The Olympics will be postponed to 2021 as the sporting world adapts to the coronavirus pandemic, according to IOC member Dick Pound.

Australian athletes react positively to news that the Tokyo Olympics are postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak and will now take place in 2021.

Australian officials agree that postponing the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games until next year because of coronavirus is a positive move, saying it will come as a relief to athletes around the world.

Neither of the major football codes seem likely to emerge from the coronavirus outlook unscathed and nor do the free-to-air television networks that broadcast their matches.

Coronavirus has changed sport forever. But what will it look like when it comes back?

The IOC and Olympics organisers have reset the clock on the Tokyo games for a year-long delay from the intended opening — but they warn there is no blueprint for getting to the new start line.

The head of the Australian Olympic Committee says the Gold Coast has a key role to play in south-east Queensland's 2032 bid.

Rugby Australia chairman Paul McLean defends Raelene Castle's tenure as chief executive, as he calls out the bullying she received from "faceless people" during her time in the job.

With the recent flurry of changes in Rugby Australia leadership, confusion increases for those involved with a game already in crisis as concerns continue that an expected loan won't be large enough to help.

AOC chief John Coates says history suggests the Tokyo Olympics could provide a special way for the world to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic.

Times critics Justin Chang and Glenn Whipp discuss Marvel's "The Avengers," winner of the #UltimateSummerMovie Showdown, Week 1.

The aggressive nationalism of China's diplomats matches the swagger of Xi Jinping's China, which is determined to deflect blame for the coronavirus.

Tute Genomics is opening a new door for precision medicine by enabling researchers and clinicians to utilize human genome data for scientific discovery and individualized treatment.

By Suzan Onel and Vanessa Fulton On March 19, 2020, FDA issued a guidance document communicating its policy regarding postmarket adverse event reporting during a pandemic (“Guidance”).  The Guidance provides recommendations that affect adverse event reporting obligations for drugs, biologics, medical devices, combination products, and dietary supplements. To summarize, FDA states in the Guidance that

The post FDA Waives Certain Adverse Event Reporting Deadlines Across Product Industries During Pandemics appeared first on Kleinfeld Kaplan & Becker LLP.

Adhesives specialist Intertronics has launched the preeflow eco-DUOMIX, a system that mixes and dispenses two-part materials.

Medical device manufacturer, Boddingtons, has lately been resourcing fast-tooling and moulding projects in relation to emergency procurement for the Covid-19 crisis.

During Covid-19, magnetic separation, metal detection, and conveying products are essential because they support the plastics processing industry and protect plastic from metal contamination.

You can view all of the articles from this issue individually in full here.

Lyra Therapeutics, a biotech company developing a new way to treat your persistently runny nose, has raised $56 million in its public markets debut. Late Thursday, Lyra offered 3.5 million shares priced at $16 apiece, which was the high end of its projected $14 to $16 price range. Those shares are expected to begin trading […]

PTC Therapeutics has reached an agreement to acquire Censa Pharmaceuticals and its lead asset, an experimental metabolic disorder therapy that is now being prepared for a pivotal study. The deal, announced after the market close Wednesday, will bring South Plainfield, NJ-based PTC (NASDAQ: PTCT) another compound for its pipeline of rare disease drugs. Wellesley, MA-based […]

Massachusetts-based biotech Disarm Therapeutics has hired Dr Alvin Shih as their new President and CEO.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based firm has set itself the task of creating a new class of disease-modifying therapeutics for patients with axonal degeneration, a central drive of neurological disease.

Dr Shih brings to the role a range of experiences. Having graduated with a biology degree from Vanderbilt University in 1996, Shih joined management consultancy McKinsey where he worked as a business analyst for two years.

read more

Neuronetics, Inc and Chris Thatcher, the President and CEO, have mutually agreed that he will step down from his positions in the company. He will provide transition services and advice to the company until 1 May 2020.

read more

Data science firm Genomics Plc, which lays claim to “the world’s largest genomic database”, has welcomed Mitchell Harris to the company and its senior leadership team as its Chief Strategy Officer.

