Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
$21 Billion Opioid Settlement Proposed
Bloomberg: McKesson Says Opioid Distributors May Pay $21 Billion In Deal
McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc. and AmerisourceBergen Corp. may pay as much as $21 billion -- $3 billion more than they offered last year -- to resolve lawsuits accusing them of mishandling deliveries of opioid painkillers and fueling a public-health crisis in the U.S. In a regulatory filing on Tuesday, McKesson said a group of state attorneys general have proposed the companies pay $21 billion over 18 years to settle more than 3,000 lawsuits filed by state and local governments seeking compensation for the costs of the opioid epidemic. The filing was first reported by Reuters. (Feeley, 11/3)
Becker's Hospital Review: Mylan, Pfizer Get Federal OK For Merger With Upjohn
Mylan and Pfizer said they have received approval from the Federal Trade Commission for their deal to combine Mylan with Pfizer's off-patent drug business, Upjohn. The new combined business will be called Viatris, and its debut is expected to be Nov. 16. (Anderson, 11/3)
Stat: Bristol's Psoriasis Treatment Meets Study Goals, Beats Rival Amgen Drug
Bristol Myers Squibb said Tuesday that an oral drug designed to treat psoriasis differently from currently approved medicines demonstrated superiority to placebo and a competing drug from Amgen — achieving the goals of a large Phase 3 clinical trial. The safety profile of the Bristol drug called deucravacitinib, was “consistent” with previously conducted studies, the company added. (Feuerstein, 11/3)
