The U.S. Senate had a rare moment of agreement, overwhelmingly passing a package of opioid-related bills. Up the East Coast, life-science players in Rhode Island are working to bring different local factions together and boost the state’s economy. Across the country, a similar effort is underway in Los Angeles.
There were also plenty of headlines stemming from bad behavior, alleged or otherwise, inside Big Pharma, and the usual collection of deals, data, regulatory decisions, and fundraising. Whatever our differences across the aisle, we can all agree upon one thing: It’s roundup time.
POLICY & ECONOMY
—An hour south of Boston, Rhode Island locals want to build a thriving life sciences hub centered along the capital Providence’s riverfront. There are tensions—as well as opportunities for convergence—between various local groups. This week, we explored how limited resources and Rhode Island’s checkered economic development history add challenges to the efforts.
—Voting 99 to 1, The U.S. Senate approved a bipartisan slate of bills to address the opioid crisis. It now must be reconciled with the House version, which critics say contains a provision that could restart the so-called War on Drugs and expand the prison population.
—Los Angeles trails San Diego and the Bay Area in California life-science activity. A new initiative, BioLA, aims to boost the profile of Los Angeles County, which includes the city of L.A., Santa Monica, home of Kite Pharma, and Thousand Oaks, where BioLA partner Amgen (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMGN]]) is headquartered.
LEGAL MANEUVERS
—California sued AbbVie (NYSE: [[ticker:ABBV]]) for allegedly using kickbacks and other schemes to boost sales of best-selling anti-inflammatory medicine adalimumab (Humira). AbbVie says the allegations are “without merit.”
—Stung by bribery scandals and revelations that it hired Donald Trump’s longtime “fixer” Michael Cohen, Novartis (NYSE: [[ticker:NVS]]) said this week it would tie employee bonuses to ethical behavior.
—Clovis Oncology (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CLVS]]) and two executives will pay the SEC more than $20 million to settle charges of misleading investors with overblown claims about the effectiveness of their cancer drug rociletinib (Roci).
—Oxfam reported that several large drug makers are legally taking advantage of tax laws to shift high-profit assets and avoid billions of dollars in payments. An AbbVie spokesperson told FiercePharma the report was “misleading.”
—A second GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: [[ticker:GSK]]) scientist has pleaded guilty in a plot to steal the drug maker’s trade secrets in Pennsylvania and move them to a biotech in China.
TRIALS & APPROVALS
—A ProPublica investigation showed that African-Americans and other minorities are underrepresented in cancer clinical trials, which not only deprives them of early access to potential life-extending treatments but also weakens the underlying research.
—The FDA approved Teva Pharmaceutical (NYSE: [[ticker:TEVA]]) migraine drug fremanezumab (Ajovy), heating up competition in this new class of drugs. Teva priced its injectable drug on par with the Amgen migraine therapy that the FDA approved in May.
—Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VKTX]]) emerged in the race to treat nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. In a mid-stage study, the company’s drug VK2809 had an impact on several markers of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, a precursor to NASH, without serious side effects. Shares nearly doubled.
—Britain’s drug-pricing watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, cited cost when it rejected Novartis therapy tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah) in adults with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. As it did last month with the Gilead
