While You Were Reforming

You may have heard this already: The US House of Representatives passed a health care reform bill over the weekend. It was a big victory for House Dems, if more of a squeaker than reform proponents would have liked, and now all eyes are on the Senate's bill. Industry, of course, prefers the Senate's version.

What else is going on?

• Bnet is upbeat about Trius Therapeutics potential IPO.
  
• Swiss hearing specialist Sonova said on Monday morning it was buying US cochlear implant maker Advanced Bionics for about $500 million cash.
• Evotec is extending a collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim. The broader deal is worth Eur 15 million in guaranteed research funding plus milestones and royalties.
• Bloomberg has an extensive look at the cost, and the consequences, of off-label-marketing for Pfizer and fellow pharma law-breakers. Says one judge: “It almost seems as if the pharmaceutical companies said ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah’ to the FDA and then went and did it anyway."