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Novartis eye injection approved in the US; piecemeal approach to healthcare

Top news

* Novartis AG said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Beovu injection for treating wet age-related macular degeneration, a chronic eye disorder that distorts central vision and could result in blindness. Beovu will compete with Eylea, one of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s top-selling drugs.

* Joe Grogan, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, said President Donald Trump plans to roll out healthcare policies every one to three weeks between now and the end of 2020. At an Oct. 7 Washington forum hosted by Friends of Cancer Research and Prevision Policy, Grogan said the Trump administration was "fully locked and loaded, ready to go" for whatever decision comes from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which is expected to soon rule on whether to uphold a Texas judge's order that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional.

* Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. CEO Giovanni Caforio said Japan's "overly restrictive" drug pricing policies could see investment from international companies being diverted to China and other countries that also welcome innovative therapies, Reuters reported. Speaking at a news conference in Tokyo, Caforio noted that government reforms on pricing in 2018 favored large Japanese pharmaceutical companies over foreign and smaller players.

* There were seven confirmed cases of measles in the U.S. in the week ended Oct. 3, bringing the total so far for this year to 1,250, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The U.S. retains its status as a country that has eliminated measles, as designated by the World Health Organization, even after suffering from the worst measles outbreak since 1992.

M&A and capital markets

* Canadian pharmaceutical company Knight Therapeutics Inc. and its Brazilian peer Eurofarma Laboratórios SA expressed an interest in buying a controlling stake in Biotoscana Investments SA, Reuters reported, citing a source with knowledge of the matter.

* Merck KGaA closed the €5.8 billion acquisition of Versum Materials Inc., an unsolicited deal that was originally rejected by the performance materials company in March. Darmstadt, Germany-based Merck originally offered a $48 per share competing offer for Versum in February amid a $3.9 billion all-stock merger of equals with Billerica, Mass.-based Entegris Inc.

* AstraZeneca PLC spinout Viela Bio Inc. raised about $172.6 million in gross proceeds from its IPO on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. The Gaithersburg, Md.-based biotechnology company sold 9,085,000 common shares at $19 apiece.

Operational activity

* Pfizer Inc. signed a licensing deal with Akcea Therapeutics Inc. to develop AKCEA-ANGPTL3-LRx, an investigational antisense therapy for reducing angiopoietin-like 3, a protein produced and secreted by the liver, in patients with type 2 diabetes, hypertriglyceridemia and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Akcea, a unit of Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc., will receive $250 million up front and be eligible for up to $1.3 billion in royalties based on worldwide sales following the drug's approval.

* Acorda Therapeutics Inc.'s appeal to review a court ruling in relation to patents covering its multiple sclerosis drug Ampyra was turned down by the U.S. Supreme Court, Reuters reported. Acorda was seeking to overturn an appeals court ruling that upheld a district court's decision to invalidate four of the five patents protecting Ampyra from competition.

* Merck & Co. Inc. and 4D pharma PLC are collaborating to discover and develop live biotherapeutics as vaccines in up to three undisclosed indications. As part of the partnership, Merck could purchase $5 million in ordinary shares in 4D, while 4D could receive up to $347.5 million in milestone payments, plus tiered royalties on annual net sales of any licensed products resulting from the deal.

* Gilead Sciences Inc. named Merdad Parsey chief medical officer, effective Nov. 1. Previously, Parsey was senior vice president for early clinical development for Genentech Inc.'s research and early development group.

* Ascletis Pharma Inc. appointed Handan He chief scientific officer. She was previously global head of computational, biopharmaceutics and translational pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics at Novartis.

* Johnson & Johnson said its controller and chief accounting officer, Ronald Kapusta, is retiring as of Dec. 27. Robert Decker Jr. will replace Kapusta in the roles.

* Janssen Sciences Ireland UC, a unit of J&J, opened its new manufacturing building in Ringaskiddy, County Cork, paving the way for the creation of 200 new jobs.

The day ahead

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

In Asia, the Hang Seng rose 0.28% to 25,893.40, and the Nikkei 225 lifted 0.99% to 21,587.78.

In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 fell 0.31% to 7,175.52, and the Euronext 100 was down 0.96% to 1,062.34.

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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