Tuesday, April 21, 2026

 

 

The Top 20 Pharma Companies by 2025 Revenue

(4/20, Kevin Dunleavy, Fierce Pharma) ...Teva Pharmaceutical has been on a hot streak for three straight years now under CEO Richard Francis and his "Pivot to Growth" strategy. With a basket of innovative drugs driving growth, what was once a firmly generic drugmaker has quickly skyrocketed out of the $14.9 billion annual revenue slump it pulled in 2022 before Francis took over...Outside of its innovative drug portfolio, Teva still looks to grow its collection of biosimilars and has been looking to double its sales in the area to $800 million from 2024 to 2027... Full

 

 

Exclusive: Dems Call for Details on Trump Drug Price Deals

(4/21, Peter Sullivan, Axios) ...Calls for more details about President Trump's drug pricing deals are intensifying, with Senate Democrats set to unveil legislation Tuesday as part of a push questioning whether the arrangements really help consumers...The legislation, shared first with Axios, would require Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to make terms of the confidential deals public... Full

 

Congress Debates Drug Pricing Ideas as Trump Keeps Pressure On

(4/21, Victoria Knight, Erin Durkin, Bloomberg) ...Most Favored Nation isn't the only drug pricing initiative floating around Congress. Senate HELP Chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.) dived into how to increase access to generics and biosimilar drugs to lower costs for patients at a hearing last week. He also released a one-page health care framework that included expanding on TrumpRx by increasing transparency, but the senator didn't give further details... Full

 

AGs Back Draft DOL PBM Rule If It Doesn't Preempt State Laws, Employers Seek Stronger Provisions

(4/20, Gabrielle Wanneh, Inside Health Policy) ...The Mark Cuban CostPlus Drug Company, an online pharmacy known for selling low-cost generic drugs directly to consumers, cutting out PBM collaboration entirely, is also asking DOL to require disclosure of PBM practices that prevent the inclusion of cash payments or copay assistance used to acquire prescription drugs from a plan enrollee's deductible or maximum out-of-pocket payment obligations... Sub. Req'd

 

HHS' New Affordability Czar Opined On ACA, PBMs, ESI As Paragon Advisor

(4/20, Jalen Brown, Inside Health Policy) ...Casey Mulligan will serve as chief economist and chief regulatory officer, advising HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other agency leaders on health care affordability as the issue takes center stage for both parties for the upcoming midterm elections. He'll be undertaking cost-benefit analysis of regulation, econometric modeling, and program evaluation of major expenditures, according to HHS... Sub. Req'd

 

Barrett Announces Second Package of Bills to Make Health Care Affordable Again

(4/20, Congressman Tom Barrett) ...Congressman Tom Barrett (MI-07) today unveiled the second package of legislation to Make Health Care Affordable Again, the third pillar of his Blueprint for a Better America. The two bills are designed to lower health care costs for patients by expanding access and eligible expenses for tax-free health savings accounts, requiring transparent medical pricing, and preventing big insurance companies from forcing patients to buy more expensive medications... Full

 

FDA Draft Guidance Sets Impurity Controls for Most Antibiotics

(4/21, Regulatory Focus) ...This guidance is meant to address a gap in managing impurities for these products, as existing guidelines do not cover controlling impurities and degradation products for these types of antibiotics. The document applies to antibiotic drugs subject to approval under new drug applications (NDAs), abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs), and type II drug substance drug master files (DMFs) referenced in antibiotic NDAs and ANDAs... Full

 

State Pharmacy Laws Under Microscope After Appeals Court Rulings

(4/21, Lauren Clason, Bloomberg Law) ..."Any willing pharmacy" laws have existed for decades without controversy, but recent decisions from the Sixth and Tenth Circuits signal a potential shift in how the industry views their impact on federally regulated health plans. A third case is pending before the Eighth Circuit... Full

 

