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Americans pay more for medicines; ovarian cancer to take center stage at ESMO'19

Top news

* A new congressional analysis backs up earlier reports that prescription medicines for diseases like cancer, diabetes and arthritis cost the U.S. considerably more than what other developed nations pay for those therapies.

A report by the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee found that American consumers pay on average nearly four times more for drugs than what is paid in other countries — and in some cases, 67 times more for the same medicine. The U.S. could save $49 billion annually on medicines covered by the government's Medicare Part D program by using average drug prices from comparator nations, Ways and Means Committee staff wrote in their Sept. 23 report.

* Ovarian cancer is set to take center stage at the European Society of Medical Oncology meeting starting Sept. 27 in Barcelona as Europe's largest gathering of cancer specialists sift through the latest data pitting the U.K.'s two biggest drugmakers, AstraZeneca PLC and GlaxoSmithKline PLC, against each other in a highly competitive field of research.

The release of final results for their rival drugs, AstraZeneca's Lynparza and GSK's Zejula, could significantly change the way ovarian cancer is treated, according to analysts.

* Certain global drug manufacturers are at risk of increased liabilities and downgrades as recent developments in multiple opioid litigations lead to multimillion judgements and settlements, S&P Global Ratings said. The ratings agency revised its outlook for opioid manufacturers Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Endo International PLC to negative as the two companies face opioid litigation and potentially costly settlements in the U.S.

* The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there were two new cases of measles recorded in the week ended Sept. 19. The total number of confirmed cases in 31 affected states remain at 1,241 as of Sept. 19 after two previously reported cases were determined to not have been measles.

On the policy front

* Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will establish a national prescription plan — which would cost about C$6 billion over a four-year period — if he is re-elected, Reuters reported.

* The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued final guidelines on developing drugs to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, often called Lou Gehrig's disease. The FDA said the document provides drugmakers with recommendations on clinical trial design and ways to measure effectiveness and emphasizes that all patients in ALS trials should receive the best standard of care, and no one should be randomized to a placebo-only arm where they may be denied effective therapies.

M&A and capital markets

* Denmark's H. Lundbeck A/S launched a tender offer to buy all outstanding common shares of Alder BioPharmaceuticals Inc. at $18 per share in cash. The tender offer is in connection with the Danish company's $1.95 billion acquisition of Bothell, Wash.-based Alder.

* Cambrex Corp. said a 45-day go-shop period under its $2.4 billion acquisition by London-based private equity firm Permira Advisers Ltd. has expired. As of the end of the 45-day period, the company did not receive any alternative acquisition proposals from eight bidders.

* Viela Bio Inc., AstraZeneca's spinout, is looking to sell 7.5 million common shares at a price between $19 and $21 apiece to raise about $150 million in its upcoming Nasdaq debut.

Drug and product pipeline

* Novo Nordisk A/S plans to price Rybelsus — the newly approved oral version of its diabetes therapy semaglutide — similar to the injectable version of the drug, executives said in a Sept. 23 call with analysts. The injectable version of the drug, called Ozempic, costs $6,520.02 per year.

* The World Health Organization said health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo plan to introduce a second experimental Ebola vaccine, manufactured by Johnson & Johnson, in mid-October. The vaccine will be given to targeted at-risk populations in areas that do not have active Ebola transmission in a move to expand protection against the deadly virus, the health agency said.

* Zealand Pharma A/S' investigational diabetes therapy dasiglucagon rapidly increased the blood sugar levels of children with severe hypoglycemia, a phase 3 study showed. The Copenhagen-based company is planning an FDA submission by early 2020.

* The European Commission approved the use of GW Pharmaceuticals PLC's cannabis-based medicine Epidyolex to treat seizures in patients two years and older with Dravet and Lennox-Gastaut syndromes — two severe, rare childhood types of epilepsy.

* Seoul-based Helixmith Co. Ltd., formerly known as ViroMed, said its experimental gene therapy Engensis failed to reduce nerve pain in patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy.

Operational activity

* French drugmaker Les Laboratories Servier SAS is facing charges such as corporate manslaughter in a trial claiming its diabetes treatment Mediator, previously prescribed as a weight-loss pill, caused up to 2,000 deaths, Bloomberg News reported.

* Akcea Therapeutics Inc., a majority-owned affiliate of Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc., said CEO Paula Soteropoulos, COO Jeff Goldberg and President Sarah Boyce will exit their roles, effective immediately. Boston-based Akcea did not disclose why its executives were leaving the company.

* More than 2,600 employees at Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco Bay Area, Calif., will join a nationwide strike against the healthcare provider beginning Oct. 14, the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions tweeted.

The day ahead

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

In Asia, the Hang Seng rose 0.22% to 26,281.00, and the Nikkei 225 lifted 0.09% to 22,098.84.

In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 fell 0.12% to 7,317.41, and the Euronext 100 was up 0.24% to 1,091.47.

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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