@FiercePharma: Merck's discount offer to NICE wins OK for anti-TNF drug Simponi. Piece | Follow @FiercePharma
> Sweden's Medivir agreed to sell a generics subsidiary BMM Pharma, acquired in its BioPhausia buyout earlier this year, to Bluefish Pharmaceuticals for 38 million krona in cash and inventory, or about $9 million. Medivir release
> PharMerica adopted a poison pill to ward off hostile takeovers after receiving a $441 million bid from larger rival Omnicare ($OCR) earlier this week. Item
> AstraZeneca ($AZN) bought more than 1 million shares for 2826 pence per share as part of its ongoing buyback program. News
> Hi-Tech Pharmacal acquired marketing rights to an ANDA from KVK-Tech for an allergy drug to be marketed under the Lodrane brand name. Hi-Tech release
> UBS cut its target price for Hikma to 850 pence after first half earnings failed to live up to forecasts. Article
Biotech News
@FierceBiotech: Report: Samsung to test genomic analysis service. Item | Follow @FierceBiotech
@JohnCFierce: FDA approves Firazyr (Shire) for HAE. News | Follow @JohnCFierce
@RyanMFierce: Furiex Pharmaceuticals snags $15M loan to advance pipeline, including antibiotic, IBC drug and statin Article | Follow @RyanMFierce
@MaureenFierce: CDC: Teen HPV vaccination rates lagging. Article | Follow @MaureenFierce
> Study: Cancer trial participation less than 1%. Report
> J&J's XR pain drug gets FDA nod. Piece
> Gene therapy breaks 'bubble boy disease.' Article
> Medivir deals generics biz amid HepC drug trials. More
And Finally... The cost of treating obesity and related diseases is expected to add 2% to healthcare bills in the U.S. and U.K. by 2030. Report