TN Senate Advances Bill That Would Restrict PBM-Owned Pharmacies

(4/20, Terry Craig, WJHL) ...The legislation, if turned into law, would mean a company could operate as a PBM or own retail pharmacies in Tennessee, but not both... Full

 

 

AACR 2026: Revolution's Next Prospect, Merck's Reveal and a Lung Cancer Battle

(4/21, Ben Fidler, BioPharma DIVE) ...AACR is "buzzing with excitement" following the study results, and more data on that therapy are coming this week, wrote Stifel analyst Laura Prendergast. But the meeting also featured a second Revolution drug that may be "underappreciated," she wrote. That treatment is known as zoldonrasib. Like Revolution's other therapies, zoldonrasib is aimed at a kind of "RAS" protein implicated in cancer growth... Full

 

Amneal Announces Additional Positive Interim Phase 4 ELEVATE-PD Results with CREXONT® for Parkinson's Disease, Including Over 3 More Hours of Daily "Good On" Time When Switching from RYTARY®

(4/20, Amneal) ...After patients switched from prior therapies, treatment with CREXONT delivered meaningful increases in "Good On" time, reductions in "Off" time, and improved motor symptom control. Patients switching from RYTARY achieved consistent gains in continuous "Good On" intervals – the length of uninterrupted time patients spend feeling their best. The most common adverse events (=3%) in the study were dizziness (9.0%), nausea (7.2%), falls (7.2%), dyskinesia (4.5%), hallucination (3.6%), and headache (3.6%)... Full

 

Acadia Pharmaceuticals to Present Data at the 2026 American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting

(4/21, Acadia Pharmaceuticals) ...In support of NUPLAZID (pimavanserin) in Parkinson's disease psychosis (PDP), Acadia will present exploratory analyses evaluating heterogeneity in treatment response trajectories and the impact of baseline sleep disturbances among PDP patients treated with pimavanserin... Full

 

AbbVie Launches 'PSO Done' Psoriasis Campaign with Cross-Agency Effort

(4/20, Ben Adams, Fierce Pharma) ..."AbbVie is proud to bring forward the PSO Done campaign, an initiative born out of deep patient insights around the emotional, physical and social impact of uncontrolled psoriasis symptoms," Tanusree Misra, VP, Dermatology Psoriatic, US Immunology at AbbVie, said in a statement... Full

 

 

Biocon Gets Notice of Compliance from Health Canada for Two Biosimilars

(4/21, PTI) ...Health Canada has granted a notice of compliance (NOC) for Bosaya (denosumab), a biosimilar to Prolia, and Vevzuo (denosumab), a biosimilar to Xgeva, on April 3, 2026, Biocon Ltd said in a regulatory filing. "Both biosimilars were approved in the most common presentations -- Bosaya, as a 60 mg/ml injection for subcutaneous use in a prefilled syringe; and Vevzuo, as a 120 mg/1.7 ml (70 mg/ml) injection for subcutaneous use in a single-dose vial," it said... Full

 

Canada's Jamp Deepens Immunology Biosimilars Push

(4/21, Dean Rudge, Generics Bulletin) ...Jamp Pharma has expanded its Canadian immunology biosimilars portfolio after Health Canada granted a Notice of Compliance for its Upgolyv (golimumab) biosimilar to Johnson & Johnson's Simponi, marking another step in the company's specialty medicines strategy and strengthening its BioJamp division as it targets growth in complex therapies...The biosimilar is available as a sterile solution in two presentations: 50mg/0.5ml pre-filled syringes and auto-injectors, and 100mg/1.0ml pre-filled syringes and auto-injectors... Global Sub. Full

 

ANI Bolsters US Generics Offering With Two Launches

(4/20, Anabel Costa-Ferreira, Generics Bulletin) ...ANI confirmed to Generics Bulletin that its 10mg and 20mg isosorbide mononitrate tablets had launched March 30. This was followed closely by carbamazepine extended-release capsules in 100mg, 200mg and 300mg strengths, which launched April 13... Global Sub. Full

