Alexion has announced it is to acquire Boston-based blood disorder specialist Portola Pharmaceuticals in a transaction to the value of $1.41 billion in cash.

South Korea says that remdesivir, traditionally used in treating Ebola, may not be effective enough in treating COVID-19 patients.

Two studies from the UK and US have identified hundreds of mutations in COVID-19, which could cause problems for the development of a vaccine.

Results could unlock another big market for the company’s star drug

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration posted a photo:

This product is promoted with unapproved claims to prevent, treat, mitigate, or cure COVID-19. FDA warns consumers to avoid unproven and potentially unsafe products. See the Warning Letter for more information:

www.fda.gov/inspections-compliance-enforcement-and-crimin...

More information is available at www.fda.gov/consumers/health-fraud-scams/fraudulent-coron...

Photo by FDA's Office of Regulatory Affairs, Health Fraud Branch

This photo is free of all copyright restrictions and available for use and redistribution without permission. Credit to FDA's Office of Regulatory Affairs, Health Fraud Branch is appreciated but not required.

Click to view a price quote on LCI.

Almost a year after the original announcement, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has accepted the…

Shares of Danish allergy immunotherapy specialist ALK Abello were up almost 10% at 1,788.00 Danish kroner…

US drugmaker Alexion Pharmaceuticals fared better in its revenue and adjusted earnings figures in the…

GlaxoSmithKline has completed divestment of its Horlicks and other Consumer Healthcare nutrition products…

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

US biotech firm jCyte Inc has entered into a licensing agreement with Japanese ophthalmology specialist…

Gilead Sciences scored a massive win earlier this week with its first positive data readout for investigational candidate remdesivir in treating patients with severe COVID-19. Gilead already has its own supply of the drug humming in anticipation of high demand, but opportunities are out there for a partner to join in. 

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.

AstraZeneca has watched superstar SGLT2 diabetes med Farxiga nail trial after trial in highly coveted kidney and heart failure indications, with the FDA expediting reviews to back them up. The one thing AstraZeneca was missing? The agency taking Farxiga across the finish line. 

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.

Biogen has had a rocky road with its controversial Alzheimer's disease candidate aducanumab, resurrected late last year. But despite postponing the drug's FDA filing half a year, Biogen is still moving forward with plans to scale up production if aducanumab eventually passes muster.

Bristol Myers Squibb CEO Giovanni Caforio credited COVID-19-related stocking for high sales of some products in the first quarter, including Eliquis, a blood thinner that's being snapped up to reduce clotting risk in patients with the virus. But the pandemic has limited access to oncology clinics and other non-COVID-19 services, raising challenges that could impact sales later this year.

Global Blood Therapeutics' sickle cell disease medicine Oxbryta got off to a hot start after a November FDA approval. But early in its launch, execs now say they're seeing a "clear headwind" from the COVID-19 pandemic. Lately, new patient starts have tanked by 60%, CEO Ted Love said.

Global drugmakers are working overtime to keep supplies coming amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. But in manufacturing facilities packed with workers, COVID-19 presents a particularly difficult challenge—and now one Indian plant has been forced to shutter due to a rash of infections. 

When Gilead Sciences scored a groundbreaking FDA emergency use authorization for COVID-19 therapy remdesivir, the company made the unusual move of handing distribution rights to the U.S. government. But the federal rollout has gotten off to a rocky start. 

The number of deaths from the coronavirus in Mexico's best-known border city, Tijuana, has soared and the COVID-19 mortality rate is twice the national average, the health ministry says, after medical staff quickly fell ill as the outbreak rampaged through hospital wards.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Saturday approved emergency use authorization (EUA) to Quidel Corp for the first COVID-19 antigen test.

The world of biotech suffered a great loss in 2019 with the passing on Michael Becker. Be sure to take in the tributes to Michael from around the Twitterverse. [...]

A former employee of the New York Power Authority (NYPA) was sentenced today to serve 37 months in jail and to pay a $5,000 criminal fine for his role in a kickback and bribery scheme.

The owner and operator of HME Solutions Inc., dba Lifecare Medical (Lifecare Medical), a licensed pharmaceutical wholesale company in Miami, pleaded guilty today to defrauding the Medicare program in connection with a $5.3 million HIV-infusion fraud scheme.

A former high-level shipping executive was sentenced today to serve 48 months in jail and to pay a $20,000 criminal fine for his role in an antitrust conspiracy involving the transportation of goods to and from the continental United States and Puerto Rico by ocean vessel. This is the longest jail sentence ever imposed for a single antitrust charge.

The Department announced today that it has entered into a settlement agreement with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) that, if approved by the court, will resolve the complaint of pattern or practice religious discrimination filed by the United States against WMATA under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

A federal grand jury in San Francisco returned an indictment against two former executives from Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd. (Chunghwa) and one former executive from LG Display Co. Ltd. (LG) for their participation in a global conspiracy to fix prices of Thin Film Transistor-Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) panels.

