Top news
* The federal government is sending nearly $2 billion in taxpayer funds to U.S. states and communities to combat the opioid crisis — an epidemic that is largely being fueled by the powerful synthetic drug fentanyl.
* Mallinckrodt PLC is looking at options, including restructuring and bankruptcy, to temper possible legal liabilities over its alleged role in the U.S. opioid crisis, Bloomberg News reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter. The U.K. drugmaker, along with other pharmaceutical companies, is set to face a trial in Ohio in October to determine whether its marketing practices intensified the opioid epidemic.
* Ned Sharpless, acting commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, has won the support of five previous agency chiefs and nearly 60 healthcare organizations to remain in the job permanently. Sharpless, who was appointed in April, can only remain as commissioner in a temporary capacity until Nov. 1.
* U.S. insurers including Cigna and CVS Health are planning to bring out programs that can blunt the expense of treatments that run into millions, such as gene therapies, so they are more affordable for employers, The Wall Street Journal reported.
* In this week's edition Of Mice Not Men — where S&P Global Market Intelligence reports on early-stage research in animals or other laboratory models — we take a look at counteracting opioid addiction with genetics, a scorpion's role in fighting the opioid crisis and spotting cancer with urine color.
* Ebola survivors in the Republic of Guinea are more likely to die within a year of leaving the hospital compared to the general population in the African country due to increased risk of kidney problems, Reuters reported, citing a new study.
M&A and capital markets
* Precision medicine company OpGen Inc. will merge with German medical-device maker Curetis NV in a stock-for-stock transaction.
* Aurora Cannabis Inc. sold its remaining 10.5% stake in The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd. for gross proceeds of C$86.5 million.
Drug and product pipeline
* Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s medicine Opdivo failed to meet a main goal of a phase 3 trial in patients with glioblastoma multiforme, a type of brain cancer. The drug, which was used in combination with the current standard of care, did not improve the length of time patients lived without their disease getting worse.
* Johnson & Johnson's medicine Stelara was approved in the EU for expanded use in certain patients with active ulcerative colitis — a type of chronic bowel disease. The drug is already approved for plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis and Crohn's disease.
* Endo International PLC's partner Novitium Pharma LLC received U.S. FDA approval for the first generic version of Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (publ)'s medicine Orfadin to treat hereditary tyrosinemia type 1 — a rare inherited metabolic disorder.
* Tricida Inc. filed an application with the U.S. FDA seeking approval of its medicine veverimer to treat a condition called metabolic acidosis in patients with chronic kidney disease.
* Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Company Ltd.'s experimental migraine drug rimegepant was accepted for review by the U.S. FDA. The regulator is expected to make a decision in the first fiscal quarter of 2020.
* Concert Pharmaceuticals Inc. medicine CTP-543 reduced spot baldness in patients with a hair loss condition known as alopecia areata, according to data from a phase 2 trial.
Operational activity
* Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and BioMotiv LLC entered a strategic partnership under which the companies will jointly form and fund new companies to develop therapies for diseases with unmet medical needs.
* A Brazilian court ordered Bayer AG to deposit an additional $69.4 million in an escrow account in a patent suit with local farmers related to the genetically modified Intacta soybean seed, Reuters reported. Intacta was developed by Monsanto Co., which the German giant acquired in 2018 for $62.5 billion.
Meanwhile, independent investigators cleared Monsanto of any wrongdoing when it tracked politicians, journalists and others, before it combined with Bayer.
* Boehringer Ingelheim Corp. is licensing Lupin Ltd.'s drug compound LNP3794, which has the potential to treat difficult-to-treat cancers characterized by mutations in a patient's KRAS gene.
The day ahead
Early morning futures indicators pointed to a higher opening for the U.S. market.
In Asia, the Hang Seng fell 0.03% to 26,515.53, and the Nikkei 225 rose 2.12% to 21,085.94.
In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 dropped 0.65% to 7,263.46, and the Euronext 100 was up 0.67% to 1,080.80.
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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