Recon: Amazon Buys Pharmacy PillPack for $1B

• Amazon Buys Online Pharmacy PillPack for $1 Billion (WSJ) (Reuters) (STAT-$) (CNBC)
• SCOTUS to Review Decision Reviving Merck Fosamax Suits (Bloomberg) (Reuters) (STAT-$)
• U.S. charges 601 people in healthcare fraud, opioid crackdown (Reuters) (STAT) (DOJ)
• Facebook, Google and other tech giants meet with federal regulators to tackle online opioid sales (CNBC) (Bloomberg)
• Touting PhIII success for arthritis drug Taltz, Eli Lilly chases rival Novartis in heated immunology race (Endpoints) (Fierce)
• Array BioPharma gets FDA nod for melanoma combo treatment (Reuters) (Fierce) (Endpoints)
• Two Boston-area biotechs focused on kidney disease, Keryx and Akebia, to merge (Boston Business Journal-$) (Fierce) (BioSpace) (Endpoints)
• Silicon Valley startup that stores DNA expands with Denver acquisition (San Francisco Chronicle) (Fierce) (GenomeWeb)
• Sanofi, Verily and Sensile to build all-in-one insulin patch pump (Fierce) (DDBN)
• ICER plans to evaluate validity of price hikes on Rx drugs (The Pharma Letter) (Fierce)
• Department of Defense funds biotech making blood platelets from stem cells (STAT-$) (Boston Business Journal-$) (BioSpace)

• Start MDR /IVDR transition planning before it’s too late! We've now assembled and updated the "best of" these resources, for those who have questions at all stages of the transition from the previous Medical Device Directive, 93/42/EEC and In-Vitro Diagnostic Directive (98/79/EC). Our free transition readiness package includes an initial review checklist, MDR technical documents requirements, regulation details, post market surveillance requirements, MedDev 2.7.1 alignment, SPR mapping and more.

• Sanofi Clinches Deal to Sell European Generics Unit to Advent (Bloomberg) (Fierce)
• Lupin-Mylan team up for biosimilar Etanercept (Economic Times) (Business Standard)
• NBE Therapeutics Closes a CHF 20 Million Financing by Novo Holdings A/S (BioSpace) (Fierce)
• EU approval for AcelRx' Dzuveo (PharmaTimes) (The Pharma Letter)
• Roche wins UK reimbursement for first-line Alecensa use (The Pharma Letter-$) (PharmaTimes)
• Takeda shareholders bin proposal from anti-Shire group; only 10 percent in favor (Reuters)
• Production of Opium-Based Drugs and Cocaine Is at an All-Time High (Fortune)
• Congo completes surveillance of Ebola contacts, finds no new cases (Reuters)

• Walgreens CEO: 'We're Not Worried' About Amazon's PillPack Deal (Forbes)
• Walgreens and CVS Shares Plunge After Amazon Announces Deal to Buy Online Pharmacy PillPack (Fortune)
• This Company Made the First FDA Approved, Marijuana Based Drug. Here's What It Wants to Do Next (Fortune)
• Rite Aid poised to sell its first cannabis-derived drug (CNN)
• Va. AG Herring sues Purdue Pharma, maker of Oxycontin, blaming it for opioid crisis (The Washington Post)
• Aging HIV Population Confronts High Drug Costs, Taxes Medicare (Bloomberg)
• As Biotech IPOs Boom Again, Here Are 5 To Watch (Forbes)
• The Biopharmaceutical Industry Provides 75% Of The FDA's Drug Review Budget -- Is This A Problem? (Forbes)
• It’s a record! Biotech IPO frenzy outpaces 2017 in half the time as 4 new arrivals on Nasdaq raise $556M (Endpoints)
• Valeant signs with WorldMeds to hawk first-ever opioid withdrawal drug Lucemyra (Fierce)
• The top 5 highest-paid women biopharma executives in 2017 (Fierce)
• Patients who have had suicidal thoughts are often excluded from antidepressant trials. The FDA says they don’t need to be (STAT)
• Mass. gets a thumbs-down on negotiating Medicaid prices, but Oklahoma wins on ‘value’ rebates (STAT)
• Deloitte Survey Finds Biopharma Companies are Accelerating Adoption of Real-World Evidence (BioSpace)
• DIA18: How much are PRVs even worth? (BioPharma Dive)
• Opioid Makers, Blamed for Overdose Epidemic, Cut Back on Marketing Payments to Doctors (ProPublica)
• Jaguar Health (NASDAQ: JAGX) Subsidiary Napo Pharmaceuticals and RedHill Biopharma Enter U.S. Co-Promotion Agreement for Mytesi, Napo's FDA-Approved Drug Product (Press)

