Top news
* Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. has been hampering a Senate investigation into the role that drugmakers and distributors have played in driving the U.S. opioid epidemic. McCaskill said Teva refused to turn over information related to the probe, which "suggests they have something to hide."
Teva spokeswoman Kaelan Hollon told S&P Global Market Intelligence that the company shared McCaskill's concern about opioid abuse and noted that the drugmaker has held "multiple meetings" with the senator's senior staff.
Meanwhile, visits to U.S. hospital emergency rooms for suspected opioid overdoses have shot up 30% across the nation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
* Drugmakers are fighting hard against a Maryland bill that could be the first-ever law allowing the government to cap the price of expensive, brand-name drugs, warning that the bill could be illegal and would discourage private investments for life-saving medicines. The bill comes as U.S. President Donald Trump and state legislatures around the country are promising to get drug costs under control.
On the policy front
* The Trump administration is encouraging lawmakers to include conservative goals in any plan to shore up the Affordable Care Act, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a memo. Measures include letting insurers charge higher premiums to older people, broadening access to health savings accounts and increasing the amount of money people can contribute.
* China's public hospitals will be bearing the brunt of a government overhaul of the country's medical insurance system, industry experts say. As part of the reform, China will be implementing a new diagnosis-related group payment system that seeks to curb costs and use resources efficiently.
M&A and capital markets
* Summit, N.J.-based Celgene Corp. completed its $9 billion acquisition of Juno Therapeutics Inc. The acquisition gives Celgene access to Juno's cancer therapies, including the JCAR017 chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy, which is in late-stage trials.
* Amgen Inc. expects to acquire about $10 billion worth of its common shares in a modified Dutch auction tender offer. The Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based company said it will acquire about 52.1 million common shares, or about 7.2% of its outstanding shares, at $192 apiece.
Drug and product pipeline
* 23andMe Inc. received the first-ever approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to market a direct-to-consumer test to identify certain gene mutations associated with higher risk of several cancers.
* Tokyo's Eisai Co. Ltd. and Stamford, Conn.-based Purdue Pharma LP's sleep disorder drug lemborexant helped patients sleep and function better in multiple clinical studies. Under the phase 3 Sunrise 1 study, patients given the drug got to sleep faster than those who took a placebo.
* The FDA approved TaiMed Biologics Inc.'s Trogarzo to treat certain adults with HIV.
* The FDA also granted expanded approval to Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s Latuda to treat major depressive episodes associated with bipolar I disorder in children.
Operational activity
* The European Medicines Agency recommended the suspension and recall of Biogen Inc. and AbbVie Inc.'s multiple sclerosis drug Zinbryta after 12 patients developed serious inflammatory brain diseases globally, with three of those patients dying. The companies previously withdrew marketing authorizations worldwide for the drug due to similar reports.
* Pfizer Inc. unit Hospira is recalling three lots of an opioid pain medication injection, hydromorphone hydrochloride, due to the possibility that units may be empty or cracked at the bottom of the glass vial.
* Novartis AG is expanding its alliance with privately held U.S. company Science 37 Inc. to launch up to 10 new virtual clinical trials for therapies addressing skin diseases, nerve diseases and cancer over the next three years. The trials will allow some or all parts of a trial to be carried out at a home or office rather than at a trial site.
* Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. granted Roivant Sciences GmbH global rights to develop and commercialize its diabetes program. Under the deal, Ligand will receive total potential license and milestone payments of up to $533.8 million, comprising $20 million payable on signing and up to $513.8 million in milestone payments.
Our features
UnitedHealthcare to pass drugmaker rebates to consumers at pharmacy: UnitedHealth Group Inc. said it will pass along rebates it receives from drugmakers directly to about 7 million of its fully insured plan holders when they pick up their prescriptions at the pharmacy counter.
AstraZeneca CEO pay drops 34% even as 5 new drugs launched in 2017: AstraZeneca PLC paid CEO Pascal Soriot £9.4 million in 2017, down nearly £5 million from the previous year, even as the pharmaceutical giant launched five new medicines and made advances in pioneering research.
Other features
* The Trump administration is focusing on making medical records more accessible to patients, Bloomberg News reported, citing Seema Verma, administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
* John Hardy, a joint winner of the 2018 Brain Prize, said an anticipated exodus of European doctors, nurses and healthcare workers from the U.K. as a result of Brexit will be devastating for Alzheimer's patients and their families, The Guardian reported.
* Former Retrophin CEO Martin Shkreli in 2014 started an unmonitored drug trial in Cyprus for a therapy targeting Hallervorden–Spatz syndrome, a brain disease that can lead to parkinsonism, dystonia, dementia and death, CNBC reported, citing federal prosecutors.
Meanwhile, U.S. prosecutors also believe Shkreli, who was convicted of defrauding investors, should serve at least 15 years of imprisonment due to his lack of remorse and respect for the law, Reuters reported.
The day ahead
Early morning futures indicators pointed to a lower opening for the U.S. market.
In Asia, the Hang Seng fell 1.03% to 30,196.92 and the Nikkei 225 dropped 0.77% to 21,252.72.
In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 fell 0.01% to 7,145.94 and the Euronext 100 fell 0.46% to 1,004.58.
The Daily Dose is updated as of 6:30 a.m. ET. Some external links may require a subscription.
