Recon: Lilly to Acquire Dermira for $1.1B; Idorsia, Neurocrine Pair for $400M Epilepsy Drug Deal

• Lilly to acquire Dermira for $1.1 billion, adding eczema drug to its pipeline (STAT) (Endpoints)
• Blackstone raises three-quarters of targeted $4.6 billion life sciences fund (Reuters) (Endpoints)
• BMS confident of approvals linked to higher Celgene investor payout: Bristol executive (Reuters)
• FDA approves Blueprint's stomach cancer therapy priced at $32,000 per month (Reuters) (STAT) (Endpoints) (FDA)
• That company suing Patrick Soon-Shiong for $1B? Someone's trying to buy it for $1B (Endpoints) (Press)
• Drug Price Requirement for TV Ads Gets Day Before Appeals Court (Bloomberg)
• Startup Aligos Grabs $125 Million for Drugs to Combat Hepatitis B (WSJ PRO-$)
• Pfizer signs $507m cancer deal with Effector Therapeutics (PMLive) (Press)
• Top 5 Drug And Medical Device Developments Of 2019 (Law360-$)
• 5 trends to watch at the FDA in 2020 (BioPharmaDive)
• 5 biotech trends to follow in 2020 (BioPharmaDive)

• Idorsia pairs with Neurocrine in potential $400 million epilepsy drug deal (Reuters)
• EU Clears $63B AbbVie-Allergan Deal With Drug Sale (Law360-$)
• EMA Recommends Fewer New and Orphan Drugs in 2019 (Focus)
• 23andMe Licenses Its Own Drug Compound to Spanish Firm Almirall (Bloomberg)
• MedTech Europe pushes urgent action to keep devices on sale after MDR (MedtechDive)
• Bayer and Exscientia to work together on AI in cardiovascular and oncology drug discovery (Pharmafile)
• Sanofi secures expanded European approval for Toujeo in type 1 diabetes (Pharmafile)
• UK Industry Gears Up For Tough Post-Brexit Talks With EU (Pink Sheet-$)
• Engage Early With Regulators On Complex Trial Designs, Sponsors Told (Pink Sheet-$)

• Revamping OND: Drugmakers Offer Suggestions (Focus)
• A Decade Of Novel CDER Approvals, By The Numbers (Pink Sheet-$)
• US FDA’s Breakneck Approval Pace Clashes With Advisory Committee Mandate (Pink Sheet-$)
• What are biopharma companies hiring CROs for these days? PPD spells it out in bid for $100M IPO (Endpoints)
• Combining Multiple Antibiotics May Make Bacteria More Likely to Develop Resistance (Scientific American)
• Should access to life-saving medicines be determined by economic evaluations? (The Hill)
• Generation Bio grabs a $110M round to ramp up work on next-gen gene therapies (Fierce) (Endpoints)
• Merck-partnered biotech hands Roche its half-life extension tech as it pivots to immuno-oncology (Endpoints)
• Welcome to the bioengineering culture clash (STAT)
• Moderna, though early in development, prepares its vaccine for market (BioPharmaDive) (Endpoints)
• Biogen Teams Up With Startup CAMP4 to Scout for New Neuro Drugs (Xconomy) (Endpoints)
• DTx Pharma Raises $10.6M to Advance New Way to Deliver RNA Drugs (Xconomy)
• HP&M Releases 2019 Enforcement Briefing (FDA Law Blog)
• PhRMA Starts New Year With Familiar Drug Pricing Proposals Targeting The Supply Chain (Pink Sheet-$)
• Lilly, Strateos open remote-controlled robotic research lab in San Diego (BioPharmaDive)
• New Report Demonstrates Potential for Cell and Gene Therapies to Provide Cost Savings (Alliance for Regenerative Medicine)
• Eli Lilly vet jumps aboard Polaris Partners; Mirati shakes up its leadership team with new hires and promotions (Endpoints)
• Ultragenyx shares jump on 'better than expected' gene therapy data (Fierce) (Press)
• Nektar Therapeutics and Bristol-Myers Squibb Amend Strategic Collaboration Agreement for bempegaldesleukin Plus Opdivo (nivolumab) (Press)
• STUNG: Aduro CEO Stephen Isaacs reaches for the budget ax — again — on the heels of their latest setback with Novartis (Endpoints) (Fierce)
• What’s Missing From Biotech Graduate Education? With Free Course, RA Capital Attempts to Fill the Gaps (Harvard Bill of Health)

