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Right-to-try bill reaches Trump's desk; US may deploy new Ebola therapy in Congo

Top news

* President Donald Trump won the legislation he had pushed Congress for months to pass that would permit Americans to seek experimental treatments without going through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's compassionate-use process. The U.S. House passed the right-to-try bill in a 250-169 vote. It now heads to Trump's desk for his signature.

* The U.S. may deploy an experimental treatment for Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo in response to a request by the country's health minister, The Wall Street Journal reported. The therapy, currently being tested by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, consists of an antibody taken from an Ebola survivor. Meanwhile, the Ebola outbreak claimed two more lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo bringing the total death count to 27, the Journal reported.

On the policy front

* U.S. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said the regulator is planning to issue a new policy framework regarding gene therapies, particularly those for hemophilia, which may include a more lax approval criteria for said treatments, STAT reported.

* Indian health officials reported two suspected cases of the Nipah virus in the southern state of Karnataka, Reuters wrote. The infection was first reported in the adjoining state of Kerala where 10 people have died from the virus, according to The Economic Times.

* China released its first official list of rare diseases, according to a China Food and Drug Administration unit. The document lists 121 rare conditions, the Medical Economic Information Network said on its official WeChat account.

M&A and capital markets

* The Competition Commission of India cleared Bayer AG's $62.5 billion acquisition of Monsanto Co., Reuters reported.

Drug and product pipeline

* Merck & Co. Inc.'s lung cancer drug Keytruda, in combination with chemotherapy, prolonged patients' lives and stopped the disease from growing in a phase 3 trial. The combination worked better than chemotherapy alone for previously untreated cancer patients with metastatic squamous non-small cell lung cancer.

* Eli Lilly and Co. received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval to update the prescription label of its psoriasis treatment, Taltz injection, to include data in psoriasis involving the genital area.

* An expert panel convened by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration voted not to recommend the approval of INSYS Therapeutics Inc.'s buprenorphine spray to treat moderate to severe acute pain.

* India's Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its drug Yonsa to treat prostate cancer.

Operational activity

* Dublin-based Allergan PLC exercised an option to buy potential depression treatment AGN-241751 from Evanston, Ill.-based Aptinyx Inc. as part of a research collaboration agreement.

* A former Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. executive and the former CEO of Philidor Rx Services LLC were convicted by a New York federal court jury of being involved in a multimillion-dollar kickback scheme, The Wall Street Journal reported.

* U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos in Manhattan, N.Y., dismissed a shareholder lawsuit that said Express Scripts Holding Co. inflated its share price by not disclosing its worsening ties with U.S. insurer Anthem Inc., Reuters reported. Express Scripts is being bought by Anthem's rival Cigna Corp.

Other features

* The Washington Post has a report on the operational and logistical challenges of deploying Merck & Co. Inc.'s Ebola vaccine, known as rVSV-ZEBOV, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Meanwhile, STAT features the researchers involved in the development of the Ebola vaccine which is being used for the first time.

* Zipline International, a delivery and logistics startup, is using drones to deliver blood in the remote hospitals of Rwanda in Africa, CNBC reported. The company is No. 25 on CNBC's top 50 disruptor list for 2018.

The day ahead

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

In Asia, the Nikkei 225 dropped 1.18% to 22,689.74.

In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 slid 0.73% to 7,819.62 and the Euronext 100 shed 1.01% to 1,076.46.

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