Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA
(Reuters) -Merck is closing in on a deal to buy Cidara Therapeutics in a deal valuing the biotechnology company at a premium to its $3.3 billion market capitalization, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. The deal could be announced as soon as Friday, barring any final snags, FT said, citing people familiar with the matter. Merck was still competing with another pharmaceutical company for Cidara late on Thursday, before it chose Merck’s offer. While the exact price of the deal could not be learned, the report said that any deal is likely to include cash and milestone-based payments when clinical…
(Reuters) -Mikael Dolsten, Pfizer’s former research and development chief, has withdrawn his candidacy for Novo Nordisk’s board, citing personal reasons, the Danish drugmaker said on Thursday.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) -Bristol Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson said on Friday they would stop a late-stage trial of their experimental blood clot drug in heart attack patients, after an independent review found the study was unlikely to meet its main goal. The trial was testing whether the drug, milvexian, could prevent repeat heart problems in patients who recently suffered acute coronary syndrome, a condition that occurs when blood flow to the heart is suddenly blocked, usually by a clot. Shares of Bristol Myers fell 5% in premarket trading, while J&J slipped slightly. The decision follows a preplanned interim analysis by…
(Reuters) – Merck will acquire Cidara Therapeutics in a nearly $9.2 billion deal, the companies said on Friday, gaining access to an experimental drug for flu prevention. Merck is looking to diversify its revenue beyond Keytruda as its patents for the blockbuster drug begin to expire later this decade. Merck will pay $221.50 per share in cash for Cidara, a premium of 108.9% from its last closing price of $105.99. Cidara shares doubled in value to $216.05 in premarket trading. Since 2021, Merck has nearly tripled its late-stage pipeline, combining in-house development with deals such as the $11.5 billion purchase…
By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) -A Texas judge on Friday will consider state Attorney General Ken Paxton’s bid to block Kenvue from paying a $398 million dividend to shareholders and from marketing Tylenol as safe for pregnant women. Paxton, a Republican, sued Kenvue on October 28, accusing it of concealing the risks to children when pregnant women use Tylenol. Kenvue has repeatedly said Tylenol is safe. The dividend payout is scheduled for November 26. Judge LeAnn Rafferty in the Panola County courthouse in Carthage, Texas, near the Louisiana border, is expected to hold a hearing at 9 a.m. CST (1500 GMT).…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration said Friday it will add a new warning and other limitations to a gene therapy for Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy that’s been linked to two patient deaths. The infused therapy from Sarepta Therapeutics will carry a boxed warning — the most serious type — alerting doctors and patients to the risk of potentially fatal liver failure with the treatment, the FDA said in a release. The one-time therapy, Elevidys, has been under FDA scrutiny since the company reported the first of two deaths of teenage boys in March. Following a second death reported…
By Patrick Wingrove (Reuters) -Novo Nordisk said on Monday it has begun selling its popular weight-loss drug Wegovy for $349 a month to cash payers, months ahead of the timeline set out with the Trump administration. The same cash price will apply to most doses of Novo’s diabetes drug Ozempic, the company said, except the highest 2 mg dose, which will remain $499. Novo and U.S. President Donald Trump announced a deal earlier this month to cut the prices of Wegovy and Ozempic, both known chemically as semaglutide, to $350 a month for cash payers starting in January, down from…
By Mariam Sunny and Michael Erman (Reuters) -Merck said on Monday it expects a commercial opportunity exceeding $5 billion from Cidara Therapeutics’ experimental flu drug, and does not anticipate it to require a review by the U.S. CDC’s vaccine advisory panel before launch. The U.S. drugmaker announced a nearly $9.2 billion deal last week to acquire Cidara, aiming to gain access to its long-acting antiviral, CD388, currently in late-stage trial. CD388 is not a vaccine and is designed to be effective regardless of a person’s immune status and could offer single-dose, universal protection against all flu strains. Vaccine policy in…
By Ludwig Burger FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Roche’s (ROG.SW) experimental oral drug giredestrant has been shown to cut the risk of recurrence of a common form of breast cancer after surgery, boosting the company’s shares and underpinning its traditional credentials in oncology. The Swiss drugmaker said on Tuesday that a scheduled interim analysis of a late-stage trial showed the experimental pill resulted in a clinically meaningful improvement in keeping patients disease-free after surgery compared with standard endocrine therapy. More details are to be published at a medical conference to be announced as Roche works towards regulatory approval, the company added. The prospect…
(Reuters) -Moderna said on Wednesday it would now operate full end-to-end manufacturing for its mRNA medicines in the U.S., marking a major step in strengthening the company’s domestic production network. The Cambridge-based company plans to invest more than $140 million to add the final manufacturing step to its existing facility in Massachusetts. The move will support both commercial and clinical supply as the company seeks to reduce reliance on contract manufacturers. Construction has begun at the Moderna Technology Center in Norwood, with the company targeting completion by the first half of 2027. The expansion is expected to create hundreds of…