Recon: Merck pushes DC federal court for swift IRA decision; GoodRx unveils discount for Boehringer’s Humira biosimilar

• Q&A: The new CEO of biotech’s top trade group on China, vaccines, and Trump (STAT)
• Ardelyx sues US health department over kidney disease drug (Reuters)
• IRBs fail to assess trials’ scientific merit, putting participants at risk (STAT)
• FDA thwarts Agenus' accelerated approval plans for CTLA-4/PD-1 combo in 'disappointing' move (Endpoints)
• US FDA declines to approve Orexo's opioid overdose drug (Reuters)
• Merck asks DC federal court for IRA decision 'as soon as practicable' (Endpoints)
• Boehringer-GoodRx partner to offer Humira rival at 92% discount (Reuters) (Endpoints)
• Argenx posts J&J-rivaling Sjögren's data, massively upscales Vyvgart patient population at R&D day (Fierce Pharma)
• Umpteenth time’s a charm? Lawmakers try to block DTC drug ad tax deductions yet again (Fierce Pharma)

• Sanofi seeks deeper roots in India with €400M hub expansion (Endpoints)
• Novartis lifts profit forecast for second time on Cosentyx, Entresto (Reuters)
• AstraZeneca skewered by marketing watchdog over repeat offense (Fierce Pharma)
• Danaher setting up labs to support companion diagnostic development (MedTech Dive)
• EU Confidence In China Market Still On Downward Trend (MedTech Insight)
• China suspends imports of Daewoong Bio's antibiotic over law violation (Reuters)

• Roche looks to have a competitive GLP-1 drug (STAT)
• J&J beats Wall St estimates on strong drug sales ahead of Stelara competition (Reuters)
• Gilead’s chief medical officer to leave as R&D efforts stall (STAT)
• Startup Q Bio raises $27 million to build its own full-body scanner (STAT)
• KRAS cancer drug eased symptoms of rare and serious blood vessel condition in two patients, new study shows (Endpoints)
• Novartis settles in to new normal two years after big reorg, even as fine-tuning continues (Endpoints)
• J&J ditches epilepsy collaboration with Addex, blindsiding 20-year partner (Endpoints)
• Phathom wins label expansion on heartburn drug to include non-erosive patients (Endpoints)
• Roche touts Phase 3 Susvimo data in diabetes-related ophthalmic diseases (Endpoints)
• Exclusive: TMRW Life Sciences raises $28M Series D to upgrade storage for egg freezing (Endpoints)
• Caribou to slash preclinical allogeneic CAR-NK work, lay off 12% of staff (Endpoints)
• Thyme Care scores $480M valuation in new funding round (Endpoints)
• Grünenthal designates $87M to update plants in Ecuador and Chile (Fierce Pharma)
• Novo Nordisk explores a family tree to explain genetic roots of obesity in new social media clip (Fierce Pharma)
• American Clinical Research Services rebrands as Elixia following acquisition (Fierce Pharma)

• Abbott raises profit forecast on strong medical device sales (Reuters)
• Broad Institute, facing end of Microsoft cloud contract, shuffles data science leadership (STAT)
• Real-time vital signs data: a hidden source of value in medical AI (STAT)
• American Lung Association plans to ‘BEAT’ lung cancer with biomarker test-boosting campaign (Fierce Pharma)
• J&J medtech fails to meet growth expectations (MedTech Dive)
• Quest closing Pennsylvania lab, laying off 121 people (MedTech Dive)
• DeepWell DTx Brings Mental Health To Meta Store (MedTech Insight)

• Vaccination slashes risk of long Covid, says large study tracing cases through Delta and Omicron variants (STAT)
• PhRMA doubles down on pricing attack, targeting shared ownership of insurers and PBMs in new ad (Fierce Pharma)