Joaquin Duato, J&J CEO (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

January 25, 2022 12:50 PM EST

New J&J CEO Joaquin Duato promises an aggressive M&A hunt in quest to grow pharma sales

John Carroll

Editor & Founder

Joaquin Duato stepped away from the sideline and directly into the spotlight on Tuesday, delivering his first quarterly review for J&J as its newly-tapped CEO after an 11-year run in senior posts. And he had some mixed financial news to deliver today while laying claim to a string of blockbuster drugs in the making and outlining an appetite for small and medium-sized M&A deals.

Duato also didn’t exactly shun large buyouts when asked about the future of the company’s medtech business — where they look to be in either the top or number 2 position in every segment they’re in — even though the bar for getting those deals done is so much higher.

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Illustration: Assistant Editor Kathy Wong for Endpoints News

February 8, 2023 09:05 AM ESTUpdated 09:59 AM

Pharma

In Focus

How Purdue's $272M addiction payout funded a new home for its discarded non-opioid research

Jared Whitlock

Features Editor

Don Kyle spent more than 20 years working for Purdue Pharma, right through the US opioid epidemic that led to the company’s rise and eventual infamy. But contrary to Purdue’s focus on OxyContin, Kyle was researching non-opioid painkillers — that is, until the company shelved his research.

As the company’s legal troubles mounted, Kyle found an unlikely way to reboot the project. In 2019, he took his work to an Oklahoma State University center that’s slated to receive more than two-thirds of the state’s $272 million settlement with Purdue over claims that the drugmaker’s behavior ignited the epidemic of opioid use and abuse.

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President Joe Biden at the State of the Union address with Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Patrick Semansky/AP Images)

February 8, 2023 06:51 AM EST

Law

The drug pricing president: Biden warns of veto for any IRA repeal attempts

Zachary Brennan

Senior Editor

President Joe Biden made clear in his “finish the job” State of the Union address last night that one of those jobs to be finished is insulin prices.

Biden’s push again to tackle insulin prices, after Republicans rebuffed the idea last summer and just after Biden won Medicare drug price negotiations/caps via the Inflation Reduction Act, shows how heavily he’s leaning into this work.

Utpal Koppikar, new Verily CFO

February 8, 2023 04:15 PM EST

People

Pharma

Exclusive: Verily welcomes Atara Biotherapeutics veteran as new CFO

Nicole DeFeudis

Editor

Verily, Alphabet’s life sciences outfit, has plucked a new CFO from the ranks of Atara Biotherapeutics, the company announced on Wednesday.

Utpal Koppikar joins Verily after a nearly five-year stint as CFO and senior VP at Atara, though his résumé also boasts roles at Gilead and Amgen.

The news follows a major reshuffling at Verily, including several senior departures earlier this year and a round of layoffs.

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Singer Nick Jonas is back at work for Dexcom, this time for its new G7 glucose monitor.

February 8, 2023 03:36 PM EST

Pharma

Marketing

Dexcom's spokescelebrity Nick Jonas returns to Super Bowl in new glucose monitor commercial

Beth Snyder Bulik

Senior Editor

Dexcom is going back to the Super Bowl with its pop singer and patient spokesperson Nick Jonas. Jonas takes center stage as the lone figure in the 30-second commercial showcasing Dexcom’s next-generation G7 continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) device.

Jonas’ sleight-of-hand tricks populate the commercial — he pinches his empty fingers together and pops them open to reveal the small CGM — even as he ends the ad, saying, “It’s not magic. It just feels that way.” Jonas then disappears in a puff of smoke.

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Rupert Vessey, Bristol Myers Squibb head of research and early development

February 6, 2023 09:00 AM ESTUpdated February 6, 10:54 PM

Bioregnum

Updated: R&D turbulence at Bristol Myers now includes the end of a $650M alliance and the departure of a top research champion

This morning biotech Dragonfly put out word that Bristol Myers Squibb has handed back all rights to its IL-12 clinical-stage drug after spending $650 million to advance it into the clinic.

The news arrives amid a turbulent R&D stage for the pharma giant, which late last week highlighted Rupert Vessey’s decision to depart this summer as head of early-stage R&D following a crucial three-year stretch after he jumped to Bristol Myers in the big Celgene buyout. During that time he struck a series of deals for Bristol Myers, and also shepherded a number of Celgene programs down the pipeline, playing a major role for a lineup of biotechs which depended on him to champion their drugs.