J&J to sell Lifescan, dropping out of diabetes diagnostics

The pharma giant intends to divest its Lifescan unit to a private investment firm for $2.1 billion.

By Suzanne Elvidge • March 19, 2018

Lundbeck bulks up neuro pipeline with Prexton buy

As part of the deal, Lundbeck will add a first-in-class small-molecule compound, foliglurax, to its growing CNS repertoire.

By Randi Hernandez • March 16, 2018

Prescribed Reading: Neuro's comeback tour

Activity in the neuroscience space spiked higher, with a flurry of licensing deals highlighting BioPharma Dive's prediction the field is ready for a resurgence.

By Lisa LaMotta • March 16, 2018

Biohaven bullish on CGRP market with new Bristol-Myers terms

Rather than pay excessive royalties later, Biohaven will hand over a $50 million upfront payment financed by a private placement.

By Randi Hernandez • March 13, 2018

WuXi Biologics, Adagene ally to address hard-to-manufacture antibodies

Conventional approaches to make drug product for antibody-based medicines is not always sufficient — a challenge the companies seek to address.

By Randi Hernandez • March 9, 2018

CytomX loses out on $264M as Pfizer exits deal

Years of Probody Drug Conjugate research hadn't led to any clinical-stage programs, pushing the big pharma to cut ties with CytomX.

By Jacob Bell • March 9, 2018

Prescribed Reading: Bold comments from Gottlieb, PBMs get the spotlight

Against the backdrop of Cigna's planned deal to buy Express Scripts, the FDA chief sharply criticized bad behavior from players involved in drug pricing.

By Lisa LaMotta • March 9, 2018

Sanofi taps Evotec for infectious disease discovery

The French pharma will license out 10 infectious disease assets to Evotec, transferring about 100 R&D staff to the German drug discovery company.

By Randi Hernandez • March 8, 2018

Cigna acquiring Express Scripts in $67B deal

It's the latest in vertical integration across the industry, after regulators blocked horizontal tie-ups in recent years.

By Shannon Muchmore • March 8, 2018

Gottlieb takes aim at payers, pharmas for blocking biosimilars

The FDA chief lambasted PBMs, insurers and branded drugmakers for allegedly blocking market entry of the copycat biologics.

By Lisa LaMotta , David Lim • March 8, 2018

Roivant begins latest 'Vant' with Ligand deal

New diabetes company Metavant will launch after paying $20 million upfront for a glucagon receptor agonist.

By Lisa LaMotta • March 7, 2018

Celgene shells out $101M upfront in latest deal

The big biotech inked a development deal with Vividion Therapeutics to discover small molecule drugs for a range of therapeutic areas.

By Lisa LaMotta • March 5, 2018

Prescribed Reading: Sketchy subgroup analyses, puzzling probes

Several companies used creative thinking when evaluating clinical trial results, while others played the game of excluding details when informing investors.

By Lisa LaMotta • March 2, 2018

Mylan partners with Revance to develop a Botox biosimilar

Allergan's ever-growing Botox franchise is an attractive target, yet the drug best known for erasing wrinkles has withstood competitive threats before.

By Ned Pagliarulo • March 1, 2018

Akorn tanks as puzzling probe threatens Fresenius deal

The companies are looking into allegations that Akorn breached data integrity requirements. If they prove true, Fresenius said it could pull out of the deal.

By Jacob Bell • Feb. 27, 2018

Pharma moves beyond Seres hangover in microbiome space

While there have been no major acquisitions of microbiome-focused companies, early research has attracted a wealth of big pharma dollars.

By Lisa LaMotta • Feb. 26, 2018

Prescribed Reading: Deals sputter in, warning letter frenzy

Small bolt-on deals and acquisitions keep trickling in, unloved therapeutic areas get positive data, and CDER warnings letters rise under Gottlieb. 

By Lisa LaMotta • Feb. 23, 2018

Avid tapped to produce Enzyvant's rare disease candidate

It's Avid's latest move aimed at building a presence in the CDMO space.

By Jacob Bell • Feb. 22, 2018

Gilead taps Sangamo to expand cell therapy after Kite buy

The big biotech is trying to expand its know-how and pipeline in its recently acquired area of cell therapies.

By Lisa LaMotta • Feb. 22, 2018

Biohaven teams up with Catalent on CGRP oral drug delivery

The drugmaker will use Catalent's fast-dissolving technology for rapid delivery of its migraine medication.

By Suzanne Elvidge • Feb. 22, 2018

Merck buys virus maker to flesh out I/O pipeline

Viralytics hands Merck a mid-stage oncolytic virus drug that's already being tested in combination with Keytruda.

By Jacob Bell • Feb. 21, 2018

Takeda surfs a potential $2B Wave of acquisitions

Japan's Takeda gets a boost to its neurology pipeline with the deal to commercialize nucleic acid therapies.

By Suzanne Elvidge • Feb. 21, 2018

AstraZeneca taps Ionis for second antisense drug

The British pharma has gone back to the biotech for an antisense therapy directed at kidney disease.

By Lisa LaMotta • Feb. 20, 2018

Prescribed Reading: Landscape-changing deals and Alzheimer's shake-ups

A relatively large research collaboration could change the deal landscape. Elsewhere, the Alzheimer's development picture is getting a makeover. 

By Lisa LaMotta • Feb. 16, 2018

Roche buys cancer data company Flatiron Health for $1.9B

Acquiring the tech unicorn will help Roche better use real-world evidence in the development of cancer drugs, while building its data analytics expertise. 

By Suzanne Elvidge • Feb. 16, 2018