• District of Columbia: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has approved Ascension's $3.9 billion plan to acquire the ambulatory management services company AmSurg, with a few stipulations. For the deal to go through, Ascension must divest seven facilities in markets that would otherwise be left with reduced competition. Six of the affected facilities will join SC Affiliates, another ambulatory surgery center operator, while the last facility will join Florida Gastroenterology Center, a physician group and current minority owner. "Access to quality surgical care at an affordable price is critically important for millions of Americans across the country," said Daniel Guarnera, director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition. "The FTC's action ordering divestitures of surgical care centers will help preserve a competitive market that will allow patients to get the care they need at a fair price." In a statement, Ascension said that it was "pleased" with the FTC agreement and that it expected to close the acquisition "in the near future." (Muoio, Fierce Healthcare, 6/4)
• Indiana: Eli Lilly has signed a $1.9 billion collaboration and licensing agreement with Ascidian Therapeutics to research and develop new treatments for kidney disease. The deal grants Lilly exclusive, target-specific rights to Ascidian's RNA exon editing technology for certain kidney disease targets. According to Ascidian, it will lead discovery and preclinical activities while Lilly oversees other preclinical work, clinical development, manufacturing, and commercialization. Recently, Lilly has focused heavily on dealmaking, spending over $10 billion upfront and potentially up to $25 billion on eight acquisitions so far this year. In comparison, the company spent around $4 billion on roughly 40 deals last year. "The company's financial strength right now, driven mostly by the weight loss business, is so strong," said Jacob Van Naarden, EVP, president of Lilly Oncology and head of corporate business development. "We have this really like almost generational opportunity to redeploy that capital in all of our disease areas to not only fuel growth for the company in the decades to come, but to help a lot more patients with all different kinds of diseases, and so we're executing against that strategy." (Hamilton, Wall Street Journal, 6/3; Peebles, CNBC, 6/3)
• Maryland: FDA has approved the first oral COVID-19 prevention drug for individuals ages 12 and older after exposure to the virus. The drug ensitrelvir, which is manufactured by Shionogi and branded as Xocova, consists of a five-day regimen, with patients taking three pills on day one and one pill daily on days two through five. FDA based its approval on the results of a Phase 3 clinical trial. In the trial, Xocova reduced the risk of symptomatic COVID-19 by 67% through day 10 compared to a placebo. The rates of adverse events were similar between both treatment groups, with the most common being headache, diarrhea, and cough. "The FDA approval of XOCOVA is an exciting new chapter in the Shionogi antiviral story, which includes innovative medicines that have changed the way we manage other viruses including HIV and influenza," said Shionogi president and CEO Nathan McCutcheon. "XOCOVA is the first and only oral option clinically proven to help prevent symptomatic COVID-19 after exposure among study participants regardless of vaccination status or baseline immunity from prior infection. With XOCOVA, people who are exposed to COVID-19 can act early to help protect themselves." (Jeffries, Becker's Hospital Review, 6/2; Shionogi press release, 6/1)

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