Gilead Sciences  announced a successful clinical trial of its antiviral drug to treat the coronavirus . “The majority of patients in this international cohort demonstrated clinical improvement and no new safety signals were identified with remdesivir treatment,” Gilead said in a statement.  "We cannot draw definitive conclusions from these data, but the observations from this group of hospitalized patients who received remdesivir are hopeful," Jonathan Grein, director of hospital epidemiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, and lead author of the NEJM article, mentioned in the company’s statement. The drug hasn’t been yet approved for general use by the Food and Drug Administration.  

Gilead Sciences’ experiment with coronavirus treatment is already being used in the US. The Centers for Disease Control director Robert Redfield told lawmakers on a House appropriations panel Tuesday that remdesivir, the coronavirus treatment that Gilead is developing,  was being used on compassionate grounds in Washington state. Federal Food & Drug Administration regulations allow the use of unapproved drugs in critical situations when there are very limited alternatives for treating a disease. Gilead’s treatment for Cornavirus was first designed to fight the Ebola virus. Gilead is expecting results from trials as early as next month.It has said that it would  increase supplies as early as possible in the near term.

Eli Lilly & Co. reaffirmed  its guidance for 2019 earnings, and expects revenues to continue to grow in the coming year. The pharmaceutical company has projected 2020 non-GAAP earnings in the range of $6.70 to $6.80 per share, which exceeds the Refinitv forecast of $6.63 per share.The group also re-iterated its 2019 full-year earnings guidance (which it had boosted in October) at a range of $5.75 to $5.85 per share. Eli Lilly is expecting revenues in the range of $23.6 billion to $24.1 billion, with a compound annual growth rate of 7%. CEO David Ricks mentioned an expanding portfolio of new medicines focused on diabetes, oncology, immunology, and neuroscience as key drivers of growth for the company.  Ricks also cited “attractive commercial portfolio and limited patent exposure through the latter half of the upcoming decade” as factors that should enable the company to deliver sustainable volume-based revenue growth and drive further operating marg

The analyst cited the following factors behind his optimism for JNJ’s attractiveness in 2020: “(1) multiple regulatory actions aimed at controlling pharmaceutical pricing are more reflected, (2) pharma growth like accelerates in 2020, which historically has lifted the multiple and (3) the portfolio is now more balanced with consumer stabilizing and medical devices and diagnostics coming off six consecutive quarters of momentum improvement." Major growth drivers include the cooling off of pharma headwinds, strong performances by franchises such as Stelara and Darzalex, and pipeline drivers such as Tremfya and Spravato – according to Lewis.

France’s pharmaceutical company Sanofi will buy biotech company Synthorx. Sanofi will pay  $68 cash a share, or $2.5 billion for the acquisition.Synthorx  is focused on treating cancer and autoimmune disorders. The deal, expected to close in the first quarter next year, is expected to boost Sanofi’s immuno-oncology portfolio, as indicated by the company. In a separate announcement,  Sanofi revealed  that its Sanofi Pasteur global vaccines unit entered a $226 million collaboration with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to increase the company’s domestic pandemic influenza vaccine production capabilities at its Swiftwater, Pa., plant.

Merck & Co. will acquire oncology specialist ArQule in a $2.7 billion deal. Merck said it will pay $20 for each  ArQule share, which would be a premium of more than 100%  to the stock's closing price of $9.66 Friday on the Nasdaq. ArQule specializes in research and development of targeted therapeutics for treatment of cancers and rare diseases. The merger would allow  Merck access to ArQule’s experimental treatment ARQ 531, a precision medicine that customizes treatment to a patient’s genetic profile.  

Biogen Inc. topped analysts’ estimates in both earnings and revenue, while also indicating renewed hope for a Alzheimer’s therapy. The biotech company's  third-quarter 2019 earnings per share of $9.17 beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $8.28.Earnings rose +24% year over year. The company’s sales for the quarter increased +5% year-over-year to $3.6 billion, surpassing Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.53 billion. Biogen’s product revenue increased +4% year-over-year  for the quarter, while its royalty from sales of Roche’s MS drug, Ocrevus surged +37% year-over-year.

Pharmaceutical manufacturer Astrazeneca (NYSE: AZN) has been trending higher over the last three and a half months and a trend channel has formed that defines the various cycles within the overall trend.Similar developments in July and May were really good buy signals for the stock. In addition to the oversold readings from the 10-day RSI and the stochastic readings, the stock dropped below its lower Bollinger Band on September 10.

