Top news
* Belgium's UCB SA is acquiring Ra Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $48 per share in cash, for a total transaction value of about $2.1 billion. Cambridge, Mass.-based Ra Pharmaceuticals, which is developing zilucoplan for treating a chronic autoimmune disease called generalized myasthenia gravis, will help boost UCB's neurology and immunology portfolios, UCB CEO Jean-Christophe Tellier said.
* The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed updates to the Stark Law, while the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General put forward changes to the anti-kickback statute. Both rules look to ease self-referral regulations the healthcare industry has said limit providers' and physicians' ability to institute treatment models that coordinate care.
Enacted in 1989, the Stark Law is a series of regulations that prevent doctors and physicians from self-referring patients within facilities or health systems in which they have a financial interest. CMS' changes to the Stark Law include making permanent exceptions for certain value-based arrangements, which should allow for better care coordination between providers and help lower healthcare costs, according to CMS.
M&A and capital markets
* Germany's BioNTech SE priced its downsized Nasdaq IPO of 10 million American depositary shares at $15 per ADS, for gross proceeds of $150 million. The cancer drug developer initially intended to offer 13.2 million ADSs and set a price range of between $18 and $20 per ADS.
Drug and product pipeline
* China dropped Johnson & Johnson's Edurant, or rilpivirine, from its revised list of drugs for which it will encourage copycats. The country included 33 drugs, including Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s cancer therapy Ixempra, or ixabepilone, in the revised list, compared to 34 when it suggested list for public discussion in June. The remaining 33 drugs are the same as revealed in June.
* Novo Nordisk A/S signed a research collaboration with bluebird bio Inc. to identify a gene therapy for hemophilia. The treatment would potentially end the need for injected factor replacement therapy, which replaces the missing blood clotting factors that can cause uncontrolled bleeding in those with hemophilia A.
* Innovent Biologics Inc. and Hutchison China MediTech Ltd. expanded their global collaboration deal to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of Innovent's Tyvyt in combination with Chi-Med's surufatinib in treating patients with advanced solid tumors. The companies' existing partnership evaluates Tyvytm with Chi-Med's fruquintinib.
* AstraZeneca PLC's spinout Viela Bio Inc. entered a collaboration with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp. to develop and commercialize its lead product candidate inebilizumab in nine Asian regions. Viela's inebilizumab is intended to treat neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder, in which the immune system attacks a patient's eye nerves and spinal cord.
Operational activity
* Reata Pharmaceuticals Inc. regained the rights to a proprietary Nrf2 activator product platform originally licensed to AbbVie Inc. for $330 million in cash. Reata will now have exclusive, worldwide rights to bardoxolone methyl, omaveloxolone and all other next-generation Nrf2 activators, excluding certain Asian markets wherein Kyowa Kirin Co. Ltd. holds the license for bardoxolone.
* AI drug discovery company Insilico Medicine Inc. said it has locked a $200 million deal with Jiangsu Chia Tai Fenghai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. to discover treatments for triple-negative breast cancer. The two companies aim to accelerate drug discovery process via the deal with Insilico Medicine's AI-empowered platform.
* Merck & Co. Inc. is charging Pfizer Inc. and a former high-level employee who jumped ship for allegedly stealing "thousands of proprietary documents," including trade secrets, for use by Pfizer, FiercePharma reported. According to a court filing, Merck said its competitor "accelerated its development of its own clinical candidate vaccines" through the stolen data — allegations that Pfizer claimed to be part of Merck's efforts to challenge its pneumococcal conjugate vaccine patents.
* Neurotrope Inc. said it plans to explore strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value after its Alzheimer's disease drug Bryostatin-1 failed to reduce symptoms in a phase 2 study.
* BeiGene Ltd. opened the initial phase of its manufacturing facility in Guangzhou worth 2.3 billion Chinese yuan, allowing for 180 jobs on the site — a number expected to exceed 200 by early 2020, FiercePharma reported, citing a company spokesperson.
The day ahead
Early morning futures indicators pointed to a lower opening for the U.S. market.
In Asia, the Hang Seng jumped 0.10% to 25,707.93, while the Nikkei 225 jumped 0.45% to 21,551.98.
In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 increased 0.04% to 7,169.18, and the Euronext 100 dropped 0.06% to 1,065.92.
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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