Former Tippah County, Miss., Deputy Sheriff Jeffrey Rogers, 35, pleaded guilty today to a one-count information charging him and former Deputy Sheriff William Rogers with violating the civil rights of an arrestee. William Rogers, 56, who is Jeffrey Rogers’ father, pleaded guilty on Jan. 20, 2009, to the same charge of violating the civil rights of an arrestee.

A federal district court in Connecticut has permanently barred Elda Sinani, a resident of that state, from preparing federal tax returns for others. Sinani consented to the civil injunction order.

Theodore Allan, 54, of Glendale, Ariz., was sentenced today to five years in prison for distribution of child pornography. Allan was indicted on charges of distribution, receipt and possession of child pornography on March 6, 2007.

A federal grand jury in San Francisco today returned a two-count indictment against the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd. for his participation in global conspiracies to fix prices of two types of cathode ray tubes (CRTs) used in computer monitors and televisions.

The United States has sued a Dallas tax preparer, Tina Preston, her tax-preparation firm – Preston Tax Services, Inc. – and several other individuals associated with the firm, seeking to bar them all permanently from the tax-preparation business. The civil injunction suit was filed in Dallas with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Five defendants, all members or associates of an extended family, face potential life sentences after being found guilty of sex trafficking for participating in a scheme that lured young Central American women and girls into the Los Angeles area and forced them into prostitution. The defendants, four Guatemalan nationals and one Mexican citizen, were convicted on Feb. 11, 2009, of conspiracy; sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and importation of aliens for purposes of prostitution.

The United States has sued a Clive, Iowa, couple to bar them from preparing federal tax returns for others. According to the government complaint, Jill Schwartz-Musin, her husband Howard Musin, and their business, SSC Services, prepare fraudulent federal income tax returns for small business owners.

The United States has sued a Sacramento, Calif., tax preparer, Chris Elmer, his firm – Associated Tax Planners Inc. (ATP) – and several members of his family associated with ATP, seeking to bar them all permanently from the tax-preparation business. The civil injunction suit was filed in Sacramento with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

A federal judge in Pennsylvania has permanently barred Chalamar Muhammad and her husband, Curtis Muhammad, from preparing tax returns for others. Judge Harvey Bartle III of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania entered the order of permanent injunction after the Coatesville, Pa., couple failed to defend against the government’s allegations.

UBS AG, Switzerland’s largest bank, has entered into a deferred prosecution agreement on charges of conspiring to defraud the United States by impeding the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). As part of the deferred prosecution agreement and in an unprecedented move, UBS, based on an order by the Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority (FINMA), has agreed to immediately provide the United States government with the identities of, and account information for, certain United States customers of UBS’s cross-border business.

A federal grand jury in Newark, N.J., has returned an eight-count indictment charging a Liberian company that manages an oceangoing bulk carrier vessel, M/V Myron N, along with the ship’s chief engineer and second engineer for covering up discharges of oil-contaminated waste at sea.

The Department today filed a lawsuit against the Wayne County Housing Authority (WCHA), in Fairfield, Ill., as well as Jill Masterson and Danna Sutton, WCHA’s executive director and assistant director, respectively, alleging that they violated the Fair Housing Act when they tried to discourage a white couple from renting their property in Fairfield to an African-American woman.

The United States has filed suit against a Jacksonville, Fla., tax return preparer, seeking to shut down her business. According to the government complaint, Shirley Clark, who operates the Nichet Corp., has prepared at least 1,250 federal tax returns for her customers from 2004 until 2007 and, on those returns, Clark has claimed nearly $750,000 in fraudulent fuel tax credits.

An Iraqi-born Dutch citizen today pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to murder Americans overseas, including by planting roadside bombs targeting U.S. soldiers in Fallujah, Iraq, and by demonstrating on video how these explosives would be detonated to destroy American vehicles and their occupants.

The United States has filed a lawsuit to block KV Pharmaceutical Company, its subsidiaries, ETHEX Corp. and Ther-Rx Corp., and its principal officers from making and distributing adulterated and unapproved drugs. At the same time, KV agreed to the injunction in a consent decree.

The United States has sued tax return preparers in Placerville, Calif., and Columbia, S.C., seeking to bar them from preparing federal tax returns for others. According to the government complaints in the two cases, Teresa Marty of Pollock Pines, Calif., and Winston Able of Blythewood, S.C., prepare federal income tax returns for their customers that claim fraudulent tax refunds.

Carmelo Oria, a Spanish citizen, who was the Chief Engineer on the Cyprus-flagged M/T Nautilus, pleaded guilty today to using falsified records that concealed improper discharges of oil-contaminated bilge water from the M/T Nautilus.

A federal court has permanently barred Raymond A. Renfrow of Elm City, N.C., from preparing federal income tax returns for others. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina entered the civil injunction order, which also stops Renfrow from promoting a tax fraud scheme that used sham trusts to falsely deduct customers’ non-deductible personal expenses.