1. Valeant CEO Michael Pearson told staffers in an internal meeting that “there is no other big shoe to drop that I am aware of.” He added that “to the best of my knowledge we are not sitting on any other big issues,” unnamed sources told Bloomberg. Valeant has faced criticism in recent months over its ties to specialty pharmacies and over the pricing of its medicines. (Bloomberg)
2. Sanofi named Ameet Nathwani as EVP, group chief medical officer. Nathwani was previously SVP, global head of medical affairs at Novartis. (BioSpace)
3. The US Senate passed a bill to fund treatment for prisoners addicted to opioids. The bill will bolster prevention efforts as well as increase the availability of anti-overdose drug Narcan (naloxone). (MedPage Today)
4. Sanofi and Regeneron said a clinical trial studying its experimental rheumatoid arthritis drug, sarilumab, helped patients better manage their symptoms than AbbVie’s Humira. The drug was found to be more effective after 24 weeks of treatment in the study, the companies said.
5. Stephen Ubl, PhRMA president and CEO, said that the current drug pricing debate “is largely myopic and misinformed.” The comments were made during the lobbying organization’s annual meeting. Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier, also in attendance, told the audience that the “headlines don’t tell the full story.” (Stat)
