Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA
By Sahil Pandey (Reuters) -Zimmer Biomet Holdings cut its 2025 organic revenue growth forecast following weakness in Latin America and emerging markets in Europe, sending shares 15% lower on Wednesday. The medical device maker kept its overall revenue growth forecast stable, aided by foreign currency fluctuations. But it lowered the upper end of its organic growth outlook to 4.0% from 4.5%, while keeping the floor constant at 3.5%. “We saw a last minute cancellation of distributor orders mostly from the Middle East and Eastern Europe,” said CEO Ivan Tornos. The company reported 5% organic sales growth for the third quarter,…
By Sneha S K and Sriparna Roy (Reuters) -Elevance Health on Tuesday beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter profit as the health insurer managed to keep medical costs in check, sending its shares 3% higher in premarket trading. Several insurers such as Elevance, UnitedHealth and Centene have warned of elevated costs across government-backed plans following increased demand for healthcare across the United States over the last two years. Despite a dynamic healthcare environment, Elevance’s results were in line with expectations and reflected the company’s disciplined execution across its platforms, CEO Gail Boudreaux said. “As we plan for 2026, we remain…
(Reuters) -Mikael Dolsten, Pfizer’s former research and development chief, has withdrawn his candidacy for Novo Nordisk’s board, citing personal reasons, the Danish drugmaker said on Thursday. Dolsten, who led Pfizer’s R&D operations until earlier this year, informed Novo that he would not seek election at Thursday’s extraordinary general meeting. He has previously held senior R&D roles at Boehringer Ingelheim and AstraZeneca. The other board candidates standing for election remain unchanged from the Oct. 21 meeting notice, Novo Nordisk said. The development comes as Novo Nordisk’s top investor, the Novo Nordisk Foundation, in October moved to take control of the drugmaker’s…
(Reuters) -Health insurer Humana reported third-quarter profit that beat Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, helped by higher premiums and medical costs which were in line with the company’s expectations. It is one of the largest providers of Medicare Advantage plans for people 65 and older and those with disabilities, and gets most of its revenue from those plans. The industry has been battling stubbornly high costs for the last two years due to the increased use of healthcare services across government-backed plans. Humana has been making efforts to contain costs by repricing plans and adjusting benefits to help boost profits.…
(Reuters) -Algen Biotechnologies said on Monday it has agreed to grant AstraZeneca a license to develop gene therapies the U.S.-based biotech discovers using its artificial intelligence-driven platform, in a deal worth up to $555 million. Under the deal, AstraZeneca will get exclusive rights to develop therapies that target immune system-related disorders. The Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical major will also get the right to sell the treatments, if they get approved, while Algen will get upfront and milestone payments. AstraZeneca has been advancing its cell and gene therapy capabilities through acquisitions and partnerships as it works towards its target of $80 billion in…
By Bhanvi Satija and Maggie Fick LONDON (Reuters) -Wall Street is looking to U.S. drugmaker Eli Lilly and Anglo-Swedish rival AstraZeneca as the potential next in line after Pfizer struck a deal with Donald Trump’s administration to lower drug prices last week. Reuters spoke to seven healthcare analysts and investors. Four said Lilly could be next to make a deal, while three pointed to AstraZeneca. Others mentioned Merck, AbbVie, Regeneron and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Reuters could not independently confirm any such deals were in the offing, but drugmakers have been jostling to get a deal after Pfizer’s September 29 agreement that…
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -Novo Nordisk’s shares fell 5.6% in early trade on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the price of the Danish drugmaker’s best-selling weight-loss drug would be lowered. Trump made the comments during a White House event on fertility treatments and drug pricing. He was asked by reporters to identify the name of a drug that he earlier in the event said would be made less expensive. “I was referring to Ozempic, or – I was referring to – the fat loss drug?…. They’ll be much lower,” Trump said. Although Novo’s Ozempic is approved for…
By Abigail Summerville and Svea Herbst-Bayliss (Reuters) -Tylenol maker Kenvue was already having a painful year before U.S. President Donald Trump and his health secretary got involved. Activist investor Starboard Value took aim at the company about a year ago, forcing the Band-Aid and Benadryl maker to settle a potentially costly and time-consuming fight by naming the hedge fund’s CEO, Jeffrey Smith, and two other directors to the board in March. Other unhappy investors weren’t mollified by the board refreshment, including Daniel Loeb’s hedge fund Third Point, which quietly built its own stake in April. In mid-July, Kenvue’s board ousted…
During a back and forth with reporters on Thursday in the Oval Office, President Trump recognized that US consumers are “paying something” for tariffs. “I think that they might be paying something. But when you take the overall impact, the Americans are gaining tremendously,” Trump said. It was among the first acknowledgments from Trump that US consumers are footing at least some of the bill for his tariff regime, the bulk of which faced scrutiny before the Supreme Court this week. In a closely watched case, a majority of the justices — both the court’s three liberal-leaning justices, as well…
(Reuters) -Biogen said on Friday it has gained global rights to privately held Vanqua Bio’s experimental drug for up to $1.06 billion to expand its pipeline of immunology drugs. The oral drug targets a protein involved in various inflammatory disorders and is currently in preclinical testing, the drugmaker said. Biogen has been expanding into immunology and rare disease medicines through acquisitions and partnerships to drive revenue growth as sales continue to dwindle for its older multiple sclerosis drugs due to rising competition. Last year, the drugmaker agreed to buy privately held Human Immunology Biosciences for up to $1.8 billion to…