Joining from his previous role as Global Head, Emerging Business Lines at Abcam, Harris’ career has given him ample experience in commercial strategy and operations. Prior to his most recent role at Abcam, he acted as the company’s Head of Proteins Portfolio Commercial and Business Development.

read more

Dr Lisa von Moltke has left Aklermes and has joined Seres Therapeutics as its new Chief Medical Officer.

Chief Executive Officer at Seres, Eric Shaff, said Seres will benefit from von Moltke’s “extensive experience directing successful development programs, leading clinical teams, and interacting with regulatory agencies across multiple areas of medicine.”

read more

The pharmaceutical firm has purchased the company, which specializes in advancing treatments and diagnostics for ocular disorders.

Rumor has it that Spring has finally reached our worldwide headquarters here in beautiful downtown Philadelphia. (See photo at right.) While we wait to go outside, please enjoy this month’s selection of noteworthy news:

• The outlook for drug prices

• A outstanding (and free!) resource for tracking COVID-19 daily data

• What’s up with community oncology practices?

Plus, I share my favorite chart of 2020 (so far).

P.S. Join the more than 9,200 followers of my curated links to neat stuff at @DrugChannels on Twitter. My recent tweets have highlighted: Prime Therapeutics new gene therapy offering, AmerisourceBergen’s laudable deal with the Justice Department, the Costco/Instacart deal, Rite Aid’s new CEO, clinical trial trends, vaccine pricing, and much more! I have also been tweeting under-the-radar stories about how the coronavirus is affecting drug channels.

Tomorrow (May 1), Drug Channels Institute will host the first of two live video webinars: Industry Update and COVID-19 Impact: Retail & Specialty Pharmacies. We'll host the second video webinar—Industry Update and COVID-19 Impact: PBMs & Payers—on May 8. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE AND SIGN UP. Contact Paula Fein (paula@drugchannelsinstitute.com) for our special promo codes for multiple viewing sites. DCI will donate 20% of all profits from these events to The Center for Disaster Philanthropy’s COVID-19 Response Fund.

Read more »

This week, I’m rerunning some popular posts while I prepare for this Friday’s video webinar: Industry Update and COVID-19 Impact: PBMs & Payers.

I suspect this deal will remain profitable for the participating companies even as COVID-19 alters the US. prescription payer mix. Click here to see the original post and comments from January 2020. National market shares for the largest PBMs in 2019 appears as Exhibit 88 of our 2020 Economic Report on U.S. Pharmacies and Pharmacy Benefit Managers.

P.S. Sorry that today's meme is one day too late for Star Wars day.

---

Just before the holidays, Cigna’s Express Scripts business announced a market-changing deal with Prime Therapeutics. Click here to read the press release.

There's been very little written about this transaction, though it has potentially major implications. Below, I share my thoughts on the following topics arising from the deal:

• Implications for manufacturers and pharmacies

• The role of the secretive Ascent Health Services

• What this all means for Walgreens

• Why the Federal Trade Commission won’t challenge the deal

A few weeks ago, I explained why integrated insurer / PBM / specialty pharmacy / provider organizations are poised to restructure U.S. drug channels. The Express Scripts / Prime deal signals that the channel will continue its amazing pace of reinvention.

The scale, scope, and interconnectedness of today’s market participants make the system increasingly resistant to massive disruption from either external players like Amazon or a government takeover. Like it or not, the channel will continue to gain power and extract profit. Read on and see if you agree.
Read more »

A US federal judge has ruled that generic versions of the cancer treatment Bendeka infringe on four separate patents, and has delayed them from launching until 2031.

In another strategic M&A deal announced so far this month, PTC Therapeutics has entered into an agreement…

AbbVie may be working through COVID-19, but it's pressing ahead with its Allergan merger, too—and taking stock of products hit by pandemic lockdowns. That puts Allergan’s aesthetics business top of mind, but AbbVie CEO Rick Gonzalez figures customers are ready and able to return quickly for treatment.

Even a pandemic can’t slow down Seattle Genetics and Astellas' new bladder cancer treatment Padcev, which "blew out sales expectations" for the first quarter, analysts said. And now, they're jacking up their long-term sales estimates for the drug as a result.

