Author: Peter

Three women are suing the cancer blood test developer Grail claiming that, during their time as high-level sales employees, they suffered harassment, discrimination and ultimately retaliation under “a fraternity house” type of toxic work culture led by senior staff...the three separate lawsuits said that Grail failed to properly respond to the plaintiffs' complaints of a “sexually charged” and hostile work environment, including racist remarks made by a coworker in one case. They also each claim they were denied equal pay under California law...READ MORE

Retail pharmacy giant Walgreens inked another partnership to recruit participants for research as it continues to build out its clinical trials business...The company signed a deal with biotech startup Freenome to advance clinical trials of its blood-based tests for the early detection of cancer...It marks the sixth contract that Walgreens has publicly disclosed for its year-old clinical trials business unit. The pharmacy chain launched the unit back in June 2022 as the company's healthcare ambitions continue to grow...While Walgreens continues to grow the business, rival CVS Health announced in May it was winding down its clinical trials arm just two years after its launch. The company will fully exit clinical trials by the end of 2024...READ MORE

When Teva proposed its sweeping $4.25 billion opioid settlement to resolve thousands of claims across the country, all U.S. states except for Nevada and New Mexico jumped on board. Now, the company has worked out a separate $193 million deal with one of the holdouts...Under the deal, the generics giant will make annual payments to Nevada on a sliding scale starting next July and lasting through July 2043. The payouts will start at $7 million and rise to $9 million through 2037, then increase to $27 million in 2042...The cash will be divvied between Nevada and members of the One Nevada Agreement on Allocation of Opioid Recoveries, a group formed to distribute opioid-related funds to local governments...READ MORE

As GSK's July court date nears for a key Zantac trial in California, the company can wipe its hands of at least one Canadian class action suit...The company said in a Friday statement that it “welcomes the decision” of the British Columbia Supreme Court to dismiss a proposed class action suit on behalf of Canadian Zantac users...A Vancouver man filed the lawsuit in 2020, alleging that his use of the heartburn med from 2018 to 2019 caused him to develop cancer. His complaint named more than a dozen companies as defendants, including Sandoz Canada and GSK...But the court dismissed the case due to “the uncontroverted evidence that neither ranitidine nor NDMA are reliably associated with increased cancer risk,” GSK said in its statement...READ MORE

That didn't take long. About a month and a half after Merck & Co. scored a legal win in the insurance case tied to the 2017 "NotPetya" cyberattack, the case is in appeals—again...The case, Merck & Co., Inc. v. Ace American Insurance Company, is heading to the New Jersey Supreme Court...This development follows a lower court's ruling in May rejecting the insurers' argument that the “hostile/warlike action” exclusion clause should apply in this case. In making that ruling, the New Jersey appellate court said the exclusion shouldn’t be applied to a cyberattack on a non-military company—even if it originated from a government or sovereign power...After the 2017 cyberattack, tens of thousands of computers in Merck's global network were infected, leading to a significant disruption in the pharma company's business...READ MORE

Nevada Insurance Commissioner Scott Kipper filed for regulatory supervision of Friday Health Plans of Nevada, which has over 2,800 individuals in the state, after the company announced last week that it will “wind down…business operations.”...“Unfortunately, Friday has been unable to scale our financial infrastructure to match the pace of our growth and secure the additional capital required to run our business,” the company said in a statement on its website last week. “While we are deeply disappointed, we agree with the decision of our State regulators that it is necessary to wind down Friday’s business operations over time in accordance with the regulations in the states where we are operating.”...READ MORE

As pharma supply chain problems drag on, a shortage of key cancer drugs has afflicted a large number of treatment centers and many patients. Now, a leading treatment center group is putting more statistics behind the shortage...Late last month, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Best Practices Committee conducted a survey (PDF) of 27 member centers across the U.S. The group found that nearly all treatment centers, or 93%, reported a carboplatin shortage. In addition, 70% of the centers reported a cisplatin shortage...READ MORE

Is AstraZeneca planning to peel off its China business? By CEO Pascal Soriot’s response to that question, it may only a contingency plan...A Financial Times report last month suggested that AstraZeneca has drafted plans to spin its China operations—the largest of any foreign pharma by sales—into a separately listed company to protect the group against rising geopolitical tensions...quarterly earnings press call came on Friday, Soriot took a chance to clear the air...So on this specific rumor, we’d only say that we are satisfied with the way we are structured in China today...AstraZeneca...2023 revenue guidance for China. It now expects the unit’s revenue to increase by low-to-mid single-digit percentages...AstraZeneca has seen many years of commercial success in China. Lately, though, ruthless price cuts led to a major slowdown, culminating in a sales decline in 2022...READ MORE

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is loosening restrictions to allow the Chinese company Qilu Pharmaceuticals to import cisplatin, a cancer medicine currently in short supply...The emergency move to import Qilu’s cisplatin, which is not FDA-approved, comes as U.S. hospitals ration chemotherapy drugs that can dramatically improve a patient’s prognosis. An FDA official told The China Project that the agency is exploring continued importation of cisplatin and temporary importation of another cancer drug, carboplatin, but, when asked, wouldn’t provide details on plans for further temporary importation from China. This is the first time the U.S. has allowed for temporary importation of cisplatin, the FDA official said...READ MORE