Rise and shine, everyone. The middle of the week is upon us. Have heart, though. You made it this far, so why not hang on for another couple of days, yes? And what better way to make the time fly than to keep busy. So grab that cup of stimulation — our flavor today is strawberry creme — and get started. To help you along, we have assembled another menu of tidbits for you to peruse. Meanwhile, do keep us in mind if you hear anything interesting. We continue to accept — at absolutely no charge to you — postcards and telegrams. And of course, we hope you have a smashing day. …
AbbVie announced that chief executive officer Richard Gonzalez, who has managed its ascent since being spun off from Abbott Laboratories in 2013, will step down in July, STAT notes. Gonzalez previously said he would depart when AbbVie had a plan in place to move on from its best-selling drug, Humira, which is now facing competition from cheaper biosimilars. He will be replaced by chief operating officer Robert Michael, who, like Gonzalez, is a longtime AbbVie executive. Worth noting: Gonzalez, 70, who will become executive chairman of the board of directors, should be a sobering reminder to pharmaceutical industry critics of the resilience of a chief executive officer’s reputation.
Three conservative-led states — Idaho, Kansas and Missouri — lost their bid to intervene in a battle between the Biden administration and conservative physicians over the abortion pill mifepristone, Bloomberg Law writes. The U.S. Supreme Court decision comes ahead of March 26 oral arguments in the case and marks a victory for the Biden administration in defending U.S. Food and Drug Administration safety decisions on the drug that previously were struck down by an appeals court. The state intervention motion was tailored to maintain the litigation should the Supreme Court find that the conservative physicians lacked standing to sue the FDA over its decisions on the pill.