collaboration in 2013.
Operational activity
* Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd. said its normalized EBITDA rose 15% year over year to 6.3 billion South African rand in the first half of fiscal 2018. The company's revenue for the July-December 2017 period rose 11% year over year to 21.9 billion rand.
* Sanofi and Evotec AG are in exclusive talks to advance research and development on infectious diseases through an Evotec-led open innovation platform near Lyon, France. Under the deal, Sanofi will pay Evotec an initial up-front payment of €60 million and provide long-term funding to support the portfolio.
* Sanofi is still considering seeking U.S. regulatory approval for its dengue fever virus vaccine Dengvaxia even after the medicine generated a health scare in the Philippines, Reuters reported, citing a senior executive of the French company.
Other features
* Hospitals, looking to innovate, are acting as venture capitalists and investing in healthcare startups that develop promising medical technology, The Wall Street Journal said in a feature.
The day ahead
* Early morning futures indicators pointed to a higher opening for the U.S. market.
* In Asia, the Hang Seng rose 1.52% to 30,654.52 and the Nikkei 225 gained 0.54% to 21,368.07.
* In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 rose 0.07% to 7,162.67 and the Euronext 100 gained 0.51% to 1,017.82.
The Daily Dose is updated as of 6:30 a.m. ET. Some external links may require a subscription.
