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WASHINGTON — Executives from Celgene, Regeneron and Vertex represented the drug industry Monday during a biomedical research discussion, but drug prices, long a concern of President Donald Trump, was not discussed during the two-hour meeting, reported CNBC.

"There's all kinds of elephants, and the room is crowded with them I suppose, but that one didn't get much attention," Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, told CNBC in an interview directly after the meeting.

WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration approved Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma America’s Radicava (edaravone) to treat patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Co. commenced an IPO of 9.9 million common shares at an initial public offering price of $17 per share. In addition, Biohaven has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,485,000 common shares at the initial public offering price, less underwriting discounts and commissions. The shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on May 4 under the ticker symbol “BHVN.”

DANBURY, Conn. — Growth in U.S. spending on prescription medicines fell in 2016 as competition intensified among manufacturers, and payers ramped up efforts to limit price increases, according to research released on Thursday by the QuintilesIMS Institute. New medicines introduced in the past two years continue to drive at least half of total spending growth as clusters of innovative treatments for cancer, autoimmune diseases, HIV, multiple sclerosis, and diabetes become accessible to patients.

WASHINGTON — AstraZeneca and its global biologics research and development arm, MedImmune, announced the Food and Drug Administration has granted accelerated approval to Imfinzi (durvalumab), which is indicated for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC) who have disease progression during or following platinum-containing chemotherapy, or whose disease has progressed within 12 months of receiving platinum-containing chemotherapy before (neoadjuvant) or after (adjuvant) surgery. 

LONDON — AstraZeneca on Wednesday announced a strategic collaboration in respiratory diseases with Pieris Pharmaceuticals to develop novel inhaled drugs that leverage Pieris’ Anticalin platform. Anticalin molecules are engineered proteins which can mimic antibodies by binding to sites either on other proteins or on small molecules. They are smaller than monoclonal antibodies, offering the potential of direct delivery to the lung.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Health on Tuesday reported net income for the three months ended March 31 decreased 16.9% year over year to $953 million. According to CVS, this decline was primarily driven by the decline in operating profit, partially offset by lower interest expense of $31 million related to refinancing activity in the prior year as well as the improvement in the effective income tax rate, from 39.4% to 37.3%.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Meijer opened new 192,000-sq-ft. supercenters on Tuesday in McCordsville and Franklin, Ind., which include full-service pharmacies that make “family health care a priority.” The prescription program includes oral generic antibiotics with a special focus on prescriptions most often filled for children, prenatal vitamins, and medications for those with diabetes and high cholesterol. Since its inception in 2006, the program has filled more than 39 million free prescriptions, saving Meijer customers more than $536 million, stated the company.