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Novartis' MS drug beats Sanofi's; AbbVie discontinues lung cancer drug

Top news

* Novartis AG's medicine Arzerra was shown to be better than Sanofi's Aubagio in two head-to-head late-stage studies in adults with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis — a potentially disabling disease of the brain and spinal cord.

* AbbVie Inc. is discontinuing the development of its late-stage experimental lung cancer therapy Rova-T after an analysis showed the drug did not extend survival in patients compared to placebo. AbbVie had gained rights to Rova-T — whose previous trials also showed disappointing results — after it acquired Stemcentrx Inc. in 2016 for about $5.8 billion, plus milestone payments.

* A group of state attorneys general wants Purdue Pharma LP to pay more than $12 billion to settle over 2,000 lawsuits alleging the drugmaker contributed to the U.S. opioid crisis, The Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter. Purdue and its owners, the Sackler family, face lawsuits for allegedly using deceptive marketing techniques for its opioid painkiller OxyContin that intensified the opioid epidemic, which kills about 200 Americans each day.

* U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said marijuana should not be used by pregnant women and adolescents, as the substance could damage the developing brain. According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the U.S. and is also the most often used illicit drug by pregnant women.

* Chinese oncology-drug maker Innovent Biologics Inc. is hoping to diversify its product pipeline by exploring other therapeutic areas such as metabolic diseases, CFO Ronnie Ede said in an interview with S&P Global Market Intelligence.

* The World Health Organization approved the first phase of a new global registry to track research on human genome editing. An 18-member committee of the WHO also announced an online consultation on the governance of genome editing.

M&A and capital markets

* Gaithersburg, Md.-based Viela Bio Inc., which was spun out of U.K. based drug giant AstraZeneca PLC, is planning an IPO of up to $150 million on the Nasdaq global market.

Drug and product pipeline

* The U.S. Food and Drug Administration tentatively approved a generic version of Eli Lilly and Co.'s lung cancer drug Alimta which will be sold by Mylan NV. The full approval of Mylan's drug is subject to the resolution of all patent issues between the parties.

* GAVI — a public-private global health partnership which is backed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization and certain governments — is seeking to raise at least $7.4 billion to immunize 300 million children. The fundraising is expected to save up to eight million lives in developing countries between 2021 and 2025.

* La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co.'s medicine Giapreza was approved by the European Commission to treat certain adult patients with low blood pressure.

* Esperion Therapeutics Inc. said a combination of its medicine bempedoic acid with the drug ezetimibe helped patients with both high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes.

* Adding Immunicum AB (publ)'s medicine ilixadencel to Pfizer Inc.'s Sutent did not significantly improve the 18-month survival rates of patients with kidney cancer, results from a phase 2 trial showed.

* A study published in the journal Lancet suggests that women who take hormone therapy to reduce symptoms of menopause are at a higher risk of developing breast cancer.

The day ahead

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

In Asia, the Hang Seng inched up 0.08% to 25,724.73, and the Nikkei 225 rose 1.19% to 20,704.37.

In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 was up 0.65% to 7,231.22, and the Euronext 100 was up 0.97% to 1,067.18.

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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