STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re reading about a Novartis investor seeking a shake-up, a Gilead setback, and more

A major Novartis shareholder has called for a shake-up of the drugmaker’s board to improve corporate governance after the company’s shares suffered a record fall this week following back-to-back trial setbacks. David Samra, managing director at Artisan Partners and founding partner of International Value Group, said successive chairmen had failed Novartis on acquisitions and that the company needed to change how it oversees deals.

The setbacks include a muscle-wasting disorder drug acquired through Novartis’s $12 billion takeover of Avidity failing a late-stage study, and results from heart drug pelacarsen disappointing investors.

Separately, U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz said the Trump administration is pursuing additional drug-pricing deals with pharmaceutical companies, Bloomberg News reports. Officials have already announced more than two dozen voluntary agreements. Each agreement is bespoke, but companies generally have agreed to lower prices charged to public programs and to launch new drugs at prices similar to those paid by other developed nations in exchange for relief from tariffs.

The roundup title also references a Gilead setback, but the excerpt provided does not include details on that item.