Takeda and Norgine’s decision to finally end their alliance for cetilistat in Japan, years after the obesity drug was approved in its first potential market, serves as another sign of the sector’s challenges in the country.

J&J told investors to anticipate negative net drug pricing of 4%-6% across its portfolio in 2018, following a 4.6% negative impact in 2017. CEO Alex Gorsky also cautioned against changing drug pricing policy too quickly.

With biopharma venture capital investment of $9.67bn during the first half, 2018's total is on track to beat 2017 in the third quarter. IPOs, one of the factors fueling VC investment, continue to boom with five more drug developers slated to go public this week.

With the acquisition of US-based contract development and manufacturing organization AMPAC Fine Chemicals, SK has added the US production base to its European and Korean production facilities, placing it on track to becoming a top global CDMO player with annual production capacity of about 1.6 million liters.

The Indian drug maker is handing over €74m to Canada's Apotex, buying the latter's operations in Poland, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Spain and Belgium and adding over 200 generics and more than 80 OTC products to its portfolio.

As Amgen’s main hope for extending its bone health franchise, romosozumab faces a second review at the FDA with a fuller dataset and an external analysis of cardiovascular risk.

Siga is entitled to a $41m “hold back” payment under its contract with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority and potentially a $50m payment related to the US FDA's extended shelf-life determination for stockpiled Tpoxx; company also picks up first priority review voucher awarded for a medical countermeasure, which it likely will monetize.

Bagging a $200m box office in its opening week in China, "Dying to Survive" is a sentimental movie about a Chinese businessman selling cancer drugs smuggled from India but unapproved in China that sees his life taking a drastic turn, from convicted felon to a Robin Hood-like hero as he helps those in need. The Chinese film authority’s clearance for the screening of the movie and the smash success signal three key messages about the future potential direction of oncology drugs in the country.

After a conversation with President Trump, CEO Ian Read agreed to cancel price increases on 40 drugs that took effect July 1, to give the administration time to work on its blueprint for improving the health care system.

The Japanese pharma says it will discuss the data with US FDA, with hopes of potential to incorporate secondary endpoint data in labeling.

Emerging Company Profile: With an early focus on rare, monogenic diseases, Recursion believes its platform combining artificial intelligence and experimental biology can be applied to any disease that can be modeled on a cellular level.

Positive top-line efficacy data from the CREDENCE study suggest the SGLT2 inhibitor slows the progress of chronic kidney disease in type 2 diabetics, a finding which may eventually have a positive effect on the sales performance of the diabetic therapy.