💊 AstraZeneca, Ipsen, Chiesi all open their wallets; The parasite extinction; Oral insulin en route

#251 | Children under 5 are dying in record numbers

Hello, and welcome back to The Kable. The dealmaking spree in life sciences continues unabated. In the latest big pharma money-moving machinations, AstraZeneca is betting $1.3 billion to acquire clinical-stage biotech CinCor Pharma, mainly for its lead candidate for hypertension. Also in action with their wallets this week were Ipsen, Chiesi and Neurocrine, to name a few.

Novartis, which began last year with the promise of offloading human assets, is starting this year offloading pipeline assets. Fellow Swiss drugmaker Stalicla is putting in $270 million upfront to buy Novartis' failed neurodevelopmental disorder asset Mavoglurant.

In the US, ostensibly drawing inspiration from the UK, over 7,000 nurses at two of New York's biggest hospitals have gone on strike, seeking raises and staffing.

And finally, two Covid reports from China. One, a recently published study, talks about how people at an isolation facility got Covid because one asymptomatic person smoked near a window, infecting 22 people. The other, an official from China's third most populous province, Henan, says 88.5 million people, or about 90% of the population in Henan, have been infected with Covid. The about-turn from Zero Covid to 100% Covid is right on track it would seem.