With its multibillion-dollar restructuring plan in the rearview mirror, Teva is pinning its future growth on two of its branded meds with high hopes. But generics are still central to the Israeli drugmaker's business, and increased demand due to COVID-19 gave Teva a welcome gift in the first three months of the year.

Timothy Oldani, 24, of Scott Depot, W.Va., and Joseph Oldani, 21, of Camp Lejeune, N.C., both pleaded guilty today in the Southern District of West Virginia to conspiring to steal military optics from the U.S. Marine Corps and illegally export them from the United States.

A federal jury in Memphis, Tenn., today found Arthur Sease IV, a former Memphis Police Department officer, guilty on forty-four counts of civil rights, narcotics, robbery and firearms offenses. The evidence at trial showed that from November 2003 through April 2006, Sease conspired with other Memphis police officers to use their authority as law enforcement officers, including their service weapons, to rob suspected drug dealers of cash, cocaine and marijuana. Sease and his co-conspirators would then resell the stolen drugs for their own profit.

The government has filed two lawsuits against the Union Pacific Railroad Company for allegedly failing to prevent the use of its rail cars to smuggle large quantities of narcotics into the United States. The complaints, filed in San Diego and Houston, seek more than $37 million in monetary penalties. The government alleges the rail cars were brought across the border at the ports of entry at Calexico, Calif., and Brownsville, Texas.

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated and its subsidiary, Nichols Institute Diagnostics (NID), have entered into a global settlement with the United States to resolve criminal and civil claims concerning various types of diagnostic test kits that NID manufactured, marketed and sold to laboratories throughout the country until 2006. The payment of $302 million will resolve these allegations and represents one of the largest recoveries ever in a case involving a medical device.

"By focusing on increased cooperation between the U.S. and Mexican governments as well as enhanced communication within U.S. law enforcement agencies, the National Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy we introduce today provides an effective way forward that will crack down on cartels and make our country safer."

Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation (ALKQN) member Marie Chavez, aka "Shorty," the wife of an alleged ALKQN leader Jose Nava, aka "Chino," pleaded guilty to a superseding indictment charging her and 16 co-defendants with various offenses related to alleged narcotics and weapons trafficking and violent activities

Haji Bagcho, aka Haji Bagh Chagul, an Afghan national, was ordered detained today by Magistrate Judge John M. Facciola in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia while he awaits trial on U.S. narcotics charges.

Arthur Sease IV, a former Memphis Police Department officer, was sentenced today to a prison term of life plus 255 years by Chief Judge Jon P. McCalla in Memphis, Tenn. A jury convicted Sease in February 2009 of 44 counts of civil rights, narcotics, robbery, and firearms offenses.

Dynamics Research Corporation (DRC), a defense contractor based in Andover, Mass., has agreed to pay the United States $15 million plus interest to settle allegations that two of its former executives engaged in a fraudulent kickback scheme in connection with two technical services contracts with the Air Force.

Formosa Plastics Corp., Texas, and Formosa Plastics Corp., Louisiana, will spend more than $10 million on pollution controls to address air, water, and hazardous waste violations at two petrochemical plants in Point Comfort, Texas, and Baton Rouge, La.

“The Department of Justice will be vigilant in pursuing cases against medical device companies that break the law and defraud taxpayers,” said Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division.

The Department filed a lawsuit against the state of New Jersey and the New Jersey Civil Service Commission alleging a pattern or practice of employment discrimination against African-Americans and Hispanics, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

The leader of the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation (ALKQN) in Texas and one of his enforcers were found guilty this afternoon on multiple charges related to their participation in a large scale narcotics and firearms trafficking conspiracy.

Miami resident Daisy Martinez was sentenced today to 96 months in prison for her role in a series of Detroit Medicare fraud schemes, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade of the Eastern District of Michigan; Special Agent in Charge Andrew G. Arena of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Lamont Pugh III of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General’s (HHS-OIG) Chicago Regional Office

Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics Inc. and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation have agreed to pay $72.5 million to resolve civil False Claims Act allegations arising from the marketing of the cystic fibrosis drug TOBI.

The leader of the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation in Texas and one of his enforcers were sentenced today to life in prison by U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings.