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January 04, 2019

Welcome to FierceLifeSci Weekly Digest, your roundup of the biggest and most popular stories from each of our publications.

Featured Story

Bristol-Myers scores first big deal of 2019 with $74B buyout of oncology bigwig Celgene

The long-predicted deal-making boom in Big Pharma started with a bang on Wednesday, as Bristol-Myers Squibb announced it will buy Celgene in a cash and stock transaction worth $74 billion. The deal values Celgene at $102.43 a share—54% higher than its closing price on Wednesday evening.

Top Stories Of The Week

Special Report—2 years after sluggish 2016, new drug approvals hit their stride in 2018

If in 2017, the FDA was trying to make up for lost time, the agency went into overdrive in 2018, approving more than 50 new molecular entities.

At the end of a bumper year for approvals, FDA hit by government shutdown

We saw a major milestone in FDA approvals in 2018, but a political deadlock that led to a partial government shutdown before Christmas could take some of the shine off a golden year.

The 20 most expensive pharmacy drugs in 2018, featuring names big and small

The most expensive drugs in the U.S. feature commercial hits as well as lesser-known ones, with several Big Pharma products making an appearance. Why are the usual suspects missing? We're leaving out the drugs you can't get at a pharmacy.

Ex-Novartis Oncology CEO Liz Barrett joins UroGen

Ex-Novartis Oncology CEO Liz Barrett has joined UroGen Pharma. Barrett is taking over as CEO of the uro-oncology specialist at a time when it is working on a rolling NDA that could lead to its first drug approval.

Federal proposal to force drug prices in TV ads draws big response from pharma, others

Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Sanofi and Johnson & Johnson chimed in among the 146 official comments on the federal government’s plan to tag pharma TV ads with drug prices.

Boston Scientific snaps up Millipede and its mitral regurgitation device for $325M

In January, Boston Scientific handed over $90 million for a portion of Millipede's shares. Now, the devicemaker is paying $325 million to pick up the rest of Millipede’s shares.

The valsartan carcinogen mess taught pharma a surprise manufacturing lesson. Will 2019 bring more?

Industry wisdom is that there's nothing new to learn about tablet-making, but that idiom was turned on its head this year when the FDA learned a manufacturing process for “sartan” drugs could turn them into cancer-causing time bombs.

Sanofi, Merck win FDA nod for 6-in-1 pediatric vaccine Vaxelis

Sanofi and Merck scored an FDA approval for their Vaxelis vaccine to ring in the new year, but they’re not planning to launch until 2020. The partners plan to spend 2019 building up supplies of the six-in-one pediatric shot, the first hexavalent childhood vaccine ever.

MabSpace and HJB merge to form biotherapeutics company Transcenta

Hong Kong-based MabSpace, a biotech company, has merged with bioprocessing specialist HJB to form a new biotherapeutics organization dubbed Transcenta Holding.

Blocking brain inflammation in multiple sclerosis with gut immune cells

Researchers at the University of Toronto and the University of California, San Francisco, have discovered that some white blood cells produced in the gut can dampen brain inflammation in MS, a finding they believe could lead to a new therapeutic approach.

Resources

[Whitepaper] The 3DP Revolution: Planning Effective Brand Extension for In-Market Drugs

Get ahead of looming challenges in the market that include both generic products and new branded drugs.

[Infographic] Clinical Development Trends And The Impact On Clinical Trial Technology

New infographic shows trends in clinical development and the impact on randomization and trial supply management technology (RTSM).

[Webinar] Building the Business Case for Transformational RIM

Reduce the effort to create submissions and track registrations with a move to unified RIM. Watch the on-demand webinar.

[eBook] Digital Workflows: How to Focus Investment to Cut Costs and Drive Growth

Life sciences companies must immediately identify and realize productivity gains to drive down operational costs—or risk seeing more nimble competitors disappear into the distance. Where to begin?

[Whitepaper] Evaluating RIM Suites? Unification matters.

Learn how to spot an imposter with an integrated suite vs. one that’s unified. Read this whitepaper to learn more.

[eBook] 2018 Weekly Compendium

The Biopharma industry is moving at lightning speed and it can be a challenge to keep pace. Here at Biotech Primer we spend hours each week researching, writing, and editing original content for the Biotech Primer WEEKLY with one goal in mind: to help everyone better understand the latest science and technology driving today’s healthcare industry.