Recon: Cigna to Buy Express Scripts for More Than $50B

• Cigna to Buy Express Scripts as Health Shakeout Speeds Up (Bloomberg) (NYT) (CNBC) (Forbes)
• Gottlieb and Marks: Balancing Safety and Innovation for Cell-Based Regenerative Medicine (NEJM)
• FDA OKs First Tests to Detect Tickborne Parasite in Whole Blood and Plasma (Medscape) (Fierce)
• U.S. judge says opioid settlement roadblocks may prompt trials (Reuters) (WSJ)
• FDA received 12k MDRs for Bayer’s Essure contraceptive in 2017 (MassDevice) (FDA) (Reuters) (Fierce) (Medscape)
• FDA Puts Drug Supply Chain on Notice (WSJ) (Reuters) (Focus) (Bloomberg) (The Hill)
• Roche names Pao as Swiss R&D head after Reed exits (Reuters) (Fierce) (Endpoints News)
• Pfizer breaks off a 5-year, $635M collaboration deal with CytomX, with nothing to show for it (Endpoints News) (Fierce)
• Inside a tiny Cambridge biotech’s plot to make cancer self-destruct (Boston Business Journal) (Endpoints News) (Fierce)
• Prevail Gets $75M For Parkinson’s Gene Therapy, Bolstering NY Biotech (Xconomy) (Fierce) 

• European Health Community issues key questions Article 50 negotiations must answer for patients and public health (Medicines for Europe)
• Donald Tusk rejects Theresa May’s Brexit vision (Politico) (Focus) (Financial Times)
• UK launch for Europe’s first Herceptin biosimilar (PharmaTimes) (The Center for Biosimilars) (The Pharma Letter)
• Sanofi taps Evotec for new anti-infectives drive (PMLiVE) (Reuters) (Fierce)
• Minister of Health inaugurate NAFDAC governing council (NAFDAC)
• MHLW Proposes Working Group Discussions before Another Round of CEA Analyses for 7 Products: Chuikyo (Pharma Japan-$)
• Sanofi may seek U.S. approval for Dengvaxia despite Philippines outrage (Reuters) (Fierce)

• Doubling down on the Keytruda franchise, Merck pays $300M and promises $5B-plus to partner with Eisai on its budding cancer star (Endpoints News) (Reuters) (The Japan Times)
• FDA Says No 180-Day Exclusivity Forfeiture for Generic LIALDA Based on Changed Bioequivalence Recommendations (FDA Law Blog)
• UnitedHealthcare’s Point-of-Sale Rebate Announcement: What’s Next? (Drug Channels)
• Challenges to Botox threaten a market makeover (Financial Times)
• Lawmakers file a bill to block maneuvers like Allergan’s patent deal with Mohawks (Stat News-$)
• Pharma to get another bite at the donut hole  (BioCentury)
• Bye-bye, solo Express Scripts: What does the Cigna buyout mean for pharma? (Fierce)
• Of ‘miracles’ and money: why hemophilia drugs are so expensive (Stat News)

• Failure in pivotal PhIII brain cancer trial drags Israel’s VBL Therapeutics down (Endpoints News) (Fierce) (BioPharma Dive)
• Merck KGaA's BTK drug hits in Phase 2 MS study (BioPharma Dive) (Fierce) (Press) (Reuters)
• Getting clinical trials up and running is taking longer than ever (Stat News-$)
• A CRISPR path to drug discovery (Nature)
• Vinay Prasad on the NCCN’s cancer treatment guidelines: The US system needs an audit (BMJ)
• It’s taking longer than before to get a drug trial underway, Tufts study concludes (Boston Globe)
• Antiviral drug not beneficial for reducing mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B when added to existing preventatives (NIH)
• U.S. teens still denied morning-after pill (Reuters)
• T2 Biosystems lands $2m grant for ‘superbug’ test (MassDevice)
• InVivo wins FDA nod for new pivotal trial of its neuro-spinal scaffold (MassDevice)
• Controversial study challenges scientific consensus that adult brains make new neurons (Stat News)

