Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA
Feb 4 (Reuters) – Drug developer Eikon Therapeutics said on Wednesday it had raised $381.2 million in its U.S. initial public offering, selling about 21.2 million shares priced at $18 apiece. This was at the high-end of the Roger Perlmutter-led company’s targeted range of $16 to $18 a share. The offering comes as IPO activity shows signs of picking up in 2026, following a government shutdown in October of the previous year that forced many companies to delay their listing plans. Biotech offerings are also seeing a resurgence early this year, with drug developers including SpyGlass Pharma and AgomAb Therapeutics…
Minute Maid helped make orange juice a year-round morning staple in 1946, when it started shipping cans of frozen juice around the U.S. But 80 years later, the brand’s parent company is halting sales of frozen juice concentrates in the U.S. and Canada, saying it wants to focus on the fresh juices that customers now prefer. “We are discontinuing our frozen products and exiting the frozen can category in response to shifting consumer preferences,” The Coca-Cola Co., which owns Minute Maid, said Wednesday in a statement. Minute Maid’s frozen juices – including several varieties of orange juice, lemonade and limeade…
Feb 5 (Reuters) – Cardinal Health on Thursday raised its expectations for annual profit after surpassing Wall Street estimates for quarterly results, as it bets on robust demand for specialty medicines and strong performance across its segments. Shares of the Dublin, Ohio-based company rose more than 3% in premarket trading. Drug distributors such as Cardinal Health, Cencora and McKesson are riding the wave of surging demand for high-margin medicines that treat complex conditions like cancer and autoimmune diseases, while riding biosimilar tailwinds from patent cliffs on blockbuster drugs. The companies are also expanding their presence in the specialty medicines market…
By Atharva Singh and Arasu Kannagi Basil Feb 5 (Reuters) – Drug developer Eikon Therapeutics, headed by Merck veteran Roger Perlmutter, was valued at about $860.3 million after its shares opened 5.3% below their offer price in their Nasdaq debut on Thursday. The Millbrae, California-based company’s shares opened at $17.05 apiece, compared with the $18 offer price. Eikon sold roughly 21.2 million shares in an upsized IPO at the top end of its marketed range of $16 to $18 to raise $381.2 million. Eikon’s debut comes amid a busy start for biotech IPOs this year following a subdued 2025, when…
FRANKFURT, Feb 5 (Reuters) – Bayer said on Thursday its experimental blood thinner cut the risk of stroke recurrence by 26% in a late-stage trial, in a fresh boost for CEO Bill Anderson’s turnaround efforts. The German group said the read-out came from a Phase III study comparing a combination of standard antiplatelet therapy and Bayer’s asundexian with antiplatelet therapy alone in patients who had previously suffered a stroke or similar blocked blood vessels in the brain. The study, known as Oceanic-Stroke, on the prevention of blood clotting, or thrombosis, involved more than 12,000 patients. The results, which included reassuring…
Feb 5 (Reuters) – CVS Health said on Thursday it would swap out Amgen and Eli Lilly’s bone disease treatments for lower-cost alternatives in some of its preferred drug lists, starting April 1. Its pharmacy benefit management unit, Caremark, will add biosimilar versions of Amgen’s Prolia such as Ospomyv, sold by CVS unit Cordavis, and Celltrion’s Stoboclo. It will also add generic versions of Lilly’s Forteo, including Bonsity and Tymlos, to major national commercial formularies. The shift would lower costs by more than 50% per prescription compared with branded drugs, CVS said, adding that its biosimilar formulary strategy has generated…
By Amina Niasse NEW YORK, Feb 5 (Reuters) – Online telehealth company Hims and Hers Health on Thursday began offering a much cheaper $49 compounded version of Novo Nordisk’s new Wegovy weight-loss pill in a move that expands sales to many Americans but could undercut Novo’s and Eli Lilly’s plans for the consumer market. The news touched off a swift reaction on Wall Street as investors sold off Novo and Lilly shares, and the Danish drugmaker promised a legal challenge to the move by Hims. Novo shares fell 8.6%, while Lilly was off 6%. Hims’ pricing, $49 for the first…
By Amina Niasse NEW YORK, Feb 7 (Reuters) – Companies looking to sell weight-loss drugs directly to consumers, including Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy, will shell out millions of dollars for celebrity-filled ads during Sunday’s Super Bowl with its promise of one of the year’s largest global audiences. Novo’s 90-second spot has comedian and SNL stalwart Kenan Thompson announcing the new Wegovy pill to America and suggesting, tongue-in-cheek along with music producer DJ Khaled, that people with obesity can benefit from the drug just like they would a pill for parallel parking or saving kittens in trees. Telehealth company Ro will bring…
Telehealth company Hims & Hers dropped its plan to offer a knockoff version of the weight-loss pill Wegovy on Saturday — two days after it announced the new drug and one day after the Food and Drug Administration threatened to restrict access to the ingredients needed to copy popular weight-loss medications. Hims had said Thursday that it would offer a compounded version of the new Wegovy pill that drugmaker Novo Nordisk just began selling last month. Novo immediately threatened to sue Hims, and then the FDA said Friday that it plans to take decisive steps to limit access to the…
By Waylon Cunningham and Savyata Mishra Feb 8 (Reuters) – Pizza, pasta or Chinese take-out used to be the go-to Super Bowl spread for Marla Senzon’s family – until the Florida retiree began taking a GLP‑1 appetite‑suppressing medication two years ago. This Sunday, the bowl of choice for Senzon and her husband – who used to take the weight-loss drug – will be a salad, with a light protein like chicken or turkey while they watch the Seattle Seahawks take on the New England Patriots for the U.S. professional football’s NFL championship. “Everything about our eating habits has changed,” she…