Need to keep on prime of the science and politics driving biotech as we speak? Join to get our biotech e-newsletter in your inbox.
Hey! Hope your weekend was a blissful one. At the moment, we speak about AbbVie’s outsize advertising and marketing spend, see how GLP-1s are impacting most cancers charges, and extra.
The necessity-to-know this morning
- Eli Lilly mentioned it’ll purchase Morphic Holding, a biotech growing a remedy for inflammatory bowel illness. Lilly can pay about $3.2 billion to purchase the Waltham, Mass.-based firm. That interprets to $57 per share, a premium of roughly 79% from Morphic’s Friday closing value.
- Ideaya Biosciences reported results from a mid-stage study exhibiting a 39% tumor response fee for its experimental most cancers drug IDE397 in sufferers with bladder and lung most cancers with an MTAP deletion.
- HilleVax mentioned its experimental vaccine in opposition to the norovirus failed to reduce extreme gastrointestinal occasions in comparison with a placebo in infants enrolled in a mid-stage medical trial. The corporate intends to discontinue growth of the vaccine, referred to as HIL-214, in infants however could discover additional growth in adults.
AbbVie dramatically outspent rivals in drug promotion
AbbVie spent an eye-popping $145.7 million final yr on advertising and marketing to well being care suppliers, a STAT evaluation of presidency knowledge reveals. This hefty expenditure, the best of any pharma firm since 2017, contains funds for consulting, talking charges, journey, and meals for medical doctors.
In distinction, similar-sized corporations like Pfizer and Merck spent considerably much less, round $32 million and $22 million, respectively. Right here’s why: AbbVie is shedding its monopoly on Humira — so the corporate is now closely selling different medication in its arsenal. AbbVie’s advertising and marketing {dollars} went largely towards paying medical doctors to talk at occasions, and tens of millions of meals for well being care suppliers.
“It boggles the thoughts once you see numbers that prime only for advertising and marketing and promotion,” one Yale professor learning these traits advised STAT’s Nicholas Florko and J. Emory Parker.
Learn extra.
Extra authorized wrangling over Gilead HIV capsule patents
The Biden administration has appealed a choice by which a federal courtroom jury final yr sided with Gilead Sciences over the rights to a pair of groundbreaking HIV tablets — and a minimum of $1 billion in royalties could also be at stake.
At challenge is a battle over patents for Truvada and a more recent, upgraded model model referred to as Descovy — two extremely efficient and profitable medicines — in addition to the position performed by the federal authorities in making it doable to forestall transmission of a extremely infectious illness that plagued the American public for many years.
After a quick trial in Might 2023, a jury discovered Gilead didn’t infringe on patents held by the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, and that these patents have been invalid. The decide within the case later put aside the jury discovering that CDC patents weren’t infringed. The attraction filed by the U.S. Division of Justice seeks to additional nullify the jury discovering that the patents have been invalid.
Learn extra.
GLP-1s scale back danger of 10 obesity-related cancers
GLP-1 medication like Ozempic and Wegovy are higher at lowering the danger of 10 obesity-related cancers in comparison with different diabetes medication like insulin and metformin, a brand new research reveals. Notably, in comparison with sufferers taking insulin, sufferers taking GLP-1s noticed a 65% decreased danger of gallbladder most cancers, a 59% decreased danger in pancreatic most cancers, and a 53% decreased danger in hepatocellular carcinoma — although the research did be aware a barely increased danger for kidney most cancers. The research, revealed in JAMA Community Open, checked out over 1.6 million kind 2 diabetes sufferers from 2005 to 2018.
“Given the weight problems epidemics we’ve within the U.S., the Western world and in growing nations as properly, this has the potential to be a particularly necessary intervention to forestall most cancers from a public well being perspective,” an oncologist not concerned within the research advised STAT’s Rohan Rajeev.
Learn extra.
Choose guidelines in opposition to Boehringer in Medicare negotiation
A federal decide rejected Boehringer Ingelheim’s problem to the Medicare drug pricing negotiation program final week, marking one other authorized setback for the pharmaceutical business. The corporate had argued the regulation was unconstitutional and that Medicare officers violated procedural legal guidelines — however the decide dismissed these claims.
This follows comparable rulings in opposition to different pharma giants like AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, STAT’s Rachel Cohrs Zhang writes. The decide famous that Boehringer Ingelheim may go away the Medicare and Medicaid packages to keep away from the negotiation, dismissing its argument of being trapped. The choice strengthens the Biden administration’s place as Medicare approaches its deadline to finalize value negotiations for the primary 10 medication.
Learn extra.
