Look back at pharma news to Sept 1

Without doubt, the biggest piece of news to drop last week was the decision of US Biotech major Gilead Sciences to make an acquisition, that of Kite Pharma, which investors have been angling for, given that the company’s magnificent anti-virals blockbuster platform was beginning to fall apart because its latest hepatitis C drugs were actually “curing” the conditions – a self eliminating market. On the regulatory front, the biggest piece of news was the Food and Drug Administration approval of the first CAR-T cell therapy, Novartis’ Kymriah. Novartis also reported some significant new data on its canakinumab. Additionally attracting comment was new data on Bayer’s Xarelto and the acquisition of Dimension Therapeutics by Regenxbio.

Gilead Sciences drops the acquisition bombshell

Gilead Sciences has agreed  to acquire Kite Pharma in a deal valued at $11.9 billion, and Jonathan Weber writing on the Seeking Alpha blog noted that Gilead engaging in M&A is something many investors have been awaiting for a couple of years., so what could the deal mean for Gilead.