Albert Bourla, AP

Putting buy­backs on hold, Pfiz­er’s CEO is plot­ting a string of im­por­tant PhII deals in the year ahead. You’ve been alert­ed

Pfizer shares took a beating on Tuesday, dropping 5% as investors found out that the pharma giant fell short on revenue projections and wouldn’t be riding to the rescue with their usual campaign of buybacks.

So what gives? Buybacks have been part of the culture at the company for years.

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Hal Barron at Endpoints News' UKBIO 2019

UP­DAT­ED: Glax­o­SmithK­line's lat­est makeover in­cludes auc­tion­ing off der­ma­tol­ogy, adding new tech and lay­offs. But how many?

GSK execs announced Wednesday morning that they are setting up a 2-year program to prepare the company for its split in two — consumer healthcare and the R&D-focused outfit she and research chief Hal Barron promised to revamp and reenergize 2 years ago.

A key part of that effort is a new R&D reorganization in which the vaccines group — traditionally separate inside the global organization — will integrate its work with the pharma teams in order to orchestrate common research themes on both sides. And GSK is helping pay for the 2-year program with a plan to sell off non-core assets, starting with its dermatology drugs portfolio.

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Michel Vounatsos (Biogen via YouTube)

UP­DAT­ED: Bio­gen shares rock­et up as My­lan's chal­lenge to Tec­fidera patents is slapped down

Biogen $BIIB just won one of the biggest fights it’s ever faced.

The big biotech beat Mylan’s challenge on the patents that guard their cash cow, Tecfidera, the multiple sclerosis drug that drove the company’s comeback under George Scangos and sustains his successor Michel Vounatsos as they search for new drugs.

In the inter partes review ruling, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board — or PTAB — determined:
Having considered all the evidence, petitioner has not demonstrated by a preponderance of the evidence the unpatentability of claims 1-20 of the ‘514 patent.
The news, a closely watched catalyst that had analysts on high alert, immediately triggered a huge 29% spike in their share price. Tecfidera earned $3.3 billion in 2019, almost half its revenue for the year.

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Ken Frazier, AP Images

UP­DAT­ED: It's not just about Keytru­da, Mer­ck in­sists, as it carves out as­sets worth $6.5B in­to new com­pa­ny

As sales of Merck’s flagship therapy Keytruda grow from strength to strength — the New Jersey drugmaker is spinning off its women’s health, legacy brands, and biosimilar drugs into a new company.

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UP­DAT­ED: Yes, Gilead CEO Daniel O’Day is ready to ink some deals. No, you won’t see him sweat it

A bevy of analysts turned out for Gilead’s Q4 call Tuesday night looking for some of the old sizzle about the future that used to excite them in the past. What they got was a lecture on steady improvement, sound judgment and proper dealmaking — along with a plateful of slightly disappointing numbers that left more than a few feeling a bit deflated by the end.

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The Peanut But­ter Cup com­pa­ny puts $200M more be­hind a treat­ment for peanut al­ler­gy

Aimmune’s patients won’t ever be able to eat Reese’s, but every time they open a capsule, they’ll be consuming a product Nestlé helped produce.

Since the immunotherapy company completed its Phase II studies, Nestlé has become one of its largest backers. They invested $145 million in 2016 and $98 million in 2018. And today, days after Aimmune won FDA approval for their peanut allergy drug Palforzia, Nestlé announced a $200 million equity investment. They will now have invested $473 million and command 19.9% of the company.

Miki Kapoor

UP­DAT­ED: Re­al-world da­ta get re­al dol­lars: GV, Bain help in­fuse $100M in­to Ve­r­ana Health as prag­mat­ic tri­al space heats up

As the application of real-world data in clinical practice and drug development becomes the reality for a growing number of physicians as well as drugmakers, GV and a marquee syndicate are betting some real dollars on one San Francisco player.

The crew formerly known as Google Ventures is leading a $100 million round for Verana Health, which has just acquired a smaller company specializing in large-scale data architecture solutions dubbed PYA Analytics. Bain Capital Ventures, Casdin Capital and Define Ventures also chipped in.

Bill Gates pitch­es in on coro­n­avirus R&D and con­tain­ment ef­forts with $100M com­mit­ment

The Gates Foundation has signed up to take a role in the growing public-private response to a brewing pandemic.

The nonprofit group said Wednesday it is prepared to spend up to $100 million to help spur new R&D into vaccines, diagnostics and therapies while reserving part of that money for detection and containment work.

“Multilateral organizations, national governments, the private sector and philanthropies must work together to slow the pace of the outbreak, help countries protect their most vulnerable citizens and accelerate the development of the tools to bring this epidemic under control,” said new Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman. “Our hope is that these resources will help catalyze a rapid and effective international response. This response should be guided by science, not fear, and it should build on the steps that the World Health Organization has taken to date.”

Helén Tuvesson

Ac­tive Biotech is back, with one last bid for the failed MS drug Te­va dis­card­ed

Laquinimod was the drug that was going to save Teva.

Over 14 years, the Israeli pharma started the compound on at least 15 clinical trials, 6 of them Phase III. They wanted it to replace the blockbuster multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone. But it failed late-stage study after late-stage study, not only in MS but also Huntington’s. And in 2018, after the fourth major whiff in 18 months, Teva returned the drug and all its rights back to sender: Sweden’s Active Bio.

UP­DAT­ED: Chi­na re­searchers tout in vit­ro da­ta for Gilead­'s an­tivi­ral against Wuhan virus — which they are try­ing to patent

There’s no definitive proof yet that Gilead’s remdesivir works as a treatment for 2019-nCov, but researchers in China clearly consider it promising enough to have applied for a patent on its use to combat the coronavirus virus outbreak stemming from Wuhan.

Amid worldwide vigilance over what many fear is becoming a pandemic, scientists from the Wuhan Institute of Virology and National Engineering Research Center for the Emergency Drug said they have tested a total of seven drugs in vitro — and found remdesivir and the malaria treatment chloroquine most effective against the novel coronavirus.