• Customizing the Sharing of Health Data (Medium)
• Heart pump maker Abiomed settles U.S. kickback probe for $3.1m (Reuters) (MassDevice)
• Philips and Samsung team up to expand the connected health ecosystem (Press)
• Helix to grow DNA test ‘app store’ on first close of planned $200M series B (Fierce) (Stat News-$)
• Panther Orthopedics wins FDA nod for Puma flexible fixation device (MassDevice) (Press)
• Canon Medical acquires Dutch medtech dev Fysicon (MassDevice)
• Calif. Court Restores Patient’s $4.5M Win In Hip Defect Suit (Law360-$)
• A Brief Introduction to Medical Device Biocompatibility (MD+DI)
• FMI Instrumed installs fifth metal Additive Manufacturing system for medical device production (Metal Additive Manufacturing magazine)
• Premier Biotech’s Oral Fluid Drug Testing Device Granted FDA Clearance (Press)

• How CMS plans to 're-examine' its relationship with insurers to drive patient-centric data sharing (Fierce) (Healthcare Informatics)
• Survey Snapshot: Integrated Care Makes Sense — but Barriers Remain (NEJM)
• Value-Based Transformation of America’s Healthcare System (HHS)
• FDA did not issue new statement on vaccines and autism (Star Tribune)
• CVS Prices $40B Bond Sale To Help Fund Aetna Acquisition (Law360-$)
• Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting; Establishment of a Public Docket; Request for Comments; Correction (FDA)

• FDA Advisory Committee Calendar

• Brexit risks delaying cancer treatment and putting 'patients at risk' (Business Insider)
• What is in the EU's Brexit guidelines document? (The Guardian)
• ABPI launches lesson plan to encourage more girls into a career in STEM (ABPI)
• Government position on UK participation in Horizon 2020 (Medical Research Council)
• Delcath inks supply deal with Tillomed Laboratories in Europe (Drug Delivery Business News)
• Ton de Boer: The proper assessment of medicines requires research into the regulatory system (Medicines Evaluation Board)
• Adam Cohen: high time that regulatory authorities adopted a more assertive position (Medicines Evaluation Board)

• Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership May Differ Significantly from TPP (Patent Law Weblog)
• Bi Jingquan, the Minister of CFDA Meets the Chief Executive of the Macao SAR, Mr Chui Sai On (CFDA)
• JP drafts for public comments, March 1 - May 31, 2018 (PMDA)
• Vectorious closes B round, setting stage for trials of heart-monitoring implant (Globes) (Fierce)
• JW Therapeutics, a China CAR-T biotech formed by Juno and WuXi, gains $90M series A (Fierce)

• NPPA analysis shows inflated MRP on syringes, needles (Times of India)
• Dubai venture firm targets India’s health and education sectors (Arab News)
• New Government Report Affirms India’s Patient-First Commitment on Pharma Patents (The Wire)

• Fourth person dies in Australia from contaminated rockmelon (Asia One)
• Alone at health clinic, Australian treats self for heart attack (Medical Xpress)
• Elto Pharma Receives Notice of Allowance in Australia for Patent Covering Eltoprazine in the Treatment of Parkinson's Levodopa-induced Dyskinesia (Press)

• Why Some Canadian Doctors Are Trying to Get Paid Less, Not More (Fortune)
• Seized health products in Vancouver may pose serious risks: Health Canada (News 1130)
• Why do health-care ‘reforms’ always cut the patient stuff, not the wasteful stuff? (Financial Post)
• Eyenuk, Inc. Receives Health Canada Approval for EyeArt, an AI-enabled Cloud-based Automated Diabetic Retinopathy Screening Software (Press)
• Veritas Pharma Signs Letter of Intent with 3 Carbon Extractions Inc. (Press)

• Drinking problems tied to higher risk of early dementia (Reuters)
• A doctor without health insurance? What could go wrong? (Stat News)