AZ sues over exec’s move to GSK
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Today's Rundown

Featured Story

Merck bets big on circular RNA, paying $150M and dangling $3.5B in biobucks to work with Orna

Orna Therapeutics is in the money. Tuesday morning, the developer of fully engineered circular RNA therapies revealed a double dose of good news, simultaneously taking the lid off an alliance with Merck & Co. worth $150 million upfront and a $221 million series B financing.

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Top Stories

AstraZeneca heads to court to contest former exec's move to crosstown rival GSK: report

Angling to keep trade secrets out of a local rival’s hands, AstraZeneca has asked a London court to enforce and extend a noncompete agreement, Bloomberg reports.

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Hear ye, hear ye: FDA finalizes OTC hearing aid rule to amp up access, drive down costs

After years of urging from both the government and the public, the FDA has established a new device category that’ll allow certain hearing aids to be sold over the counter, directly to consumers.

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Kaiser Permanente mental health workers join picket lines across Northern California

The demonstrations beginning today center around contract negotiations and call for expanded mental health services for Kaiser Permanente's members. The system's human resources head said the announcement was "perplexing" given how close the parties were to striking a deal just last week.

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Investors Senda message with $123M to back mystery pipeline from Flagship's reinvented biotech

Senda Biosciences has raised $123 million in a series C financing round, money the biotech says will be used to push unnamed preclinical programs into the clinic by 2024—two years behind schedule.

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Philips CEO van Houten hands reins to head of beleaguered connected care business

After weathering the storm of Philips' ongoing respiratory device recall for about a year, CEO Frans van Houten is stepping back from the helm. Taking his place as chief executive will be Roy Jakobs, who’s been heading up Philips’ response to the recall for months.

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Here are 4 key health policy items in the Inflation Reduction Act

Here are four health policy items you may have missed in the major health, taxes and climate package that the House passed late last week.

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Since Biden took over, Big Pharma has spent $205 million to protect drug price status quo, analysis finds

The election of President Joe Biden—and his campaign promise to reduce drug prices—was a call to arms for the pharmaceutical industry. How invested is Big Pharma in protecting its ability to charge enormous prices for its products? Since 2020, the industry has spent more than $205 million battling to preserve the status quo, which may change after passage of the Inflation Reduction Act last week by the Senate and House.

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NexImmune sizes up the competition and decides to pause myeloma T-cell therapy plans

NexImmune has cited tough competition as the reason for pausing enrollment on one of its two clinical candidates, as the company diverts resources into launching a solid tumor therapy into human studies.

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Mass General Brigham weathers $949M net loss, -2.8% operating margin during fiscal Q3

Industry-wide labor challenges and limited discharges during the most recent quarter saw Mass General Brigham's operations plummet from last year's 3.1% margin.

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AbbVie unveils new Skyrizi TV ads with a subtler tone compared to its revved-up Rinvoq approach

This year, AbbVie has continually been a big spender in the TV ad drug stakes, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. After launching two new Rinvoq commercials this summer, the Big Pharma is now turning its attention to its second immunology blockbuster, Skyrizi.

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Homology, after raising gene therapy from clinical hold, pauses trial enrollment to save cash

Homology Medicines is now able to enroll patients in its HMI-102 gene therapy trial—but is choosing not to. Having persuaded the FDA to lift the clinical hold in June, the biotech has now paused enrollment in the phenylketonuria study to free up cash for a gene editing trial in the same population.

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COVID-19 tracker: First Lady Jill Biden tests positive and is taking Paxlovid

First Lady Jill Biden tests positive for COVID-19 and is taking Paxlovid. The U.K. government will not procure AstraZeneca's Evusheld. Plus more.

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