Today, a brief rundown of news from Navigator Medicines and Merck & Co., as well as updates from Mubadala Investment Company and J&J that you may have missed.

Navigator Medicines, a recently formed biotechnology company, said Tuesday it has raised $100 million in a Series A round co-led by venture investors RA Capital Management and Forbion. The startup also announced the licensing of a bispecific antibody drug from South Korea-based IMBiologics and the appointment of Dana McClintock as chief medical officer. The in-licensed antibody targets the proteins OX40L and TNFα, which Navigator sees as a promising approach to treating autoimmune diseases. — Ned Pagliarulo

Merck & Co. has begun a second Phase 3 trial testing an experimental drug it acquired two years ago via its buyout of Imago Biosciences. Dubbed Shorespan-007, the trial will test the oral drug bomedemstat in people with essential thrombocytopenia, a rare, chronic blood disorder. Merck will test bomedemstat against hydroxyurea, the current standard of care, in some 300 patients globally. Another Phase 3 study, Shorespan-006, is already ongoing. — Ned Pagliarulo

Belgium-based drugmaker UCB is selling its neurology and allergy business in China for $680 million. The divestment includes licenses to products like Zyrtec and Neupro as well as a manufacturing site in Zhuhai, a city along China’s southern coast. The buyers are CBC Group, which claims to be Asia’s largest healthcare-dedicated asset management group, and Mubadala, a global investment company headquartered in the capital of the United Arab Emirates. According to Mubadala, last year, net sales in China for all the medicines included in the deal totaled 131 million euros, or about $146 million. — Jacob Bell

Express Scripts, the pharmacy benefits manager owned by Cigna, will exclude AbbVie's inflammatory disease drug Humira from its largest commercial formularies beginning next year. In Humira's place will be biosimilar versions of the drug from Boehringer Ingelheim, Teva Pharmaceutical, Sandoz and Quallent Pharmaceuticals. Notably, all included biosimilar versions are interchangeable, meaning a pharmacist can substitute them for the branded drug. Humira's share of the market has begun to decline more significantly as biosimilars have made inroads. — Ned Pagliarulo

Peter Fasolo, the longtime chief human resources officer at Johnson & Johnson, plans to retire from the role at the end of the year. In a statement, J&J said Fasolo had “transformed” the department’s talent and leadership strategy during his tenure. He will be succeeded by Kristen Mulholland, who’s spent much of the past two decades at J&J in various HR leadership positions. Mulholland most recently served as the HR head for the company’s “Global Total Rewards,” wherein she was responsible for compensation, benefits and health services. — Jacob Bell