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Today's Rundown

AbbVie dodges hedge fund lawsuit over failed $55B Shire pursuit
Sanofi dumps Principia Biopharma's San Francisco labs with plans to immediately cut 38 jobs
Fitbit, Apple user data exposed in breach impacting 61M fitness tracker records
Another death blights Astellas' $3B Audentes buy as FDA slaps clinical hold on the test
Takeda eyes vaccine business growth amid COVID-19 partnerships and dengue progress, CEO says
Mesa Labs puts $300M on the table for genetic testing developer Agena Bioscience
Survey: Employers rethinking return-to-work plans as COVID-19 surges
Biohaven's ambitious Nurtec ODT marketing strategy pays dividends with doctors in migraine market: analyst
Medtronic launches AI pilot program to tackle race, gender disparities in cardiac care
CMS wants to pull Trump-era pathway that speeds up Medicare coverage of breakthrough medical devices
After regulatory nods, Johnson & Johnson says latest Ebola vaccine data could support prophylactic use
Majority of hospitals stumbled on public health reporting before the strain of a global pandemic
COVID-19 tracker: Arizona sues Biden admin over vaccine rules; RedHill's COVID hopeful fails late-stage test

Featured Story

AbbVie dodges hedge fund lawsuit over failed $55B Shire pursuit

By Eric Sagonowsky

AbbVie faced no shortage of criticism and questioning over its decision to abandon its proposed $55 billion Shire buyout back in 2014. But after years of legal back-and-forth, the company has escaped one high-profile case from hedge funds that alleged the company misled them about its true intentions.

Sanofi dumps Principia Biopharma's San Francisco labs with plans to immediately cut 38 jobs

By Noah Higgins-Dunn

In a one-two punch for Principia Biopharma, Sanofi plans to shutter the company's San Francisco-based drug discovery laboratories by the end of the year and immediately cut 38 jobs, the French pharma told Fierce Biotech.

Fitbit, Apple user data exposed in breach impacting 61M fitness tracker records

By Heather Landi

An unsecured database containing over 61 million records related to fitness trackers and wearables exposed Apple and Fitbit users' data online.

Another death blights Astellas' $3B Audentes buy as FDA slaps clinical hold on the test

By Ben Adams

Astellas has seen a fourth death in its gene therapy trial of an experimental drug gained through the pharma’s $3 billion buyout of biotech Audentes.

Takeda eyes vaccine business growth amid COVID-19 partnerships and dengue progress, CEO says

By Angus Liu

Takeda is helping Moderna and Novavax make their COVID-19 vaccines available in Japan. With those new products and about a decade’s worth of progress on its dengue shot, Takeda's CEO sees vaccines becoming a bigger part of the drugmaker’s business going forward.

Mesa Labs puts $300M on the table for genetic testing developer Agena Bioscience

By Andrea Park

Within the first year of the buyout, Mesa said it expects Agena to bring in between $63 million and $67 million in revenue, plus an additional $3 million to $5 million in COVID testing revenue.

Survey: Employers rethinking return-to-work plans as COVID-19 surges

By Paige Minemyer

The surge of COVID-19 cases caused by the delta variant has employers rethinking their plans for returning to work—and planning for business to stabilize later than expected, a new survey shows.

Biohaven's ambitious Nurtec ODT marketing strategy pays dividends with doctors in migraine market: analyst

By Beth Snyder Bulik

Biohaven went all in on marketing its added preventive indication for oral migraine med Nurtec. And now it’s reaping the rewards with doctors. Three months post approval, 96% of neurologists were aware of the brand, while 65% are “highly familiar” with it, according to Spherix Global Insights' post-launch report.

Medtronic launches AI pilot program to tackle race, gender disparities in cardiac care

By Conor Hale

In collaboration with the artificial intelligence developer Mpirik and the healthcare quality tracking company Vizient, the effort will focus on addressing disparities in care across gender and race.

CMS wants to pull Trump-era pathway that speeds up Medicare coverage of breakthrough medical devices

By Robert King

CMS aims to pull a Trump-era pathway that would grant Medicare coverage for breakthrough medical devices as soon as they are authorized by the FDA.

After regulatory nods, Johnson & Johnson says latest Ebola vaccine data could support prophylactic use

By Kevin Dunleavy

After scoring a European approval and a prequalification from the World Health Organization, the Ebola regimen from Johnson & Johnson has turned in another trial win. The two-shot vaccine, which combines J&J’s Zabdeno followed eight weeks later by Bavarian Nordic’s Mvabea, was safe, well tolerated and produced a strong immune response. The results "support the potential prophylactic use," J&J said.

Majority of hospitals stumbled on public health reporting before the strain of a global pandemic

By Dave Muoio

A recent data brief from the ONC suggests that most hospitals had issues electronically exchanging information with public health agencies well before the strain of a global pandemic.

COVID-19 tracker: Arizona sues Biden admin over vaccine rules; RedHill's COVID hopeful fails late-stage test

By Noah Higgins-Dunn,Kevin Dunleavy,Fraiser Kansteiner

A World Health Organization-backed vaccine hub is working to produce Moderna's mRNA jab for the continent. Arizona is suing the Biden administration over its sweeping vaccine order issued last week. RedHill Biopharma's experimental SK2 inhibitor opaganib failed its late-stage test. Plus more.

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