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July 14, 2017

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

Featured Story

Special Report—The top 15 highest-paid biopharma executives

Some of the executive pay rankings are predictable, like Johnson & Johnson's CEO, regardless who's in the job. What's not guaranteed is that the chairman of a generics maker in hot water with the U.S. government and American parents—Mylan's Robert Coury—would step off the company’s employee roster and into the nonexecutive chairman’s job and reap a $97 million package with the move.

Top Stories Of The Week

FDA outlines ‘Innovation Initiative,’ Cures plans to speed up drug development

The FDA and its new Trump-picked commissioner Scott Gottlieb took to social media to talk up the agency’s plans to speed up the drug regulation process.

If AstraZeneca CEO Soriot does take Teva's helm, what comes next? Megamerger talk, maybe

The reported jump of AstraZeneca chief Pascal Soriot to Teva's top post hasn't yet been confirmed, but already it's making waves. The news has lopped $4 billion off AZ's market cap, heightened investor fears about its imminent Mystic trial results, and touched off talk of a second Pfizer takeover offer.

Pfizer’s medicinal sciences head Tony Wood jumps ship to GSK

GlaxoSmithKline has confirmed a tip FierceBiotech received last night that Pfizer’s SVP of medicinal sciences has jumped ship to work for the British Big Pharma.

Biocon and Mylan Herceptin biosimilar stalled in EU over plant issues

Mylan and Biocon, which had expected to be first to market with a Herceptin biosimilar in Europe, have hit a stumbling block that could delay their bid and give Roche some breathing room before copies take a bite out of the $2 billion in sales the drug generates in Europe.

Widely used malaria drug may shield fetuses from Zika infection

Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have been searching for ways to create barriers that shield fetuses from Zika infection. Now, they've discovered that they can manipulate autophagy—the process by which a placental barrier is created—using a common and inexpensive malaria drug.

Sanofi gets a flu vaccines booster with $650M-plus Protein Sciences buy

Twice over the last year, Sanofi has come up short in high-stakes attempts at top M&A prospects. Now, the drugmaker has finally bagged an acquisition, though not nearly on the scale of its runs for Medivation or Actelion.

IBM Watson takes on whole-genome sequencing of brain tumor in early study

A proof-of-concept study, wherein IBM's Watson supercomputer analyzed genomic data from a brain tumor, suggests that combining artificial intelligence and whole-genome sequencing could ease a "key bottleneck" in precision medicine for cancer.

Allergan adds 'Gilmore Girls' star Ventimiglia, wide receiver Cruz to celeb marketing roster

Allergan is adding more celebrity firepower to its preventable blindness initiative, See America. The drugmaker snagged "Gilmore Girls" star Milo Ventimiglia, Chicago Bears wide receiver Victor Cruz and actress Alexandra Daddario for the campaign's latest social media effort.

EQT to buy Certara from Arsenal for $850M

Private equity firm EQT is acquiring in silico drug development service provider Certara from Arsenal Capital Partners, a deal that values the CRO at $850 million, Arsenal announced on Tuesday.

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