• Meissa Vaccines Receives U.S. FDA Fast Track Designation for Respiratory Syncytial Virus Vaccine, MV-012-968 (Press)
• Moderna Announces Additional Positive Phase 1 Data from Cytomegalovirus (CMV) Vaccine (mRNA-1647) and First Participant Dosed in Phase 2 Study (Press)
• Terns Pharmaceuticals Presents Results From An Ongoing Phase 1 Clinical Trial of TERN-201, a SSAO Inhibitor in Development for NASH (Press)
• Clover Biopharmaceuticals Doses First Patient in Phase I Study of SCB-313 in China for Malignant Pleural Effusions (MPE) (Press)

• CDRH Draft Guidance Offers Further Info on 510(k)s for PTA, Specialty Catheters (Focus)
• At CES, digital health gadgets gave me a detailed accounting of my flaws and failures (STAT)
• Medtronic wins CE Mark for Percept PC neurostimulator (MassDevice)
• US FDA clears NuvoAir's connected spirometer device (mobihealthnews)
• Study links paclitaxel devices to better survival in PAD, muddying debate (MedtechDive)
• JenaValve TAVR tech amid wave to get breakthrough device status from FDA (MedtechDive)
• Intuitive closes 2019 by topping Q4 expectations (MedtechDive)
• A 'Discommon' Approach to Medical Device Accessorizing (MDDI)

• Drug price outrage threatens to be liability for GOP (The Hill)
• NEJM Perspective: Congress Needs to Help FDA Combat Procedural Abuses (Focus)
• B-MS, Sanofi Claim Hawaii is Violating Their Free Speech in Plavix Suit (Focus)
• USMCA Trade Deal Could Get Senate Vote Next Week (Law360-$)
• US vaping-related deaths rise to 57, cases of illness to 2,602 (Reuters)
• Florida joins U.S. government in probing foreign ties of researchers (Science)
• Is nationwide Medicaid expansion inevitable? (Politico)
• Kansas governor, top Republican reach deal to expand Medicaid (NBC)
• Fed. Circ. Casts Doubt On Novartis MS Drug PTAB Win (Law360-$)
• Ethicon Beats Most Claims In Defective Pelvic Mesh Suit (Law360-$)
• Immunex and Samsung Bioepis Seek to Stay Etanercept Biosimilar Litigation (Big Molecule Watch)
• FDA, USDA and EPA announce joint platform to streamline information about agricultural biotechnology products (FDA)
• Facebook Is Running Anti-Vax Ads, Despite Its Ban On Vaccine Misinformation (BuzzFeed)
• Masimo claims Apple infringed 10 of its health-monitoring patents (MassDevice)
• The "Ending the Diagnostic Odyssey Act of 2019" (Patent Docs)
• Tolling Agreement’s Clear Language Saves The Day (Drug & Device Law)
• Monthly Round-Up of What to Read on Pharma Law and Policy (Harvard Bill of Health)
• Biopharma Co. Gets Nod For $4.5M Ch. 11 Sale Of Drug Rights (Law360-$)

• FDA Advisory Committee Calendar

• Denmark To Adopt QALY For Cost-Effectiveness Assessments (Pink Sheet-$)
• Belgian CDMO Ardena gets new private equity owners (BioPharmaDive)

• Pilot study of Asian genomes finds novel gene variants, highlights diversity (Reuters)
• 10 Commercial Trends To Watch In China in 2020 (Scrip-$)

• Events And Losses That Shook India Pharma In The Decade (Scrip-$)

• Therapeutic Goods Legislation Amendment (2019 Measures No.1) Regulations 2019 (TGA)
• No shortage of salbutamol asthma inhalers (TGA)

• Money-Losing Companies Mushroom Even as Stocks Hit New Highs (WSJ)
• Second U.S. Baby to Be Born From a Dead Donor’s Uterus Is Delivered (NYTimes)
• Body Temperature 2.0: Do We Need to Rethink What’s Normal? (NYTimes)
• From surgery simulators to medical mishaps in space, video game tech is helping doctors at work (Washington Post)
• When the Cobra Bites, You’ll Be Glad Someone Sequenced Its Genome (NYTimes)
• Teen Girls Don't Need Routine Pelvic Exams. Why Are Doctors Doing So Many? (NPR)
• A massive study of 200,000 veterans identifies genetic links to anxiety (CNN)