Jennifer Calfas

The company says it will continue to advance another drug, Leqembi, and accelerate the development of other treatments.

Gilead Sciences’s agreement on Monday to pay $4.3 billion for CymaBay Therapeutics would bolster the large biotech’s portfolio of liver drugs, but the price raised fresh concerns about the company’s dealmaking. Wall Street was lukewarm on the proposed acquisition, with Gilead shares edging up 0.6% in trading at noon. CymaBay’s crown jewel is an experimental drug called seladelpar, a treatment for a liver disease called primary biliary cholangitis.

Among the startups pulling in cash are companies chasing hot research areas such as cancer and weight loss.

Shares of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals jumped more than 15% in morning trading Friday after its treatment for a fatty liver disease became the first medicine of its kind to receive approval from the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA approved resmetirom, sold as Rezdiffra, a once-daily oral medication for noncirrhotic non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, Thursday. The advanced fatty liver disease, which causes damage and swelling, affects millions of Americans and leads to liver dysfunction and scarring.

Abortion clinics in New Mexico have expanded and added services for women from red states.

Health authorities are reviewing thousands of reports of side effects. Maker Zoetis says the side effects are rare and its arthritis drugs are safe.

Health authorities are reviewing thousands of reports of side effects. Maker Zoetis says the side effects are rare and its arthritis drugs are safe.

The U.S. government is investigating whether the consolidation of health insurers, pharmacy benefit managers and pharmacies is fueling high drug costs. The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General said it is examining whether health insurers' shared ownership of pharmacy-benefit managers and pharmacies has played a role in high drug prices. “We will determine the impact of related entity transactions within select vertically integrated entities on the prices for covered Part D drugs,” the OIG said in an undated post on its website.

Shares of Swiss drugmaker Novartis rose more than 3% in morning trading after the pharmaceutical company’s first-quarter sales surpassed analysts’ expectations and it raised its full-year guidance. Novartis leaders touted strong sales across the company’s major brands on a call with analysts Tuesday. The company reported $11.8 billion in net sales for its first quarter—higher than estimates from analysts surveyed by FactSet and fueled by more than $1 billion in quarterly sales for both heart-failure drug Entresto and psoriasis drug Cosentyx.

Bristol Myers Squibb will shed 2,200 employees this year as part of a cost-cutting effort to save $1.5 billion by the end of 2025. During a call with analysts Thursday, Chief Finance Officer David Elkins said the job cuts are part of an effort to become “more agile” and targeted “removing layers of management so decisions get made more quickly.” Company leaders said the plan is to reinvest in its most promising drug development programs that are most likely to produce high returns.