1. Pfizer announced it will buy Anacor Pharmaceuticals for roughly $5.2 billion in an all-cash deal. As part of the deal, Pfizer will acquire Anacor’s lead experimental drug, crisaborole, which is an experimental treatment for eczema.
2. Harvard Medical School is loosening its conflict-of-interest policy for faculty ties to industry. The school’s dean said that “our goal is to create situations in which we increase the likelihood” that research will turn into treatments for patients. (Stat)
3. Vermont will likely be the first state to pass a law requiring drugmakers to explain price increases. The bill, which was passed by both legislatures, would require state regulators to create a list of up to 15 drugs that have had the largest price increases; drugmakers on the list would have to justify those increases to the attorney general’s office. (AP)
4. A poll conducted by the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and Stat found that 57% of consumers believe drug ads should be removed from TV. The same poll found that 7% of the public had considered taking a drug after seeing it advertised on TV. (Poll)
5. The price of naloxone, a drug used to reverse opioid overdose, has risen over the past two years. There are currently five different versions of the drug available on the market. (Politico)
