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Today's Rundown

Completion of Lilly’s Alzheimer’s submission slips out of Q1 after CMS’ Aduhelm decision
Pfizer accuses former employees of 'treachery' in stealing trade secrets to form Regor Therapeutics
Roche lets go of etro, dumping phase 3 Crohn's prospect 18 months after posting weak colitis data
Sponsored: Taking a Different Approach to Drug Development
J&J discontinues work on eczema drug, leading to $610M in impairment charges for ex-XBiotech asset
Sponsored: Choose wisely. Biospecimens can make or break your biomarker-driven cancer research
Intellia Rewrites pipeline expansion in $200M acquisition of UC Berkeley DNA writing startup
AstraZeneca punts midphase cardiovascular prospect to startup
J&J's Janssen inks $1B biobucks pact for Mersana's ADC tech in 3 targets
Amgen enters hot protein degradation field with $500M biobucks deal with Plexium
Dewpoint, with a handful of Big Pharma partners from Merck to Pfizer, collects $150M to advance its 20 programs
After disastrous start to launch, Biogen still expects 'minimal' sales from Aduhelm this year
BD doubles COVID sales forecast for 2022 even as steep testing dropoff leads to revenue loss
Medicare to cover at-home COVID-19 tests this spring after backlash from lawmakers
Cancer screening 'not elective,' says president's cancer panel, as it pushes for better awareness

Featured Story

Completion of Lilly’s Alzheimer’s submission slips out of Q1 after CMS’ Aduhelm decision

By Annalee Armstrong

The timeline for completing an accelerated approval request for Eli Lilly’s Alzheimer’s treatment donanemab has slipped out of the first quarter after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services narrowed coverage for Biogen's rival med to just clinical trial use.

Pfizer accuses former employees of 'treachery' in stealing trade secrets to form Regor Therapeutics

By Annalee Armstrong

Pfizer has accused two former employees who went on to form a new biotech of stealing “the hard work” of the Big Pharma’s own scientists for a diabetes and obesity program, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday.

Roche lets go of etro, dumping phase 3 Crohn's prospect 18 months after posting weak colitis data

By Nick Paul Taylor

Roche’s gut disease prospect etrolizumab has reached the end of the line. After riding out disappointing data in a related indication, Roche has now brought the ax down on a phase 3 program that was testing the antibody in Crohn’s disease patients.

Johnson & Johnson said it will discontinue development of bermekimab in atopic dermatitis, which it paid $750 million for, but it will continue investigating the monoclonal antibody in another skin disease.

Intellia Therapeutics acquires a little-known University of California, Berkeley startup for up to $200 million that says it can work on gene editing in non-dividing cell types.

AstraZeneca punts midphase cardiovascular prospect to startup

By Nick Paul Taylor

AstraZeneca has offloaded a midphase cardiovascular disease drug to Regio Biosciences. After getting a look at phase 2a data on MEDI5884, AstraZeneeca has decided to license the antibody to the startup for use in a peripheral artery disease study.

J&J's Janssen inks $1B biobucks pact for Mersana's ADC tech in 3 targets

By Kyle LaHucik

Johnson & Johnson's Janssen unit will pay $40 million upfront and up to $1 billion in biobucks for access to Mersana Therapeutics' antibody-drug conjugate tech for three targets. Following their preclinical collaboration, Janssen will handle clinical trials and commercialization.

Amgen enters hot protein degradation field with $500M biobucks deal with Plexium

By Kyle LaHucik

Amgen is getting into the protein degradation space in a $500 million biobucks deal with biotech startup Plexium. The licensing deal gives Amgen access to two initial programs with the option to add more in the multi-year collaboration.

Dewpoint, with a handful of Big Pharma partners from Merck to Pfizer, collects $150M to advance its 20 programs

By Kyle LaHucik

Pfizer, Merck, Bayer and Volastra have already partnered with Dewpoint Therapeutics across neuromuscular conditions, HIV, cancer metastasis and cardiopulmonary diseases. Now, the Boston biotech has an additional $150 million to bankroll 20 pipeline programs.

After disastrous start to launch, Biogen still expects 'minimal' sales from Aduhelm this year

By Eric Sagonowsky

Before Biogen won approval for controversial Alzheimer's disease drug Aduhelm, the company had been facing down competitive threats to key medicines. Now that Aduhelm is on the market and barely generating any sales, the company could be in an even more challenging position than it was before.