Look back at pharma news to Nov 10

By Barbara Obstoj-Cardwell. Editor

In the field of M&A last week, attracting a great deal of attention was debt-ridden Canadian firm Valeant Pharmaceuticals International's sale of its subsidiary Sprout Pharmaceuticals. The regulatory arena saw US Food and Drug Administration approvals for: Roche’s cancer drug Alecensa; Seattle Genetics’ Adcetris for lymphoma; and Dynavax’ hepatitis B drug Heplisav-B. Sage Therapeutics’ Phase III trial of brexanolone in postpartum depressive disorder raised questions on what this would mean for Marinus Pharmaceuticals, and Sanofi’s deal with Principia Biopharma for a novel multiple sclerosis candidate PRN2246 also raised comments.

Valeant acquisition of Sprout “an utter disaster”