Bristol-Myers Squibb beat second quarter earnings estimates, while also lifting its full-year profit guidance. The pharmaceutical company’s non-GAAP earnings for the three months ending in June came in at $1.18 per share, 10 cents higher than the Street consensus estimates.The earnings per share figure is also +16.8% higher compared to the year-ago quarter. The company’s total revenues increased +10.52% to $6.3 billion, topping analysts' estimates of $5.72 billion.

Amarin raised outlook on revenue, sending its shares surging +10% Tuesday. The biopharmaceutical company lifted its 2019 revenue guidance to a range of between $380 million and $420 million, up from prior forecast of $350 million. The company’s higher guidance comes on the back of its optimism about its Vascepa treatment for chronic cardiovascular disease.It is hopeful that Vascepa will generate “billions of dollars in revenue in the years to come”. Amarin reported first-quarter revenue of $73.3 million, which represents a 67% jump from the same quarter of the previous year.

Sanofi is poised to appoint Paul Hudson, a top executive with Switzerland’s Novartis, to become the French drugmaker’s next CEO from Sept. 1, a source familiar with the decision told Reuters on Thursday.

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved Novartis’ $2.1 million gene therapy for spinal muscular atrophy — making it the world’s most expensive drug.

Amgen Inc. has offered to buy Denmark-based drug discovery platform biotech company, Nuevolution, at $3.36 per share in cash.The shares of Nuevolution are listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm Small Cap exchange. The board of Nuevolution unanimously recommended an acceptance of the offer and three top shareholders, representing 59% shareholdings, have also undertaken to accept the offer.

Merck & Co Inc says it is buying Peloton Therapeutics Inc for $1.05 billion in cash plus $1.15 billion in additional payments based on how the company's drugs fare once they are further developed.The purchase will give it access to the privately held company’s lead kidney cancer drug candidate.  Peloton had said earlier this month that it was planning to raise up to $159.4 million in an initial public offering.

Nestle SA has entered exclusive negotiations to sell its skin health business to a consortium led by EQT Partners and Abu Dhabi’s ADIA in a deal worth 10.2 billion Swiss francs ($10.12 billion), it said on Thursday.

Novartis is buying dry-eye drug Xiidra from Takeda Pharmaceutical Co for up to $5.3 billion.The deal calls for $3.4 billion up front and milestone payments up to $1.9 billion, Novartis said.  The acquisition from Takeda, which is selling off medicine to reduce its debt, adds to several big Novartis transactions over the last year as the Swiss-based company continues to ramp up its portfolio and get rid of non-core assets to focus on prescription drugs.   

Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay about $1 billion to resolve many lawsuits claiming the company sold defective metal-on-metal hip implants that ultimately had to be removed, according to a report in Bloomberg. The agreement resolves over 95% of the 6,000 cases in which surgeons extracted the company’s Pinnacle implants because they left patients unable to walk and in pain, according to the report. The $1 billion total includes an earlier settlement for more than $400 million and there are still about 4,500 pending suits by patients with artificial hips that were not made totally of metal or haven’t been surgically removed, Bloomberg added.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Pfizer Inc’s oral drug, tafamidis, to treat a rare and fatal heart disease called transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy, the U.S drugmaker said. Pfizer, which has touted tafamidis as a potential blockbuster product, set a list price of $225,000 a year for the medicine, which would be sold under the brand name Vyndaqel.It is the first approved medicine for the disease in the United States. Analysts are forecasting annual sales to exceed $1 billion in 2024, according to Refinitiv data.

Unadjusted earnings per share of $3.18 fell from the year-ago quarter’s $3.25. While revenue remained the same at $5.6 billion, expenses in the quarter increased +9% year-over-year to $3.1 billion. The company’s revenue from Blincyto, its first bi-specific antibody for the treatment of cancer, surged +41% year-over-year to $69 million.Sales of its highest selling drug, Enbrel, rose +4% to $1.15 billion. Research & Development (R&D) expenses increased +16% largely towards bolstering the company’s oncology programs, as indicated by Amgen. For the full-year 2019, Amgen projects a revenue range of $22 billion and $22.9 billion.

Merck first quarter earnings surpassed analysts’ estimates, thanks in large part to its success in lung cancer treatment. For the three months ending in March, the pharma company’s GAAP earnings came in at $1.12 per share, beating the Street consensus estimates by seven cents.  Merck’s total revenues surged +8% year-over-year to $10.8 billion, on the back of a +55% sales growth of Keytruda lung cancer treatment. CEO Ken Frazier highlighted investments in research and development as one of the factors behind Merck’s strong quarter. Looking ahead, Merck lifted its full-year 2019 revenue outlook to a range of $43.9 to $45.1 billion, while forecasting GAAP earnings to  range between $4.02 and $4.12 per share. The company also revealed a global restructuring plan - which includes closing plants and slashing jobs - that is expected to get completed by 2023.