1. Gilead Sciences said it will acquire Kite Pharma for $11.9 billion, netting the company’s experimental cancer drug KTE-C19. This would be Gilead’s largest deal since its $11 billion acquisition of Pharmasset in 2011. (NYT)
2. The FDA has issued the lowest amount of warning letters to companies this year since 2008. The agency has sent 265 warning letters between January and July of this year and only one from the Office of Prescription Drug Promotion. (Bloomberg)
3. The FDA approved Boehringer Ingelheim’s Cyltezo, the second biosimilar of AbbVie’s Humira. The first Humira biosimilar to receive FDA approval was Amgen’s Amjevita in 2016. (Medscape)
4. The FDA expanded the label for Novo Nordisk’s Victoza. A clinical trial found that the drug significantly reduces the risk of death from heart attack or stroke compared to placebo. (Reuters)
5. Adamas Pharmaceuticals received FDA approval for Gocovri, an extended release version of a generic Parkinson’s disease drug. The list price is expected to be in the range of $10,000 to $30,000. (Endpoints News)
