Recon: CVS Tool to Combat Drug Prices, Alexion Inks $855M Deal to Buy Wilson

• CVS To Compare Drug Prices At The Pharmacy Counter (Forbes) (CNBC) (The Washington Post)
• Pfizer's Inlyta misses mark in Phase 3 kidney cancer study (BioPharma Dive) (PMLiVE) (Fierce)
• Cellectis raises $164M for CAR-T and gene-editing programs (Fierce) (Endpoints)
• Novartis’ Afinitor Disperz wins new TSC-related approval (PharmaTimes) (The Pharma Letter)
• U.S. FDA approves AI device to detect diabetic eye disease (Reuters) (MD Magazine) (FDA)
• Amgen will build $160 million manufacturing plant in Rhode Island (The Boston Globe) (Fierce) (Reuters) (Endpoints) (The Pharma Letter)
• Roche halts enrollment in a PhII combo study of Tecentriq and Cotellic in wake of several patient deaths (Endpoints) (Fierce)
• SEC proposes civil charges against Clovis over handling of ditched lung cancer drug (Fierce) (Endpoints)
• Livongo Health rides wave of digital health funding, raises $105 million (Modern Healthcare) (Forbes) (MobiHealthNews) (GeekWire)
• Theranos Lays Off Most of Its Remaining Workforce (WSJ) (Fortune)
• New GSK shingles vaccine off to strong start in key U.S. market (Reuters) (Fierce)
• FDA OKs First Transitional Contacts That Darken in Sunlight (Medscape) (Pharmacy Times) (FDA)

• Alexion to buy Wilson for $855m (PharmaTimes) (Fierce) (pharmaphorum) (Reuters)
• EU regulators expand reach of Sobi’s Kineret (PharmaTimes) (The Pharma Letter)
• Mylan bags rights to commercialize Humira biosimilar in Europe (The Pharma Letter) (The Center for Biosimilars) (BioPharma-Repoter) (India Today)
• Redistribution of UK’s portfolio of centrally authorised products (EMA)
• Mexican Regulators Overhaul Medical Device, IVD Classification Rules (Emergo Group)
• Pharma associations from India, America and Japan seek amendment to Sec 146 of Patents Act for working of patents (Pharmabiz)
• Australia and New Zealand at healthcare cutting edge (Financial Times)

• Biotech M&A is ripping along now as IPOs surge and venture cash flows. Who’s the next big target? (Endpoints)
• Senator says pharma should've cut prices with tax savings, but many companies went the other way (Fierce)
• Insurers look to pass drug price breaks straight to consumer (STAT)
• Another venture funding surge sets up a strong 2018 (EP Vantage)
• 'Pharma bro' fraudster Martin Shkreli ordered to pay $388,000 in restitution to swindled investor (CNBC)
• Biogen and the badly needed gene therapy acquisition that got away (STAT-$)
• Drug company payments appear to influence oncologists’ prescribing habits (STAT-$)
• Drugmakers Assail FDA For Nixing Generic Laxative Approval (Law360-$)
• JDRF, ADA and Helmsley Charitable Trust Issue Request for Proposals to Research Consistency and Potency of Insulin Purchased in U.S. Pharmacies (JDRF)
• Future of Injectables Could Be Needle-Free Delivery Systems (Pharmacy Times)
• Dyve Biosciences Launches with Groundbreaking Therapeutic Dermal Delivery Technology (Press)

• Kadmon gets FDA go-ahead for ROCK2 inhibitor study (BioPharma Dive)
• Arrowhead RNAi drug clears hepatitis B antigen in clinic (Fierce)
• 6-month liver disease data reinforces CymaBay's phase 3 move (Fierce)
• Molecular Partners gets AZ support for lung cancer trial (Fierce)
• BiondVax, NIAID kick off phase 2 universal flu vaccine study in U.S. (Fierce)
• Researchers Just Proposed a Radical New Way of Defining Alzheimer's. Could It Lead to Better Drugs? (Fortune)
• Just How Smart Is Smart Medicine? MIT Scientists Are About To Find Out (Forbes)
• Veracyte, Loxo Oncology Partner on Drug Development Research (GenomeWeb) (Press)
• Nektar Announces Dosing of First Patient in Phase 1/2 Clinical Study to Evaluate Combination of TLR Agonist NKTR-262 with CD122-Biased Agonist NKTR-214 in Patients with Advanced Solid Tumors (Press)
• CymaBay Announces Positive New 12-Week and 26-Week Results from its Ongoing Phase 2 Study of Seladelpar in Patients with Primary Biliary Cholangitis at The International Liver Congress 2018 (Press)
• Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Presents ARC-520 Clinical Data at The International Liver Congress (Press)
• Zealand and Roche Diabetes Care enter Phase 3 study collaboration for treatment of congenital hyperinsulinism with dasiglucagon (Press)

