Life sciences and healthcare
Daily news digest
21 October 2024
- Sanofi enters exclusive talks with CD&R over Opella stake sale – The Wall Street Journal
- Weight-loss giant tells Britain: act fast or miss the best drugs – The Sunday Times
- Cigna is said to resume merger discussions with Humana – Bloomberg
- Drug industry says it is not ready for ‘UK only’ labelling scheme – Financial Times
- PureTech founded entity Seaport Therapeutics closes $225m oversubscribed Series B financing round
- Wes Streeting unveils plans for ‘patient passports’ to hold all medical records – The Guardian
- Novo Holdings’ $16.5bn Catalent buyout in crosshairs as consumer groups ask FTC to block the deal – FiercePharma
- NHS patients to miss out on benefits of new Alzheimer’s drugs, experts warn – The Telegraph
- Starboard takes stake in consumer products maker Kenvue, sources say – Reuters
- Novartis loses challenge to block Biden drug price negotiations – Bloomberg
- Astellas nabs class-first US FDA approval for CLDN18.2 gastric cancer med Vyloy – FiercePharma
| Adrià Calatayud and Helena Smolak of The Wall Street Journal report that Sanofi entered into exclusive talks to sell a controlling stake in its consumer-healthcare business Opella to Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) in a deal that values the business as a whole at €16bn, including debt. The proposed transaction would see the company sell a controlling 50% stake in Opella to CD&R, Bpifrance take a stake of about 2% in the unit and Sanofi retain the remaining 48%. The Wall Street Journal >> Ben Spencer of The Sunday Times reports that patients will miss out on the best new treatments if the NHS does not fundamentally change the way it calculates the value of drugs, Eli Lilly has warned. Chris Stokes, UK general manager called for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to consider a treatment’s economic and social benefits as well as how many “quality years” it can add to a patient’s lifespan. These include whether taking a drug could make it easier for someone to get back to work, or reduce their need for carers. The Sunday Times >> Michelle Davis and John Tozzi of Bloomberg report that Cigna Group has reportedly revived efforts to combine with its smaller rival Humana after merger talks fell apart late last year. The two health insurance giants, with a combined market value of more than $125bn, have held informal, early-stage discussions recently about a potential deal. Shares of Humana were up 5.6% after the close of regular trading on Friday, while Cigna fell about 5.3%. Cigna and Humana held talks to combine last year, but Cigna walked away after failing to agree on a price. Bloomberg >> Peter Foster, Jude Webber and Andy Bounds of the Financial Times report that the UK generic drug industry is not ready to comply with new post-Brexit labelling rules for medicines entering Northern Ireland, the manufacturers’ trade body has warned, raising the risk of supply shortages. The British Generic Manufacturers Association said the industry had insufficient time to meet incoming requirements for medicine packs to be labelled “UK only” from 1 January 2025, and urged the UK government to delay implementation of the policy. Financial Times >> PureTech’s Seaport announced the closing of an oversubscribed $225m Series B financing round led by General Atlantic. Following the financing, PureTech will hold equity ownership in Seaport of 36.7% on a diluted basis. Bharatt Chowrira, CEO of PureTech and a member of the Seaport Board, said: “We’re very pleased with Seaport’s $225m Series B financing. Led by a syndicate of top-tier investors, this milestone highlights the significant progress we’re making across our portfolio. The strong support not only reinforces the value generated by our unique R&D engine but also underscores our commitment to advancing transformative therapies for patients.” PureTech Health >> Pippa Crerar and Denis Campbell of The Guardian report that Wes Streeting is to unveil plans for portable medical records giving every NHS patient all their information stored digitally in one place, despite fears over breaching privacy and creating a target for hackers. The health secretary is launching a major consultation on the government’s plans to transform the NHS from “analogue to digital” over the next decade. It will offer “patient passports” containing health data that can be swiftly accessed by GPs, hospitals and ambulance services. The Guardian >> Fraiser Kansteiner of FiercePharma reports that Novo Holdings is encountering more resistance as it aims to close its $16.5bn acquisition of Catalent by the end of the year. A dozen consumer groups and trade unions have penned a letter to the chair of the US Federal Trade Commission, urging the antitrust agency to block Novo Holdings’ proposed buyout. The cosigners voiced concerns over potential anticompetitive practices and patient access to drugs, not only for GLP-1s for diabetes and obesity but gene therapies, too, should the deal go through. FiercePharma >> Laura Donnelly of The Telegraph reports that NHS patients are set to miss out on new Alzheimer’s disease drugs, experts warn. Earlier this year lecanemab, the first treatment found to slow the disease’s progression, was licensed by regulators. However, Nice ruled in draft guidance that the benefits are not worth the costs. With almost 30 similar drugs in the pipeline, leading Alzheimer’s charities have urged the NHS to introduce a system that will track people’s treatment over time to benefit future patients. The Telegraph >> Svea Herbst-Bayliss of Reuters reports that hedge fund Starboard Value has reportedly taken a stake in Kenvue, the consumer products company that makes Band-Aid, Listerine, and Tylenol, and which went public last year. Kenvue, previously a part of Johnson & Johnson has seen its stock price fall 18% since the company was listed publicly in May 2023. Starboard may want the company to review how it positions its brands and how they are priced in order to boost its performance. Reuters >> Nyah Phengsitthy of Bloomberg reports that Novartis’ bid to block the US government’s drug price negotiation plan was rejected by a federal judge in another win for the Biden administration. Judge Zahid Quraishi ruled against Novartis’ claims that the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program takes property, compels speech, and violates the excessive fines clause. Quraishi’s decision adds to President Joe Biden’s victories in defending his Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program. Bloomberg >> Fraiser Kansteiner of FiercePharma reports that the US FDA has given Astellas’ Vyloy (zolbetuximab) the thumbs-up as a first-line treatment for adults with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic HER2-negative gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma whose tumours are CLDN18.2 positive. With the green light, Vyloy becomes the first US-approved anti-CLDN18.2 drug. The FDA based its approval on positive results from two phase 3 trials. FiercePharma >> |
Upcoming events
- Annual World Orphan Drug Congress Europe, Barcelona (23-25 October)
- Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), Houston (6-10 November)
- UBS Healthcare Conference, California (11-14 November)
- Jefferies London Healthcare Conference, London (19-21 November)
