German drugs and lab supplies maker Merck has offered $5.9 billion, including debt, for Versum Materials, in a cash deal that tops an offer from U.S. rival Entegris, as both seek to boost their electrochemicals operations. Merck said it planned to buy Versum for $48 per share - or $5.2 billion excluding debt - for a premium of 16% to Tuesday's closing price and of 52% to the share price before Entegris' offer. Entegris announced a $4 billion all-stock deal in January.

Pharmaceutical industry executives testifying before Congress say quick fixes to lower drug prices could jeopardize future medical breakthroughs. Read more...

Johnson & Johnson has received subpoenas from the U.S. Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission related to litigation involving alleged asbestos contamination in its signature Baby Powder product line. The company said it intends to “cooperate fully with these inquiries and will continue to defend the Company in the talc-related litigation.” The disclosure in Johnson & Johnson’s annual report on Wednesday is the first time that the company disclosed it had received subpoenas from federal agencies regarding its talc powder products. Johnson & Johnson faces lawsuits involving 13,000 plaintiffs who allege use of its talc products, including Baby Powder, caused cancer.

Bristol-Myers Squibb said that the European Commission approved Sprycel, in combination with chemotherapy for the treatment of pediatric patients with certain cancers or leukemia. This is the second pediatric leukemia indication for Sprycel in Europe. “We are proud that the approval by the European Commission brings children with Ph+ acute lymphoblastic leukemia a new treatment option, including a powder formulation developed as part of our commitment to addressing the unique needs of children with cancer,” said Fouad Namouni, M.D., head, oncology development, Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Johnson & Johnson is buying privately held Auris Health Inc. for $3.4 billion.Auris makes a robotic scope used in respiratory and lung cancer procedures and will allow J&J to gain access to devices that simplify difficult surgical procedures. “This acquisition will accelerate Johnson & Johnson’s entry into robotics with potential for growth and expansion into other interventional applications,” J&J said in a statement. J&J also said the acquisition would complement its purchase last year of Orthotaxy, a privately held developer of software-enabled robotic technology for surgery.

In a busy week for the pharma sector, drug giants Merck and Eli Lilly reported fourth-quarter results along with GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi. Read more...

This stems from an administration proposal that would require drugmakers to show full prices of medicines in TV ads. Johnson & Johnson has taken up the call and will start stating prices with ads for blood thinner Xarelto by March.Big pharma generally opposes the idea, arguing that list prices are meaningless to most Americans because health plans often negotiate huge discounts with drugmakers and consumers usually pay only a portion of a lower price themselves.

Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi SA say their CEOs will join Merck & Co. to testify at a Senate hearing on rising prescription drugs. Senate Finance Committee members invited the drug makers to testify as Congress looks into the high cost of drugs, where costs in the US are higher than in other developed countries. Congress has been targeting the pharmaceutical industry over the rising cost of prescription drugs for U.S. consumers, particularly since Democrats took over the House of Representatives in January.Other companies invited to testify include AstraZeneca and AbbVie Inc. Is a reckoning for pharmaceutical drug companies in the offing?

The pharmaceutical giant says it pulled its application to combine Opdivo and Yervoy after discussions with the FDA. Bristol, which announced a $74 billion acquisition of cancer drug maker Celgene earlier this month, will still seek approval for the combination for use by lung cancer patients with a different biomarker.The company also had better than expected Q4 results of $0.94 per share, nine cents above the Street's expectations.

Bloomberg reports that Johnson & Johnson is looking to buy surgical robotics firm Auris Health Inc. J&J is seeking to purchase Auris at a premium to the valuation from its latest funding round that valued the company at $2 billion, Bloomberg reported.So far, a final deal has not been reached and discussions are not guaranteed to lead to a sale of Auris.

Johnson & Johnson’s fourth quarter results reveal that sales were up just 1% to $20.4 billion, with adjusted net income coming-in at just $5.37 billion, which is $1.97 per share.Decreasing sales in certain quarters owing to negative currency effects; the net impact of acquisitions and divestitures during the year also affected performance without which worldwide sales would have risen 5.5%, with international sales climbing 7.8% and U.S. sales rising by 3.4% on an operational basis. J&J’s pharmaceutical segment emerged as the market leader in 2018 and registered recorded sales after growing by 5.3%.