• Newly discovered protein could boost hunt for drugs to treat sepsis and other inflammatory diseases (Fierce)
• Sarcoma expert George Demetri grades the latest statement on Nanobiotix’s late-stage drug NBTXR3 (Endpoints)
• Little Arsanis steers its only clinical-stage therapy to the scrap heap after a PhII implosion (Endpoints)
• ReWalk Announces Progress in Clinical Study of ReStore Powered Exo-Suit (Press)
• InflaRx Receives IND Approval from the FDA to Start its Phase II Clinical Trial of IFX-1 in ANCA-Associated Vasculitis (Press)
• BRACAnalysis CDx Identifies Patients Who Respond to Lynparza in SOLO-1 Study (Press)

• Consumer DNA Testing Poses Risk for Life Insurers, Moody’s Says (Bloomberg)
• Philips inks 11-year deal for patient monitoring as a service (Fierce)
• Fresca Medical lands de novo authorization for Curve positive airway pressure system (MobiHealthNews)
• Medtronic wins $472m cardio device DoD contract (MassDevice)
• Study: Leadless pacers lead to less complications (MassDevice)
• Kent Imaging inks wound care imaging deal with SerenaGroup (MassDevice)
• Medtronic Launches the MiniMed(TM) 670G System Performance Guarantee for Payers and Employers (Press)
• LabCorp and Philips collaborate on digital pathology to enhance the efficiency of pathology diagnostics (Press)

• U.S. jury orders DaVita to pay $383.5 million in wrongful death lawsuits (Reuters)
• The politics of pre-existing conditions (Axios)
• Insurance start-up launches on-demand health coverage (CNBC)
• Texas Democrat: Medicare Negotiations Will Lower Drug Prices (Bloomberg)
• Oklahoma Medicaid Policy Could Create Bigger Rx Rebates (Bloomberg)
• The Food and Drug Administration’s Comprehensive, Multi-Year Nutrition Innovation Strategy; Public Meeting; Request for Comments (FDA)

• FDA Advisory Committee Calendar

• ThromboGenics to change name (The Pharma Letter)
• EU freezing UK out of drug safety scheme after Brexit (pharmaphorum)
• NHS England expands health and care record scheme (PharmaTimes)
• Brexit is bad for Britain’s health, doctors say (The Guardian)
• Can Technology Save U.K. Perinatal Care? (Forbes)
• EMA stakeholder engagement report 2017 (EMA)
• Alexion Submits Application for Approval of ALXN1210 as a Treatment for Patients with Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria (PNH) in the European Union (EU) (Press)

• AI ambulances and robot doctors: China seeks digital salve to ease hospital strain (Reuters)
• C-Bridge hands Nuance Biotech $35M, opening doors to more China licensing deals (Endpoints)
• Weight-loss drug Saxenda creates marketing sensation in Korea (Korea Biomedical Review)
• Korean pharmaceuticals fail to invalidate Invokana patent (Korea Biomedical Review)

• Oxytocin formulations ban to come into effect from July 1 (Economic Times)
• Genomic tests for cancer split oncologists (Economic Times)

• 'Three parent baby' IVF technique on track to become legal in Australia (The Sydney Morning Herald)
• NSW Environment Minister calls on PM to ban toxic firefighting foam (The Sydney Morning Herald)
• Australia wins landmark WTO ruling on plain tobacco packaging (Reuters)
• MA welcomes medicines shortages legislation in Australia (The Pharma Letter)
• How Australia’s largest pharmacy group protects customer medical record and data (OpenGov)
• Novaliq’s NovaTears Treatment for Evaporative Dry Eye Disease is Now Available across Australia and New Zealand (Press)

• Drug Pricing in Canada • Aging and HIV • A Biotech Beats Goliath (Bloomberg)
• Google sister-company Sidewalk has a secret 'yellow book' with its plans to reinvent cities, plus possible sites beyond Toronto (CNBC)
• Drug makers in Canada disclose doctor payments as transparency debate heats up (The Globe and Mail)

• Feeling poorly? The app will see you now (Reuters)
• Health care start-up says A.I. can diagnose patients better than humans can, doctors call that 'dubious' (CNBC)
• AI can make health care smarter, more cost-effective (Politico)
• Subscribing to Your Patients — Reimagining the Future of Electronic Health Records (NEJM)