Monday, October 27, 2025

Teva's Award-Winning Treasury: From Working Capital Discipline to ESG Impact and Five Rating Upgrades

(10/27, EuroFinance) ...Through disciplined cash culture, cross-functional ownership, and data transparency, Teva's treasury drove a cross functional effort that to date unlocked over $1.5 billion in cash, achieved five credit rating upgrades within 1 year. This transformation earned Teva the title of Cash Champion at the EuroFinance Treasury Excellence Awards 2025. As Michael Ben Moshe, VP Treasury and head of global working capital and cash optimisation, explained: "Our vision was to evolve treasury from a traditional banking, risk management, and funding unit into a strategic partner directly enabling growth through cash excellence and surgical capital allocation across all our operations."... Full

China's Pharma Leverage is ‘Nuclear Option' in US Trade Talks

(10/24, Bloomberg) ...China's power rests on its grip over the global supply of active pharmaceutical ingredients, or APIs, which are core components of commercial drugs. Beijing's broad sway extends upstream to the raw chemicals, solvents and reagents known as "key starting materials" needed to make the APIs themselves. US officials, former trade negotiators and analysts say America's dependence on Beijing for such exports creates a risk too big to ignore, even though China has not directly threatened drug supplies. The global backlash the Asian nation would face if it tried to interfere with life-saving therapies has deterred Beijing from wielding its dominance, for now... Full

Beijing's Control of Life-Saving Medicines Threatens American Health and Safety

(10/24, Henry Miller, Washington Examiner) ...Another, less publicized but hugely important sector is pharmaceuticals, more specifically "active pharmaceutical ingredients," or APIs. As the name suggests, APIs are the critical active ingredients in many of the pills and injectable drugs sold in the U.S. — from antibiotics and blood pressure medications to cancer treatments. And like rare earth minerals, a staggering share of them come from one place: China... Full

Rick Scott Boosts U.S. Pharmaceutical Drug Production

(10/25, Andrian Morgade, The Floridian) ...Florida Senator Rick Scott (R) appeared in a Fox News segment this week where he discussed his push to move generic drug production back to the U.S., as over 90% of U.S. pharmaceuticals originate from countries such as India and China...Sen. Scott claimed that China's control over the sourcing of these ingredients and drugs prevents the FDA from inspecting their production and quality, posing a threat to both citizens and the military...Scott further argued that the U.S. could move generic drug production stateside in as little as a couple of years, expressing confidence that the Trump administration can incentivize companies to make the shift... Full

Cuban Pushes Back On Claims TrumpRx Only Serves Uninsured, Says It Can Beat Copays

(10/24, Maaisha Osman, Inside Health Policy) ...Mark Cuban, founder of the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, told Inside Health Policy that assertions the TrumpRx direct-to-patient model only serves uninsured patients are inaccurate, adding that cash prices can become cheaper than insurance copays and that Cost Plus will accept insurance for drugs purchased through the TrumpRx platform when in-network... Sub. Req’d

Cigna Will End Drug Rebates in Many Private Health Plans in 2027

(10/27, John Tozzi, Bloomberg) ...The insurer will expand the rebate-free model to clients of its pharmacy benefits business starting in 2028. The plan to eventually phase out rebates more broadly portends a seismic shift in the flow of billions of dollars among drugmakers, insurers and employers. Cigna said it aims to lower patients' costs at the pharmacy counter with up-front discounts rather than rebates collected from drugmakers long after a medication is dispensed... Sub. Req’d

Why Drug Price Controls Are All The Rage

(10/24, Caitlin Owens, Axios) ...As most Republicans fall in line behind President Trump's efforts to take on pharmaceutical pricing, the new conversation is around how to limit costs through policymaking, not whether to...But the vanguard of politicians willing to defend free market pharmaceutical pricing has drastically shrunk. The outcasts argue that top-down cost controls have unintended consequences, the worst of which will be a decrease in future biomedical innovation... Full

Biosimilars: US FDA Regulatory Science Research ROI Still To Be Determined

(10/24, Derrick Gingery, Pink Sheet) ...OTBB Director Sarah Yim said the Biosimilar User Fee Regulatory Science Research Program likely needed a bit more of a "running start." The inability of research to focus on a specific biosimilar class also limited the projects that could be funded, Yim said. The most accepted proposals came from government entities, including the FDA... Global Sub. Full

Generic Drugmakers Seek to Thwart a Connecticut Law That Would Cap Rising Prices

(10/27, Ed Silverman, STAT+) ...A trade group representing generic drugmakers is seeking an injunction to thwart a provision of a new Connecticut law that places a price cap on lower-cost copycat medicines, arguing the effort is "unconstitutional overreach."...The law "targets generic and biosimilar drug manufacturers, the very companies that drive affordability. If enforced, the law would most likely reduce generic competition and limit generic alternatives. Since generic drugs reduce prescription drug costs, the law's effect undermines its stated purpose," the AAM said in a statement after seeking the injunction... Sub. Req’d

US FDA Approves Bayer's Menopause Relief Drug

(10/24, Padmanabhan Ananthan, Reuters) ...The drug's wholesale cost is $625 for a month's supply, though patient costs vary based on insurance, the company said. It has partnered with online pharmacy BlinkRx, through which eligible patients may pay as little as $25 a month via the Lynkuet Access, Savings and Support program. The FDA's approval for Lynkuet was based on three late-stage studies that showed the drug reduced the frequency and severity of hot flashes and eased sleep disturbances in menopausal women... Full

FDA Uncovers Unauthorized Indian API Warehouse With Lizards, Cats

(10/24, Zachary Brennan, Endpoints News) ...According to the Form 483, released Friday, FDA inspectors arrived at Hetero's Visakhapatnam, India-based warehouse in late September and were denied entry for approximately two hours..."During the inspection, multiple pest and animal sightings were observed within the two buildings of the warehouse," the inspection report says. "This included birds flying throughout the warehouse buildings, bird droppings on top of [redacted] drums, birds' nest observed within the top seams of the warehouse, crawling lizards, and cats crawling in between pallets and rows of API and Intermediate drums."... Sub. Req’d

Dr Reddy's Q2 Revenue Beats Estimates Buoyed by Consumer NRT Portfolio

(10/24, Jessica Jani, Mint) ...Dr Reddy's is among Indian generic players to have reached a settlement with the innovator of blood cancer medicine Revlimid or Lenalidomide, Celgene, to sell the drug in restricted quantities until its patent expires this January. "Growth in Q2 was driven by momentum in branded markets and steady contributions from the nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) portfolio, which helped offset the decline in US Lenalidomide sales," co-chairman and managing director, G.V. Prasad said in a statement... Full

Novartis Goes Big for Neuroscience With $12B Deal for Late-Stage Dystrophy Biotech Avidity

(10/26, James Waldron, Fierce Biotech) ...The Swiss pharma is paying $12 billion for Avidity Biosciences and its three late-stage antibody-oligonucleotide conjugates. Novartis is justifying the hefty price tag by claiming the deal will "unlock multi-billion-dollar opportunities with planned product launches before 2030." Those hoped-for launches include delpacibart zotadirsen (del-zota), for which phase 1/2 data in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) impressed investors last year. The candidate, which uses an anti-TfR1 antibody to deliver an oligonucleotide to target cells, was tied to a statistically significant 25% increase in dystrophin production among people amenable to exon 44 skipping... Full

China's Innovent Says Its GLP-1 Works Better Than Novo's Semaglutide in Diabetes Study

(10/27, Andrew Silver, Reuters) ...China's Innovent Biologics, said on Monday its GLP-1 injection led to more weight loss and better control of blood sugar in patients with diabetes than injectable semaglutide, the active ingredient in Novo Nordisk's, diabetes and weight-loss medicines. The late-stage head-to-head trial compared different doses of the two drugs in patients with diabetes and obesity to assess glycemic control and weight loss. One group received a 6 mg dose of the mazdutide drug that Innovent develops and the other a 1 mg dose of injectable semaglutide... Full

Biogen Licenses Vanqua Bio's Immune Disorder Drug for Up to $1.06 Billion

(10/24, Mariam Sunny, Reuters) ...The oral drug targets a protein involved in various inflammatory disorders and is currently in preclinical testing, the drugmaker said. Biogen has been expanding into immunology and rare disease medicines through acquisitions and partnerships to drive revenue growth as sales continue to dwindle for its older multiple sclerosis drugs due to rising competition... Full

At a Gathering of Biopharma Executives, a Moment of Wonder — and Also of Worry

(10/24, Matthew Herper, STAT+) ...Executives from large pharmaceutical and biotech companies who spoke at the STAT Summit struggled aloud with the same existential issues that have haunted the industry for decades: drug pricing; the degradation of trust in science and the difficulty of communicating with the public; and China's insurgence as a power in biotech. The issue of public trust loomed largest: Why does the public have so little faith in an industry that, despite its marketing infractions and high prices, generates products that prevent, treat, and cure everything from heart attacks to HIV to cancer... Sub. Req’d

‘The Time of the Einsteins is Over': Pharma Urged to Rethink Trials for 2050

(10/27, Abigail Beaney, Clinical Trials Arena) ...With an ageing population, climate change, global health challenges, and digital transformation, it will take collaboration to solve the growing challenges set to face the clinical trial sector, said Dr Bernhard Glombitza, head of clinical operations at Bayer. Clinical trials are continuing to accelerate, with Glombitza sharing that in 2005, there were 20,000 registered clinical trials, whereas in 2025, it is around 450,000. This raises the question of how many clinical trials may be active and what challenges could arise in 2050. One thing that is likely is that artificial intelligence (AI) will have a prominent role in clinical trials, said Glombitza... Full

‘AI is Aiding in Fasterand Better-Decision Making', says Ramesh Swaminathan

(10/26, Sudhir Chowdhary, Financial Express) ...From automating supply chain processes to leveraging big data analytics for improved decision-making, Lupin is streamlining operations and accelerating drug discovery and development via digital tools. Ramesh Swaminathan, executive-director, global CFO, head of IT and API Plus SBU, Lupin, speaks to Sudhir Chowdhary on how the pharma major is utilising AI, Industrial Internet of Things, robotics and automation across its operations and placing patient-centricity at the forefront... Full

Let's Be DIRECT: We Have an Access and Affordability Problem to Solve

(10/24, Adam J. Fein, Ph.D., Drug Channels) ...The pharmaceutical industry is at an inflection point. Rising costs, opaque pricing and fragmented care are straining every part of the healthcare ecosystem. Patients, payers, pharma, providers, and pharmacies are all feeling the pain of misaligned incentives in a system that is harder to navigate than it should be. There is a dire need for new thinking—not for fixing old processes. While direct-to-patient (DTP) may be the latest buzzworthy term, it is not a silver bullet, and we already see the need to go beyond it... Full

Chinese Biotech Industry Shows No Signs of Slowing as Threat of U.S. Restrictions Loom

(10/27, Brian Yang, STAT+) ...As the U.S. government moves to guard against an increasingly competitive Chinese biotech industry, Chinese drugmakers are striking major deals with their global counterparts — including some in the U.S. Last week, Innovent Biologics announced a deal with the Japanese pharmaceutical giant Takeda that will provide it $1.2 billion up front and more than $10 billion in potential "milestone" payments — along with a $100 million equity investment — for rights to a pair of cancer medications. Under the agreement, the biggest deal yet for Chinese-developed antibodies, the two will jointly develop and commercialize one of the drugs in the U.S... Sub. Req’d

Panel Discussion: From Biosimilars to Breakthroughs: India's Innovation Pathway

(10/25, Express Pharma) ...Key Highlights...Opportunities for India Biopharma Inc lie in novel biologics, stronger clinical research, digital innovation and global-quality manufacturing...Innovation should focus on products designed for Indian populations. Cost optimisation with uncompromised quality must be a shared industry focus... Full

India Won't Just Consume the GLP-1 Revolution; It Will Manufacture it for the World

(10/25, Jimeet Modi, Moneycontrol) ...Globally, this market is estimated at $56 billion in 2024 and expected to hit $150 billion by 2030. If Indian players succeed in scaling production and biosimilar innovation, even a small slice of this pie could translate into multi-billion-dollar export opportunities. With their established expertise in generics, biologics and peptide chemistry, Indian firms are strategically positioned to replicate the biologic revolution much like they did with vaccines and insulin in the past decade...In the short term, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk will continue to dominate due to strong branding and doctor trust. But in the medium to long term, expect Indian pharma to emerge as a major competitive force bringing innovation, affordability, and scale to one of the fastest-growing drug segments in history... Full

Pharmexcil to Lead Business Delegation to Egypt, Algeria, and Morocco to Boost Exports

(10/27, Pharmabiz.com) ...The Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) will lead a business delegation to Egypt, Algeria, and Morocco between January 12 and 21, 2026. The initiative aims to strengthen India's pharmaceutical presence in Africa, which is one of the fastest-growing markets for generic medicines. The visit schedule and dates have been officially confirmed by the Indian Embassies in the respective countries... Full

EUROAPI's Med4Cure Project to Strengthen Pharma Sovereignty

(10/24, Pharmaceutical Technology) ...EUROAPI has announced Med4Cure, an initiative within the Health Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) framework, to strengthen pharmaceutical sovereignty in Europe...Med4Cure will support EUROAPI's R&D activities, ranging from early-stage to industrial feasibility studies, in three strategic domains. The initial priority will be corticosteroids, involving processes and technologies development at the Vertolaye site to enhance molecules production for allergic and immune diseases... Full

Ukraine Building Central Authority For Drugs And Devices In EU Membership Drive

(10/24, Anabel Costa-Ferreira, Pink Sheet) ...An EU-funded project is set to help Ukraine establish an independent State Control Authority (SCA) for medicines and medical devices, capable of operating within the EU network of competent authorities...The project aims to align Ukraine's medical product oversight with EU standards and best practices, and directly supports the country's EU accession path by operationalizing EU-aligned regulatory frameworks, the SMCA told the Pink Sheet... Global Sub. Full

Sweden Needs to Step Up if Investments in R&D are to Increase

(10/27, The Pharma Letter) ...Sweden's climate for research and development is considered good by eight out of ten R&D managers in business, according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences' recent barometer. At the same time, there are obstacles to continued growth. Stronger research policy is needed, better conditions for collaboration with healthcare and access to cutting-edge expertise. Sweden must step up to retain investments in the pharmaceutical industry... Sub. Req’d

Japan To Promote Use of Follow-On Biologics

(10/26, JIJI, The Japan Times) ...The health ministry has started considering ways to promote the use of follow-on products of very expensive original biological drugs. Options include increasing out-of-pocket costs of patients who choose original drugs even though the original and follow-on products have the same quality and effects, and raising fees paid to medical institutions that prescribe follow-on biological drugs, also known as biosimilars. The ministry aims to introduce new measures in fiscal 2026, which starts next April, as a way to curb the country's ballooning medical costs... Full

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