While the Biden administration continues applauding the savings it claims will be delivered by the first round of Medicare negotiations, many U.S. patients and their families are worried about the cost of the biopharma price-setting program – a cost they measure not in dollars and cents, but in worsening illness and lives that may be lost to a downturn in innovation and an upturn in barriers to access.
Johnson & Johnson aims to add a fourth cardiac business to its portfolio in less than two years with the acquisition of V-W aveLtd., which makes the Ventura interatrial shunt system for the treatment of heart failure. J&J will pay $600 million up front and an additional $1.1 billion contingent on meeting specified regulatory and commercial milestones. The deal is slated to close before the end of the year.
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) aims to add a fourth cardiac business to its portfolio in less than two years with the acquisition of V-Wave Ltd., which makes the Ventura interatrial shunt system for the treatment of heart failure. J&J will pay $600 million up front and an additional $1.1 billion contingent on meeting specified regulatory and commercial milestones. The deal is slated to close before the end of the year.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reinstated patent claims covering Allergan USA Inc.'s bowel treatment drug Viberzi (eluxadoline), reversing a lower court that had invalidated the claims for not meeting obviousness-type double patenting or written description requirements. However, the appellate court said the district court “can, and should, address any other grounds of invalidity raised … at trial that are adequately supported by the record.”
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is 6-1 so far in blocking court challenges to the Medicare price negotiation program mandated by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The department’s latest victory came July 31 when a federal district judge in New Jersey tossed a complaint filed by Novo Nordisk A/S, citing a lack of jurisdiction on the court’s part and the company’s lack of standing.
The first economic modelling of Boston Scientific Corp.’s pulsed field ablation system in U.K.’s National Health Service showed that it is more cost-effective as a treatment for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation compared to standard cryoablation.
Magenta Medical Ltd. raised $105 million in financing that will go toward clinical trials and to secure U.S FDA approval for its Elevate system, the world's smallest heart pump. The substantial investment haul was “a vote of confidence” from the investor community for what the company is doing, David Israeli, CEO of Magenta told BioWorld.
A schizophrenia drug in Cerevel Therapeutics Inc.’s lineup understandably stole much of the thunder during coverage of Abbvie Inc.’s takeover late last year to the tune of $8.7 billion, but much further back in the pipeline awaits another potentially lucrative prospect: a kappa opioid receptor antagonist (KORA) for major depressive disorder (MDD).
Having secured a 40% price cut and a commitment to not enforce a patent protecting a tuberculosis drug, South Africa’s Competition Commission decided not to prosecute a complaint accusing Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and its subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceutica (Pty) Ltd., of anticompetitive conduct.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the FDA already are getting a glimpse of the post-Chevron world and how the Supreme Court’s June 28 unwinding of the 40-year-old Chevron deference could rein in agency policies that defy Congress’ expressed intent.