The company says it is facing pressure from competition on its older drugs and expects generic competition on such drugs as Zytiga, a prostate cancer treatment. The company said it expects full-year sales in the range of $80.4 billion to $81.2 billion, compared with the average analyst estimate of $82.69 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.Still fourth-quarter, sales rose about one percent to $20.39 billion, topping the average Wall Street estimate of $20.20 billion, helped by growth in sales of Crohn's disease treatment Stelara and cancer drugs such as Darzalex and Imbruvica.

Philip Hampton, Chairman of GlaxoSmithKline, is stepping down from the company only a month after the company announced a merger with Pfizer. The pharmaceutical giant said on Monday that Mr Hampton, who was appointed non-executive chairman in 2015, has “informed the board of his intention to step down” and the search for his successor has begun. No date for Mr Hampton’s departure was given. Under terms of the all-share deal, Glaxo will own 68% of the consumer healthcare joint venture, while US firm Pfizer will own the remaining 32% stake.

After serving as chairman for more than three and a half years at GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Philip Hampton is resigning from his post. The news comes a month after the announcement from GSK’s Chief Executive Emma Walmsley that the company will be split into two businesses — one for prescription drugs and vaccines, the other for over-the-counter products. In December, it was announced that GSK and Pfizer would combine their consumer health businesses in an all-equity deal.GSK will own 68 percent of the joint venture.

US pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer, has recently confirmed the closure of its two Hospira manufacturing plant sites in India, one at Aurangabad (Maharashtra) and the other at Irungattukottai (Tamil Nadu).This decision has jeopardized those jobs and no compensation has been discussed so far. The decision to close down these two plants was reached after a thorough evaluation that revealed long-term irrevocable losses making manufacturing unfeasible at these sites.  The IKKT plant used to manufacture generic injectable cephalosporin, penems and penicillin for the US, EU and other global markets.

Pfizer had acquired the sites as part of its $15 billion purchase of Hospira Inc. in 2015. The factories, which produce generic injectables like penicillin, employs around 1,700 workers in the states of Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.These plants do not make products for the India market.  Additionally, Pfizer is shuttering a Hospira research and development lab in the Indian city Chennai, but spokesman Steven Danehy said that that was unrelated to the shutdown of the aforementioned two plants. Pfizer also mentioned that it is expanding operations in its Visakhapatnam facility in south India.

The Stamford, Connecticut-based biotechnology company is developing cancer treatments that target a tumor’s genetic markers regardless of where in the body they’re located. Lilly is paying 68 percent above Loxo’s closing stock price Friday and above Loxo’s previous all-time high of $189.96, reached in July 2018.The news comes only a few days after Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Celgene Corp. announced a $74 billion cash-and-stock deal last week.

In one of the biggest pharmaceutical deals in history, U.S. drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb announced last Thursday its plans to acquire Celgene in a cash and stock deal valuing the rival drugmaker at roughly $90 billion, including debt. As the news of the deal hit the market, shares of Celgene jumped 28% in midmorning trading to ~$85 per share, while shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb tumbled 11% to trade at $47 per share. Under the terms of the deal, Celgene shareholders will receive $50 in cash for each share held along with one Bristol-Myers Squibb share or $102.43 per share, a premium of 53.7% to Celgene's Wednesday close. Both companies have faced investor wariness about their growth prospects in the recent past.But once the deal goes through, it is expected to create a company which would be a pharmaceutical leader in cancer and immunologic disease treatments, with huge growth prospects. According to analysts, the deal is a big win for Celgene, which had just overc

In one the first large mergers of 2019, Bristol-Myers Squibb announced it is buying Celgene Corp, for about $74 billion.The merged company will have many so-called blockbuster cancer drugs under its umbrella. The deal will create a company with nine treatments bringing in more than $1-billion in annual sales and a significant potential for growth in oncology, immunology and inflammation and cardiovascular disease. Talks opened in September, with Bristol-Myers approaching Celgene, according to a Rueters report. Celgene shareholders will receive one Bristol-Myers Squibb share and $50 in cash for each share held, or $102.43 per share, a premium of 53.7 per cent to Celgene’s Wednesday close.

More than 250 prescription drugs will have price increases, according to a Reuters report.The news agency says that during a White House meeting with members of his Cabinet, U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he expected to see a tremendous decrease in drug prices.  The overall number of price increases was down by around a third from last year, when drugmakers raised prices on more than 400 medicines, according to data provided by Rx Savings Solutions, which helps health plans and employers seek lower cost prescription medicines.