Top Story

Morning Read: Medivation opens books to Sanofi as bidding war develops

Plus, Bristol-Myers Squibb acquires Comorant Pharmaceuticals, Google’s DeepMind gets access to eye scans at British hospital and a court rules that biosimilar makers must notify patent-holders six months before launching competitive products.

Medivation

TOP STORY

Medivation is fast becoming the target of a bidding war.

On Tuesday, the San Francisco-based oncology drug-maker agreed to open its books to Sanofi, two and a half months after Medivation rejected a $9.3 billion offer from the French pharma giant. Medivation already had signed confidentiality deals with Pfizer and Celgene. Medivation also said that rejected a sweetened offer of about $10 billion from Sanofi. — ReutersBusiness Insider

There appear to be a number of potential buyers for Medivation. But with the Sanofi agreement, Sanofi no longer will be seeking to oust Medivation’s board next month.— Silicon Valley Business Journal, TheStreet

LIFE SCIENCES

Bristol-Myers Squibb has acquired Sweden-based Comorant Pharmaceuticals, which is developing treatments for cancer and rare diseases. The deal could be worth as much as $520 million. — Business Wire

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Abbott Vascular won FDA approval for its fully dissolving heart stent and immediately announced that the device would be implanted in a patient at HonorHealth Scottsdale Shea Medical Center in Arizona on Wednesday. — PR Newswire

SynCardia Systems, the artificial heart maker once on the verge of an IPO, has filed for bankruptcy. — MassDevice

Of the 12 IPOs from venture-backed companies in the second quarter, nine came from the biotech sector. — FierceBiotech

Shares of Austin, Texas-based XBiotech tumbled 33 percent on Tuesday after the company reported disappointing results of a clinical trial for colon cancer treatment Xilonix. — The Motley Fool

Aprecia Pharmaceuticals, maker of the first FDA-approved, 3-D printed drug, has landed $30 million in new funding from Hercules Capital. — FierceBiotech

Laboratory supplier VWR, of Radnor, Pennsylvania, has acquired PAW BioSciences Products for undisclosed terms. — Philadelphia Business Journal

PAYERS/PROVIDERS

The University of Wisconsin’s UW Health is partnering with  UnityPoint Health-Meriter to help ease a physician shortage at UW’s flagship University Hospital in Madison. — Modern Healthcare

AHIMA, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Flip the Clinic program and Dr. Farzad Mostashari’s ACO startup, Aledade, have announced plans to advance the year-old GetMyHealthData patient-access project. — Healthcare IT News

TECHNOLOGY

Google’s DeepMind AI division will test its algorithms on 1 million eye scans from a British hospital. — BBC News

Payer-side care management and analytics company Health Integrated is promoting Chief Revenue Officer Zachary Fritz to CEO, effective June 10. — PR Newswire

NightBalance, a Dutch company making technology for treating sleep apnea, has raised a €12.5 million ($13.8 million) Series B round as it prepares to ender the U.S. market. — Business Wire

POLITICS

In a decision that could drive up drug costs even more, a federal court has ruled that biosimilar makers must notify patent-holders six months before launching competitive products. — STAT

A LITTLE BIT EXTRA

Something to aspire to: “Bill Gates once invited Warren Buffett to a sleepover and discovered him eating Oreos for breakfast.” — Business Insider