1. Shire said it is considering splitting into two units, one devoted to rare disease and the other to neuroscience, to improve performance in both businesses. (CNBC)

2. Beginning on January 15, New Jersey physicians will be subject to a $10,000 total annual cap in contracts and payments from the pharmaceutical industry. The cap includes fees for consulting and speaking but exempts payments for both clinical and market research as well as education. (Policy and Medicine)

3. 2018 will see a significant increase in biotech mergers and acquisitions, according to two new reports. Three deals by Celgene, Novo Nordisk, and Takeda have already amounted to about $11 billion. (Reuters)

4. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries reached a $200 million licensing deal with Alder BioPharmaceuticals. The agreement assigns Alder a global license for experimental migraine drug eptinezumab and formally ends Alder’s challenge to Teva’s patents in Europe on CGRP antibodies. (Endpoints News)

5. Patient-assistance charity Patient Services filed a lawsuit against the federal government. The charity alleges that the government is restricting communication with its donors, which are pharmaceutical companies. (WaPo)