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Roche, Pfizer bag cancer trial wins; Allergan earnings up

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Roche, Pfizer bag cancer trial wins; Allergan earnings up

Top news

* Roche Holding AG's combination of Tecentriq and Avastin reduced the risk of disease worsening or death by 26% in a phase 3 study among certain patients with advanced kidney cancer.

* A combination of Pfizer Inc. and Astellas Pharma Inc.'s Xtandi and a standard hormone therapy reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 71% in men with an early form of prostate cancer. Patients given the combination went for 33.3 months before their disease worsened compared to 3.9 months for those who were given hormone therapy alone.

* Allergan plc booked fourth-quarter 2017 non-GAAP performance net income attributable of $1.71 billion, or $4.86 per share, up from $1.46 billion, or $3.90 per share, in the year-ago period. For full year 2018, the drugmaker expects non-GAAP net income per share to come in at $15.25 to $16.

Allergan said its migraine drug ubrogepant significantly reduced headache severity in patients compared to those treated with placebo under a late-stage study. The treatment also caused a significant greater percentage of patients to be relieved of their most bothersome migraine-associated symptoms, including sensitivity to light and sound and nausea.

On the policy front

* President Donald Trump said building a wall on the border between the U.S. and Mexico and getting tougher on drug dealers, and he said getting tougher on drug dealers — not convening more blue ribbon committees would lead to Americans prevailing over the country's opioid epidemic.

M&A and capital markets

* Sanofi's generic drugs unit Zentiva is attracting interest from Indian drugmaker Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and Brazil-based EMS, Reuters reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. The French drugmaker plans to finalize a buyer by the end of the first quarter.

* Sol-Gel Technologies Ltd. closed its IPO with gross proceeds of about $86.3 million. The clinical-stage dermatology company sold 7,187,500 ordinary shares at $12 per ordinary share.

* Aphria Inc. agreed to sell 26,716,025 shares in Liberty Health Sciences Inc., leaving it with a 28.1% stake in medical cannabis company. The deal comes after the company recently announced plans to explore strategic alternatives with respect to its U.S. cannabis-related interests.

Operational activity

* Express Scripts Holding Co. will not cover some hepatitis C medicines, including Gilead Sciences Inc.'s Sovaldi, Merck & Co. Inc.'s Zepatier, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s Daklinza and Johnson & Johnson's Olysio, on its updated formulary for 2018. PTC Therapeutics Inc.'s Emflaza and Sarepta Therapeutics Inc.'s Exondys 51, both Duchenne muscular dystrophy medicines, were also excluded from the new formulary.

* Late-stage data from Bristol-Myers' combination of cancer treatments Opdivo and Yervoy in non-small cell lung cancer signals that the company is looking to get ahead of its competition with a broader patient reach. Its Checkmate-227 trial showed early indications that the combination could treat patients that do not necessarily have high levels of PD-L1 but still show a high tumor mutation burden, a broader indicator of cancers' makeup.

Our features

ImmunoChina CEO talks CAR-T cell therapy for solid tumors: Ting He said his biotech company is focusing on developing CAR-T cell therapies to treat both solid tumors and blood cancers, but faces challenges to overcome the special environments of tumors.

Other features

* Public health experts from the U.K. are urging smokers to switch to e-cigarettes for substantial health benefits, Reuters reported. Reviewing evidence from Public Health England, the experts said e-cigarettes pose only a fraction of the health risk of tobacco smoking.

The day ahead

Early morning futures indicators pointed to a lower opening for the U.S. market.

In Asia, the Hang Seng fell 5.12% to 30,595.42, while the Nikkei 225 shed 4.73% to 21,610.24.

In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 dropped 2.38% to 7,160.28 and the Euronext 100 fell 2.32% to 1,003.85.

The Daily Dose is updated as of 6:30 a.m. ET. Some external links may require a subscription.