* Switching patients wholesale to abuse-deterrent opioids could add more than $500 million to state budgets and may not actually curb illicit drug use, a panel of experts convened by the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review has concluded.
* U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to fight the country's opioid epidemic by working together with healthcare and law enforcement experts during an event in New Jersey, Reuters and The Wall Street Journal reported.
* The U.S. opioid epidemic has resulted in an increase in the stock price of Indivior PLC, which makes a prescription medicine to treat dependence on illegal or prescription opioids, Bloomberg News reported.
* A collaborative piece between The New York Times and ProPublica discusses the impact of decreases in generic drug prices on manufacturers, consumers and the overall healthcare system in the U.S.
Drug and product pipeline
* DURECT Corp. said a phase 3 trial in Taiwan for the Oradur-Methylphenidate extended-release capsule to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder achieved positive results.
* With AstraZeneca PLC's recent setback in the Mystic trial, Sanofi is next in line to introduce a lung cancer treatment that belongs to a class of immune therapies known as PD-1 inhibitors, Bloomberg News reported. Merck & Co. Inc.'s Keytruda is the only approved first-line treatment for metastatic nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer.
* The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will not hold a panel review with outside experts for Kite Pharma Inc.'s axicabtagene ciloleucel, a chimeric antigen receptor T-cell, or CAR-T, therapy for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. According to Endpoints, this may lead Kite Pharma to launch its therapy almost simultaneously with Novartis AG's CAR-T therapy for leukemia, which is expecting a final decision by the FDA in late September.
Operational activity
* New Hampshire filed a civil lawsuit against Purdue Pharma LP for misrepresenting the risks of opioid painkillers like OxyContin.
* Novo Nordisk A/S reported second quarter net income of 9.95 billion Danish kroner, or 4.01 kroner a share, compared to 9.97 billion kroner, or 3.92 a share, in the year-ago period.
* H. Lundbeck A/S booked 1.29 billion Danish kroner, or 4.12 kroner per share, in core profit from operations, or core EBIT, for the second quarter ended June 30. The result compares to the second-quarter 2016 core EBIT of 726 million kroner, or 2.26 kroner per share, and the S&P Capital IQ normalized EPS consensus estimate of 3.52 kroner.
* Indian drug manufacturers have been asked by the government to consider back up plans in case border tensions impact the shipments of active pharmaceutical ingredients from China, The Economic Times of India reported. China supplies 84% of India's API requirements which are used to make medicines.
* Sanofi sued Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., alleging that the Merck & Co. Inc. unit infringed on two patents that cover its insulin product Lantus. Meanwhile, the California Insurance Commissioner's Fraud Liaison Bureau asked Merck & Co. Inc. for information related to the pricing and promotion of its antibiotic drug Cubicin.
* Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. CEO Joseph Papa said the company is delivering on its commitments and "making tangible progress towards a turnaround." The drugmaker plans to beat its pledge to reduce $5 billion of debt from divestiture proceeds and free cash flow before February 2018, leaving the company with no significant debt maturities and no mandatory amortization requirements until 2020.
The day ahead
Early morning futures indicators pointed to a lower opening for the U.S. market.
In Asia, the Hang Seng fell 0.35% to 27,757.09, and the Nikkei 225 was down 1.29% to 19,738.71.
In Europe, as of midday, the FTSE 100 had dropped 0.80% to 7,482.53, and the Euronext 100 had fallen 1.38% to 1,001.33.