TOP STORIES
Sanofi is making a play for oncology drug developer Medivation to the tune of $9.3 billion in what could be a big showdown between it and other pharma companies seeking to strengthen their oncology product pipelines. The company has one cancer drug in the market, Xtandi, which had $2 billion in sales last year. It also has two blood cancer drugs in clinical trials. — Reuters
Amidst the excitement surrounding Abbott’s splashy $25 billion acquisition deal for St. Jude Medical, another Abbott deal made news. Alere claims it rejected Abbott’s offer of up to $50 million to scrap its $5.8 billion agreement to acquire the diagnostic test developer. Why would Abbott get cold feet? In March, the U.S. Justice Department subpoenaed Alere over sales practices in Africa, Asia and Latin America. A statement from Alere refers to “serious concerns” Abbott expressed surrounding the accuracy of financial information provided by Alere. But both companies are apparently continuing to work towards closing the deal. — Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal
LIFE SCIENCES
Quest Diagnostics received emergency authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to sell the first commercially developed diagnostic test for the Zika Virus in the U.S.. — Reuters
Medical device company Pavmed raised $5.3 million in an IPO. The company’s developing five medical devices from disposable tissue ablation devices to a self anchoring, short-term catheter. — Mass Device
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
In DexCom’s first quarter earnings call, CEO Kevin Sayer said its continuing to work through the Class 1 recall of speakers for several of its continuous glucose monitors. It submitted a filing for a replacement speaker and tweaks to its manufacturing process with the FDA. Revenue for the first quarter rocketed 60 percent to $116.2 million compared with the same period last year but it also recorded a net loss of $19.2 million. — Fierce Medical Devices, The Motley Fool
Color Genomics said it will expand its genetic tests beyond breast and ovarian cancer genes to a total of 30, spanning tests related to pancreatic, stomach, colon, and prostate cancer. — Wired
An interesting look at the liquid biopsy market and it’s regulation with a focus on Guardant Health. — The Washington Post
PAYERS-PROVIDERS
When it comes to ransomware, should hospitals pay? — CIO
MedStar Health has added Kyruus’ provider data management and smart scheduling platform for its call center and consumer-facing websites to improve accuracy of referrals. — BusinessWire
TECHNOLOGY
Apple has launched four apps with its app development framework for clinical care, CareKit. The companies behind those apps, which used modules from CareKit, include One Drop, a diabetes management app maker, medication data business Iodine, and Glow, a reproductive health app developer. — MobiHealthNews
Connecticut Innovations Fund has launched a $5 million competition as part of en effort to find compelling early stage digital health investments. Among the critera for applicants are: be at least one-year old business, have paying customers or customers actively testing company’s product, willingness to establish Connecticut presence, focus on digital health or fintech. — PR Newswire
POLITICS
Aetna posted its first quarter earnings but CEO Mark Bertolini called for legislative changes for ACA before he could get behind it. They include “a different set of products, more rating flexibility, a broader range of rates for people to buy from and more markets that we have strong lower-cost control in so that we can offer those products on an affordable basis.” That, he said, would require a different president in a position to negotiate with Congress. — CNBC
A LITTLE BIT EXTRA
If you’ve ever wondered what humans might have in common with, say, reptiles and birds, the answer is: sleep patterns. — The Christian Science Monitor
