trending Market Intelligence /marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/WKVEgtw-QSpY6Fg-yLZx8A2 content esgSubNav
In This List

China exempts cancer drugs from tariffs; Purdue reaches tentative opioid deal

Blog

A Pharmaceutical Company Capitalizes on M&A Activity with Brokerage Research

Blog

2021 Year in Review: Highlighting Key Investment Banking Trends

Blog

Insight Weekly: US stock performance; banks' M&A risk; COVID-19 vaccine makers' earnings

Blog

Global M&A By the Numbers: Q3 2021


China exempts cancer drugs from tariffs; Purdue reaches tentative opioid deal

Top news

* China unveiled the first batch of U.S. goods to be exempted from additional tariffs amid trade tensions between the two countries, Bloomberg News reported. The list includes 12 cancer medicines, such as AstraZeneca's lung cancer drug Iressa, as well as a blood cancer therapy by Pfizer Inc. and a rectal cancer drug by Roche Holding AG.

* The U.K. is launching a £200 million whole genome sequencing project, which aims to advance the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of serious and life-threatening diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and dementia. The project, which is backed by drugmakers, including Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline PLC, AstraZeneca PLC and Amgen Inc., and the National Health Service England, will examine and sequence the genetic code of 500,000 volunteers at the UK Biobank.

* Opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma LP has tentatively reached a settlement with 22 states to resolve lawsuits alleging the company's marketing practices contributed to the painkiller addiction crisis in the U.S., according to a report from The Washington Post. The deal, which has been discussed for months, is said to be worth between $10 billion and $12 billion.

* Merck & Co. Inc. downplayed the potential side-effects of blockbuster baldness therapy Propecia, according to an investigative report by Reuters. Federal courts sealed evidence that showed Propecia could lead to sexual dysfunction and depression, even after patients stop taking the drug. Merck has denied the accusations, saying such side effects could be caused by other factors unrelated to the therapy.

* The number of uninsured children in the U.S. has climbed for the second year in a row, with 425,000 more children losing their healthcare coverage in 2018 compared to 2017. The U.S. Census Bureau's annual health insurance coverage report, released Sept. 10, showed that the uninsured rate for children under the age of 19 increased from 5% in 2017 to 5.5% in 2018. The number of uninsured children in 2018 totaled about 4.3 million, according to the bureau's data.

On the policy front

* The U.K. government outlined its plan for a worst-case, no-deal Brexit, warning of negative impacts to food and medical supplies and significant border security problems upon the return of hard boundaries between the country and its neighbors.

Drug and product pipeline

* Tocagen Inc.'s shares slumped over 80% on Sept. 12 at premarket trading after its lead drug candidate Toca 511 & Toca FC failed to extend the lives of patients with recurrent high grade glioma, an aggressive form of brain cancer — missing the main goal of a late-stage clinical trial. The therapy also failed to show a meaningful difference between the arms of the study, dubbed Toca 5, missing all secondary goals, the gene-therapy maker said.

* The U.S. Food and Drug Administration noted the potential of Aimmune Therapeutics Inc.'s AR101 to reduce peanut-related allergic reactions, though the agency posed some questions in its review of the company's application for approval ahead of a Sept. 13 meeting. In particular, the regulator pointed to a lack of robust evidence on the product's efficacy in adults and an apparent increase in allergic reactions during increased dosing of AR101.

* Researchers at the Peking University Stem Cell Research Center in Beijing used a gene-editing technology to safely treat a man with leukemia and HIV, Bloomberg News reported. The technology used was similar to what Chinese scientist He Jiankui used to create genetically engineered twin babies, which stirred up controversy over the ethical use of gene editing.

Operational activity

* Mallinckrodt PLC had its long-term issuer rating downgraded by S&P Global Ratings to CCC from B+ following the agency's concerns about the drugmaker's ability to access capital markets to refinance its debt. The outlook on the U.K. company, which manufactures and distributes both brand-name and generic medicines, is negative, reflecting the possibility that an opioid litigation settlement could leave the company unable to repay its 2020 debt maturity when it comes due.

* A jury in New Jersey fined Johnson & Johnson $37.3 million in a case in which four people claimed their use of the pharmaceutical giant's talc-containing baby powder caused cancer, according to a report from Law360. After an almost two-month trial, the jury at the Superior Court of the State of New Jersey in Middlesex County decided that Johnson & Johnson's talc products contained asbestos and that the substance led to the patients' mesothelioma, a fatal cancer.

* Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said its board elected Michael Bonney, Julia Haller and Phyllis Yale to serve as independent directors. The appointments are effective at the closing of the New York-based drugmaker's $95 billion acquisition of Celgene Corp. Bonney and Haller are members of Celgene's board.

* Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc. filed a lawsuit against 10x Genomics Inc. for allegedly infringing a patent license exclusively belonging to Bio-Rad. The patent involved in the suit covers techniques for detecting enzymatic reactions in microfluidic droplets.

The day ahead

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

In Asia, the Hang Seng dropped 0.26% to 27,087.63, and the Nikkei 225 rose 0.75% to 21,759.61.

In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 was up 0.02% to 7,339.28, and the Euronext 100 climbed 0.13% to 1,087.33.

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.

The Daily Dose has an editorial deadline of 6:30 a.m. ET. Some external links may require a subscription. Links are current as of publication time, and we are not responsible if those links are unavailable later.