Good morning, one and all. Damian Garde here, filling in for Ed Silverman in the winnowing work hours of yet another week. Any expectation of a requisite news-light August has long since been turned on its head, requiring ever more cups of stimulation and perhaps the occasionally pinch to ensure one hasn’t slipped into a dream. Here’s your regular serving of headlines to get the day going, and please do send us a note if you hear anything interesting.
Two Democratic lawmakers are demanding answers on the escalating prices of multiple sclerosis drugs, STAT tells us. Reps. Elijah Cummings of Maryland and Peter Welch of Vermont sent a letter to the seven largest makers of such treatments — including Biogen (BIIB), Roche (ROG), and Bayer (BAYN) — to request documents on how they set their prices, seeking answers as to how the average cost of MS therapy has nearly quadrupled since 2004.
Drug companies just aren’t buying each other like they used to, Bloomberg observes. In dollar terms, 2017 is on pace to be the slowest year for biopharma buyouts in four years. Big guns like Pfizer (PFE) have long said their in the market for deals, but the uncertainty over the U.S. tax code has left them sitting on their hands.
About the Author Reprints
NO MS drugs have ever cured MS and never ever will. Billions upon billions has been made from MS patients who have all been exploited for money. Many MS drugs are poisons and many have died on MS drugs that still no one yet has collected all the data on. Sadly many more will die because no one has scrutinized whats really going on sadly .