Roche, Ionis focusing on eye disease through new deal

On the heels of their Huntington's disease collaboration, the companies are teaming up again — this time on a therapy targeting the immune system.

By Jacob Bell • Oct. 10, 2018

Lonza boosts ADC manufacturing with new investment

Antibody-drug conjugates have occupied a corner of the biologic market for years. Lonza, though, is betting on faster growth.

By Suzanne Elvidge • Oct. 10, 2018

Novo stands up stem cell manufacturing site in California

Licensed from Asterias, the plant will supply stem cell-based therapies for clinical research by the Danish drugmaker.

By Suzanne Elvidge • Oct. 4, 2018

J&J bets billions on RNA interference

A deal with Arrowhead potentially worth $3.75 billion gives J&J access to an investigational hepatitis B treatment and up to three more RNAi therapeutics.

By Jacob Bell • Oct. 4, 2018

Novartis, GSK ink deals with Boston biotech

The two deals more than double the size of Boston Pharmaceuticals' drug pipeline to 15 candidates.

By Andrew Dunn • Oct. 3, 2018

Aduro loses valuable partner as J&J exits licensing deals

By terminating a trio of licensing deals focused on cancer vaccines, J&J puts pressure on Aduro to succeed in its other big pharma partnerships.

By Jacob Bell • Oct. 2, 2018

Akorn falls after judge rules Fresenius can exit takeover

Shares of the would-be takeover target were down more than 50% as Judge Travis Laster ruled that "[a]ny second thoughts that Fresenius had about the Merger Agreement were justified by unexpected events at Akorn."

By Jacob Bell • Oct. 1, 2018

Roche jumps on Tregs trend with a potential $750M deal

The Swiss pharma believes a preclinical therapy from Tusk Therapeutics to be "the most advanced asset to test" the regulatory T cell​ hypothesis.

By Andrew Dunn • Sept. 28, 2018

Novartis taps Cellular Biomedicines to supply Kymriah in China

The biotech will be in charge of manufacturing the CAR-T therapy, while Novartis helms distribution, regulatory and marketing efforts in China.

By Jacob Bell • Sept. 27, 2018

J&J gives up on Geron's cancer drug

Geron, which saw shares fall 70% by market's open Thursday, said it will power on with imetelstat's development, with a Phase 3 testing planned for mid-2019.

By Andrew Dunn • Sept. 27, 2018

Aetna sells Medicare Part D business to WellCare subsidiary

The deal is meant to grease the wheels for approval of the payer's pending $69 billion acquisition by CVS.

By Samantha Liss • Sept. 27, 2018

New York regulator warns CVS-Aetna merger could raise prices

The state's top financial watchdog said the pharmacy chain's PBM would have an incentive to give the largest drug discounts to Aetna members.

By Samantha Liss • Sept. 26, 2018

Alexion to buy Syntimmune in potential $1.2B deal

The biotech will spend $400 million upfront to expand its pipeline with a rare disease drug candidate currently in Phase 1b/2a testing.

By Andrew Dunn • Sept. 26, 2018

Narcan developer secures grant for counter to opioid weaponization

BARDA is concerned that repeat doses of naloxone would not be available in a large-scale terrorist attack involving weaponized opioids. So it's tapped Opiant to develop a long-acting opioid overdose agent. 

By Suzanne Elvidge • Sept. 21, 2018

Amicus expands into gene therapy with $100M deal

Acquiring Celenex, a spinout from Nationwide's Children Hospital, will give the rare disease biotech a slate of 10 mostly preclinical gene therapy candidates.

By Ned Pagliarulo • Sept. 20, 2018

Why payers are gobbling up PBMs

On Monday the Justice Department gave its blessing to a $67 billion acquisition of Express Scripts by Cigna.

By Samantha Liss • Sept. 18, 2018

Allergan's Bonti buy part of plan to double medical aesthetics business

Seeing a growing opportunity, Allergan is expanding its pipeline at the same time as it ups spending on DTC marketing for products like Botox.

By Ned Pagliarulo • Sept. 14, 2018

Boehringer bets on oncolytic viruses in ViraTherapeutics deal

The German pharma paid $245 million to acquire the Austrian biotech, ​boosting a partnership the two companies inked in 2016.

By Ned Pagliarulo • Sept. 13, 2018

As EpiPen struggles, Walgreens, Kaleo ink Auvi-Q partnership

Auvi-Q will now be offered at Walgreens' roughly 9,800 locations at no cost for commercially insured patients eligible for Kaleo's patient support programs.

By Jacob Bell • Sept. 7, 2018

Health systems roll out generic manufacturing company to meet hospital needs

Catholic Health Initiatives, HCA and Mayo Clinic are just a few of the groups aiming to lower costs and increase access to generics through the newly-named Civica Rx.

By Jacob Bell • Sept. 6, 2018

Novartis slims down Sandoz, selling 2 units to Aurobindo for $1B

Roughly 300 products from Sandoz's oral solids and dermatology businesses will transfer to the Indian drugmaker.

By Andrew Dunn • Sept. 6, 2018

Mannkind stays afloat with United licensing deal

The struggling insulin drugmaker picks up $45 million through the deal, which should help stave off concerns about its ability to continue operations. 

By Ned Pagliarulo • Sept. 4, 2018

BioPharma Dive's 10 hottest stories of the summer

Readers were drawn to news from big pharmas, like Pfizer and Roche, as well as a landmark biotech approval and new drug launches. 

By Jacob Bell • Sept. 4, 2018

Emergent BioSolutions snaps up Narcan maker in $735M deal

Stepping into the opioid reversal market, Emergent will add an already-approved nasal naloxone to diversify its infectious disease-focused pipeline.

By Suzanne Elvidge • Aug. 29, 2018

Cigna, Express Scripts shareholders greenlight deal

About 90% of Cigna votes were cast in favor of the acquisition, yet the $67 billion deal is still subject to a number of regulatory approvals.

By Tony Abraham • Updated Aug. 27, 2018