Top Story

Morning Read: Your Trans-Pacific Partnership roundup (and what comes next)

Learn about the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the latest FDA approvals.

TOP STORIES

Another bad-news day for Big Pharma. The Trans-Pacific Partnership will cut monopoly rights on biologics from 12 years (in the United States) to eight. But there’s more – and here’s your fill.

  • Bipartisan opposition is immediate – expect dealmaking. – The New York Times
  • PhRMA: Disappointed. – PhRMA
  • BIO: Very disappointed. – Business Wire
  • What could make or break this deal: “much – but not all – of congressional support for expanding Asian trade depends on the importance of those exports to state’s economies.” – CNBC
  • Not everyone thinks pharma is losing because of this pact. – Al Jazaeera
  • Australia’s drug industry: not a problem – Sydney Morning Herald
  • Presidential candidates’ takes on the TPP. – Las Vegas Review Journal

LIFE SCIENCES

Teleos Therapeutics co-founder Adam Rosenberg is the new CEO of Rodin Therapeutics. – Business Wire

Good news for Valeant: it’s cleared the anti-trust exemption to buy Blue Subsidiary Corp. – PR Newswire

Bristol Myers-Squibb will pay $14.2 million for making illegal payments in China. – Pharmalot

The FDA has approved Alkermes’ injectable schizophrenia treatment. – Boston Business Journal

The FDA has approved Dako’s new cell cancer diagnostic, which shows whether a patient with advanced non-small cell lung cancer is likely to respond to a new form of treatment. – Medical Device Network

The assay can reveal whether a patient with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is likely to respond to a new form of treatment.

QuantRx Biomedical will acquire Global Cancer Diagnostics, which produces a blood test for lung cancer. – Phoenix Business Journal

Arena Pharmaceuticals’ longtime president and CEO Jack Lief is out “at the request of the company’s board.” – Xconomy

PAYERS-PROVIDERS

California OKs assisted suicide. Just a reminder: opponents will watch health insurance companies like hawks.

Opponents also said the bill would invite insurance companies to take advantage of poor patients by offering to pay for the cost of life-ending drugs but not for the expensive treatments that could save lives.

“There is a deadly mix when you combine our broken healthcare system with assisted suicide, which immediately becomes the cheapest treatment,” said Marilyn Golden, a senior policy analyst at the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund in Berkeley. “The so-called protections written into the bill really amount to very little.”

Reuters

TECHNOLOGY

Telemedicine as the healthcare construction bogeyman. – Indianapolis Business Journal

Home telehealth startup MedZed has raised $3.2 million. Expect to see the service in California by year’s end. – MobiHealthNews

POLITICS

Americans are concerned about drug costs, not ObamaCare. – The Hill

A LITTLE BIT EXTRA

Great tips here for any healthcare conference road warrior: “When Someone Gloms On to You at a Conference” – Harvard Business Review

Photo: Getty

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