 

 

Pfizer 's Strategy and Innovation Officer Andrew Baum to Leave Drugmaker, Analyst Note Says

(4/20, Reuters) ...Pfizer's Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, Andrew Baum, is transitioning to a new role and will eventually leave the company as part of the U.S. drugmaker's strategic simplification, according to an analyst note on Monday. Baum, who joined Pfizer in 2024, will transition into the role of senior strategic advisor to CEO Albert Bourla before fully exiting the company by the end of this year, according to a BMO Capital Markets note... Full

 

Lilly Picks Up Another in Vivo CAR-T Company with Kelonia Buyout Worth Up to $7B

(4/20, James Waldron, Fierce Biotech) ...As well as KLN-1010, the other prize for Lilly is Kelonia's in vivo gene placement system, which uses specially engineered lentiviral-based particles designed to selectively enter T-cells inside the body... Full

 

Boehringer Ingelheim Sets out £150m Plan for AI Drug R&D Hub in London

(4/20, Marta Rybczynski, FirstWord PHARMA) ..."Building foundational AI capabilities that allow us to better understand the biology of disease takes data, talent and trusted partnerships," Nicola Richmond, the company's head of AI and Machine Learning, told FirstWord. "The UK's rich biomedical data landscape, life sciences expertise and technological know-how, provides the perfect environment to do exactly that."... Full

 

AbbVie Sponsors New BioLabs Facility in Toronto

(4/20, Christopher Kuo, Dow Jones) ...The biopharmaceutical company said Monday that it has agreed to become the founding sponsor of BioLabs University of Toronto to accelerate life sciences research. The facility will be a fully equipped laboratory and collaboration space for up to 30 early stage biotechnology startups, AbbVie said... Sub. Req'd

 

Novartis Has its Anticoagulant Back. Now It's Cutting Two Programs

(4/21, Nicole DeFeudis, Endpoints News) ...Novartis confirmed to Endpoints News on Monday that both cancer studies have been terminated, after an independent data review committee said abelacimab demonstrated "inferior efficacy" to Bristol Myers Squibb's blockbuster blood thinner Eliquis in a trial called ASTER. A company spokesperson said the other trial, called MAGNOLIA, was cut short "following further strategic review." The latter trial compared abelacimab to Pfizer's blood thinner Fragmin... Sub. Req'd

 

Reframing Pharma Supply Chains Through Platform-Based Models

(4/20, Malana VanTyler, USA Today) ...For companies such as HRV Pharma out of India, the standardized scale of manufacturing has expanded alongside its complexities. In addition to coordinating manufacturing timelines and distribution, regulatory compliance has also become an ongoing operational challenge, which new models are now beginning to tackle in their processes... Full

 

Bayer Falls Short in Bid to Block J&J's Survival Claims in Prostate Cancer Clash

(4/20, Ben Adams, Fierce Pharma) ...Bayer alleged that J&J "launched a false advertising campaign" against Bayer's prostate cancer drug Nubeqa, as the drug has become a significant rival to J&J's own Erleada... Full

 

 

EU Pharma Reform Supply Obligations 'Burdensome' For SMEs, Warns EUCOPE

(4/20, Eliza Slawther, Pink Sheet) ...As set out in Article 56a of the draft directive, which was published last month along with a draft regulation, companies could be asked to: submit valid pricing and reimbursement applications, in accordance with national law; fulfil specific requirements for marketing authorization (MA) holders in procurement procedures, in accordance with national and EU law; and/or establish a "roll-out plan" for launching medicines... Global Sub. Full

 

PLI Scheme Addresses Global Supply Chain Disruptions by Incentivising Greenfield Manufacturing: Experts

(4/20, Shardul Nautiyal, PharmaBiz) ...The production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for bulk drugs has addressed global supply chain disruptions by incentivising greenfield manufacturing of 41 strategically selected critical key starting materials (KSMs), drug intermediates (DIs), and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), according to experts... Full

 

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