Alcon and RxSight Enter Strategic Collaboration on Adjustable Intraocular Lenses

Novo Nordisk will shorten its name to Novo and update its logo, with its trademark bull shifting to face right, as the Danish drugmaker battles Eli Lilly for dominance in the obesity-drug market. CEO Mike Doustdar is pushing to make Novo leaner and more competitive, and the company will detail its updated corporate strategy at a Capital Markets Day on September 21 in London. Separately, Eli Lilly said the U.S. FDA granted full approval for an all-oral regimen combining its estrogen receptor antagonist Inluriyo and kinase inhibitor Verzenio as a late-line option for adults with estrogen receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer with an ESR1 mutation whose disease progressed after one or more prior endocrine therapies. GE HealthCare Technologies is in advanced talks to acquire Sofie Biosciences for about $1 billion, a deal that would expand its presence in radioactive diagnostic agents used with medical scans, according to the Financial Times. Summit Therapeutics said ivonescimab reduced the risk of death by 27% versus Merck's Keytruda in a late-stage lung cancer trial, with median overall survival of 30.8 months versus 22.6 months. Medtronic launched an exchange offer to split off at least 80.1% of MiniMed Group, allowing shareholders to exchange ordinary shares for MiniMed common stock at a 7% discount.

S&P Global agreed to acquire on-chain security assessments platform OpenZeppelin, one of a series of deals reported across sectors this week. Pearson announced the acquisition of ITS, a Baltimore-based assessment technology provider specializing in the management, delivery, and reporting of testing programs, with financial terms not disclosed. GE HealthCare Technologies is in advanced talks to acquire Sofie Biosciences for about $1 billion, a move that would expand its presence in radioactive diagnostic agents used with medical scans, according to the Financial Times. Brookfield agreed to acquire plumbing products manufacturer Reliance Worldwide for about $2.9B in an all-cash deal, valuing Reliance at $3.38 per share, equivalent to A$4.75 per share, a roughly 32% premium to its August 17 closing price. Mistras Group agreed to be acquired by investment firm H.I.G. Capital in an all-cash deal with an $866M enterprise value, including debt, while Aethlon Medical shares soared 346% premarket after it agreed to an all-stock merger with North Immunology, and Reuters reported that state-owned China Rare Earth Group is in talks to acquire Shenghe Resources.

Tempus AI is building a research platform based on 100,000 whole genomes linked to long term clinical records, a project that follows its $1.5 billion acquisition of Personalis. The Personalis deal strengthens Tempus' position in molecular residual disease testing, expanding the company from diagnosing and selecting cancer treatments into monitoring patients for cancer recurrence. The new whole genome project arrives after a sharp run in the shares, with a 90 day share price return of 62.68% and a 7 day gain of 31.91%, though the 1 year total shareholder return shows an 11.79% decline. Tempus AI closed at $77.84 against a narrative fair value estimate of $75.68, a level at which 26 investors see the stock as 3% overvalued. The company still carries ongoing losses and meaningful debt, so any setback integrating Personalis could quickly challenge the upbeat narrative.