Execs told Scrip they hope to get Tyrvaya (varenicline) onto formularies and aim for pricing that would make its nasal spray competitive with Restasis and Xiidra.

Third-quarter device financing at $2.38 billion – almost half of that amount from CooperSurgical's $1.1 billion bridge loan – was double the Q2 total, while device acquisitions showed a steep decrease at $3.38 billion versus Q2's $33.4 billion. Diagnostics fundraising also was up in the third quarter, reaching $2.4 billion (a 133% increase over Q2) mostly from Thermo Fisher Scientific's $1.5 billion follow-on offering, which accounted for 63% of the total. In line with the previous quarter's $1.7 billion in M&A, Q3 diagnostics acquisitions had an aggregate value of $1.8 billion, led by Konica Minolta's $1 billion buy of Ambry Genetics.

Genetic information specialist Invitae is spreading into the reproductive health market with the proposed acquisition of two genetic testing companies that are focused on this area. The addition of Good Start Genetics and Combinatrix will enable Invitae to gain a foothold in the lucrative perinatal. Prenatal and neonatal testing markets. These deals bring the total number of acquisitions made by Invitae to three this year so far.

FDA Commissioner-nominee Scott Gottlieb was approved by the Senate HELP committee April 27, sending his confirmation to the full Senate. Written responses from Gottlieb to senators' questions provided in advance of the vote don't hold any big surprises, but they provide a view into priorities of the incoming official and the lawmakers, including quick user-fee reauthorization, resolving the lab-developed test oversight debate, off-label and "right-to-try" issues and post-market surveillance.