ZURICH (Reuters)—Novartis AG has struck a $170 million alliance with U.S.-based Surface Oncology as it seeks to boost its portfolio of medicines that help the body’s immune system fight cancer. The accord, which it announced on Monday, gives Novartis access to four pre-clinical programs aiming to help prevent tumors from evading the immune system, including…
Novartis to Pay $390 Million in U.S. Settlement over Pharmacy Kickbacks
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. will pay $390 million to settle U.S. charges that it paid specialty pharmacies illegal kickbacks in exchange for inducing patients to refill certain medications, according to an accord announced Friday. The settlement between a U.S. unit of Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG, the federal government and more than 40 states concerns payments…
Novartis Biosimilar Takes Aim at Amgen’s Enbrel
ZURICH (Reuters)—The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted Novartis unit Sandoz’s regulatory submission for approval of a biosimilar copy of Amgen’s blockbuster anti-TNF drug Enbrel, the Swiss drugmaker said on Friday. Enbrel, or etanercept as the drug is known generically, is a big prize since it was the world’s fifth-biggest selling medicine in 2014…
Novartis Launches First U.S. Biosimilar Drug at 15% Discount
LONDON/ZURICH (Reuters)—Novartis kicked off a new era in U.S. medicine on Thursday with the launch of the first biosimilar copy of a biotechnology drug approved in the U.S., at a discount of 15% to the original. The Swiss drugmaker’s generics unit Sandoz said Zarxio, its form of Amgen’s white blood cell-boosting product Neupogen (filgrastim), would…