Florida and Louisiana have filed lawsuits accusing Express Scripts, the pharmacy benefit manager owned by Cigna (CI), of colluding with rival Prime Therapeutics to drive down the rates paid to independent pharmacies, adding to a growing wave of state legal action against the powerful drug-pricing intermediaries.

A leading shareholder in Novartis (NVS) has called for a shake-up of the Swiss drugmaker's board to strengthen corporate governance, after back-to-back clinical trial failures this week sent its shares to their steepest fall on record.

BridgeBio Pharma (BBIO) has reported that its experimental oral treatment for achondroplasia demonstrated meaningful benefits beyond height gain in a Phase 3 trial, with data showing improvements in sleep apnea and ear infection rates that could strengthen its case for regulatory approval.

AstraZeneca (AZN) suffered a clinical setback when its breast cancer pill camizestrant, sold as Etcamah, failed to achieve a statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival in a late-stage trial — just one week after the drug received US regulatory approval.

GSK (GSK) will shut its vaccine manufacturing facility in Dresden, Germany, in the summer of 2027, the company announced, citing falling demand for traditional egg-based influenza vaccines. The closure puts 641 jobs at risk, according to German trade union IGBCE.

Apollo Global Management (APO) is in advanced discussions to acquire Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ) orthopedics unit in a deal that could value the business at close to $20 billion. An agreement could be reached within weeks, though J&J is also weighing a public listing of the division as an alternative exit path.

H.C. Wainwright has reiterated its Buy rating and $120 price target on BridgeBio Pharma (BBIO) following new data from the company's Phase 3 ATTRibute-CM study presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Munich. The stock trades at $76.57, giving the company a market capitalization of approximately $15 billion.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS) priced zilganersen, its newly approved treatment for Alexander disease, at $285,000 per dose, a day after U.S. regulators cleared the injectable drug as the first approved therapy for the rare genetic disorder in both adults and children.

AbbVie (ABBV) said its experimental blood cancer therapy etentamig met the primary endpoints of a late-stage trial, reducing the risk of disease progression or death by 60 per cent compared with standard treatments and delivering an objective response rate of 74 per cent in patients with refractory multiple myeloma — well above the 45.7 per cent recorded by investigator-chosen alternatives.

Aspen Pharmacare (APNJ) expects African sales of Eli Lilly's (LLY) Mounjaro to exceed two billion rand ($124mn) in its current financial year, as soaring demand in South Africa is complemented by planned market entries in Nigeria and Kenya.

India's Cipla (CIPL) has entered an exclusive licensing agreement with China's Qilu Pharmaceutical to commercialize a biosimilar version of Merck's (MRK) blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda in the United States, positioning both companies to capture market share as the original therapy approaches a pivotal patent expiry.

Bubs Australia (BUB) secured permanent authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration to sell three infant formula products in the United States, sending its shares up as much as 45 per cent before closing 30 per cent higher — their strongest single-session gain in more than four years.

Shares in Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical (RARE) plunged nearly 48 per cent to a record low of $13.89 in early trading after its experimental treatment for Angelman syndrome failed a closely watched late-stage trial, wiping out approximately $1.25bn in market value and dealing a severe blow to one of the company's most important growth programs.

Shares in Novartis (NVS) fell more than three per cent after its experimental cholesterol-lowering drug pelacarsen failed in a closely watched late-stage study, erasing what analysts had expected to be a blockbuster revenue stream and heaping pressure on upcoming data from a muscle-wasting therapy the Swiss drugmaker acquired through its $12bn purchase of Avidity.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill has filed a federal lawsuit against Express Scripts, a subsidiary of Evernorth Health Services (CI), alleging that the pharmacy benefit manager artificially inflated prescription drug prices, steered patients toward affiliated pharmacies and colluded with a competitor to manipulate fees and reimbursements.

Spire Healthcare (SPI), the British private hospital operator, has agreed to be acquired by a consortium of investment funds comprising Toscafund Asset Management, Three Hills Capital Partners and Ares Management, in a transaction valuing its share capital at approximately £1.03bn ($1.39bn).

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved rusfertide, a first-of-its-kind treatment for polycythemia vera developed by Takeda Pharmaceutical (TAK) and Protagonist Therapeutics (PTGX), offering thousands of patients a less invasive alternative to the frequent blood removal procedures that have long defined management of the condition.

GSK (GSK) said it will advance its mRNA-based seasonal influenza vaccine candidate into a late-stage clinical trial after mid-stage data showed it generated stronger immune responses than currently approved standard- and high-dose shots in both younger and older adults.

AstraZeneca (AZN) has laid out in detail the surprise failure of a closely watched heart disease trial, revealing how its experimental drug offered no additional benefit to patients who were largely already taking a rival class of medicine — the latest twist in a multi-billion dollar market.

AstraZeneca (AZN) and China's Hutchmed said that a late-stage trial of their combined cancer drugs Tagrisso and Orpathys significantly improved progression-free survival when administered as an early-line treatment for a form of lung cancer.