• Abbott launches study comparing OCT to angiography in stent placement procedures (MassDevice) (Press)
• Altaris Capital shells out $1.1B for health imaging maker Analogic (Fierce)
• Soterix touts transcranial stim depression trial results (MassDevice)
• Oracle launches cloud-based mHealth clinical trial data collection system (MassDevice)
• Medical Device Startup Confirms B2B Sales Strategies (Forbes)
• Opternative to launch white-labeled online eye exam for providers (MobiHealthNews)
• New device would allow blood-free monitoring of blood sugar levels (Reuters)
• UPDATE: Use of Custom Ultrasonics’ System 83 Plus Automated Endoscope Reprocessors (AERs) for Reprocessing of Certain Duodenoscopes: FDA Safety Communication (FDA)
• Guardian Connect System – P160007 (FDA)
• TransMedics, Inc. TransMedics OCS Lung System – P160013 (FDA)
• HeartSine samaritan SAM 350P, SAM 360P, and SAM 450P PADs and Accessories – P160008 (FDA)
• LENSAR Laser System Receives FDA Clearance to Perform Corneal Pockets and Flaps for Corneal Inlay Procedures (Press)
• TearLab Provides Update on 510(k) Filing for U.S. FDA Clearance of TearLab Discovery Platform (Press)

• NIH director: Agency is looking at alcohol industry influence ‘in a very aggressive way’ (STAT)
• CDC Probes Mysterious E. Coli Outbreak in 7 States; New Jersey Has Most Cases (NBC) (FDA)
• Pay gaps persist for female and African American physicians in US (Reuters)
• U.S. death rates falling, but health gains bypassing some states (Reuters)
• Bill Gurley, who invested in Uber and other tech giants, sees opportunities to fix health care's broken business model (CNBC)
• Congress isn't doing enough on opioid treatment, experts say (Axios)
• Former Surgeon Charged With Impersonating Doctor (Law360-$)
• More lawmakers question FDA over probe into Floridians importing medicines (STAT-$)
• Humana Buys More Doctor Practices Amid Walmart Speculation (Forbes)
• Will Theranos Survive The Summer? (Forbes)
• House Democrat wants to know why a pharma insider is overseeing Trump’s drug pricing reform (Vox)
• FDA Cracks Down on Online Vision Screening Service (Pharmacy Times)
• FDA Commissioner Gottlieb Emerges as a Champion for Patient Engagement in 2018; Patient-Centric Guidance Development, Rare Disease Listening Sessions, and the Benefit-Risk Framework (FDA Law Blog)

• FDA Advisory Committee Calendar

• Diazepam diversion falls 64% as MHRA's POM investigation continues (C+D)
• Alexion turns to Europe for its next rare disease bet (EP Vantage)
• NICE no for Roche’s Alecensa (PharmaTimes)
• Verona CMO to resign (The Pharma Letter)
• Grifols in 7.5 million euros HIV research agreement (The Pharma Letter-$)
• JenaValve Technology Continues CE Mark Study Treating Severe Aortic Stenosis with Next-Generation System; Patient Enrollment and Successful Implantations with the Everdur Pericardial Aortic Valve and Coronatix Delivery Catheter (Press)

• IHH to counter TPG-Manipal's bid for Fortis (Economic Times)
• Mitsubishi Tanabe takes Korean company to court as licensing deal turns sour (The Pharma Letter-$)
• Obesity among Asia-Pacific children a growing health crisis (Japan Today)

• Milan Paleja to head Novartis India's pharmaceuticals business (Economic Times)
• Pharma, IT sectors will face biggest risk from US protectionist moves: Nomura (The Hindu Business Line)

• Life insurer AIA Australia wants action big and small on mental health (Financial Review)
• Pharmaceutical Society of Australia launches new guidelines for My Health Record system (OpenGov)
• New hospital blamed for sick bottom line (The Australian)
• Public submissions on scheduling matters referred to the ACMS #22, ACCS #21 and Joint ACMS-ACCS #17 meetings held in November 2017 (TGA)

• Ontario Partners with Baylis Medical to Support Over 570 Jobs in Mississauga (Ministry of Economic Development and Growth)
• Product Monograph Brand Safety Updates (Health Canada)

• We need social workers — not Facebook — to better understand our patients' health (CNBC)
• Fitbit, UnitedHealth, Empatica heads discuss data privacy challenges for wearables (MobiHealthNews)
• Costs of 'informal' caregiving for heart disease to reach $128 billion by 2035 (Reuters)
• PODCAST: 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki Is Upending The Consumer Health Game (Forbes)
• Innovative ways to pay for new antibiotics will help fight superbugs (STAT)
• What Facebook’s public scrutiny can teach us about artificial intelligence in health care (STAT)