A Texas appellate court reversed a $32 million jury verdict against Merck, finding that there was insufficient evidence that Vioxx caused the heart attack of Leonel Garza Sr. The jury had awarded $7 million in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages, the latter of which was reduced to $750,000. Juries have ruled in favor of Merck 12 times and in favor of plaintiffs five times. With the May 14 ruling reversing one of the five plaintiffs' wins, Merck may have more leverage in negotiating settlements of pending cases

Roche/Genentech oncology partnering maintained a robust dealmaking pace through the pandemic, keeping the percentage of partnered R&D programs at about 50% of the cancer drug pipeline.

To mitigate pandemic disruption of component supply chains, the US FDA said it will downgrade some post-approval change categories for sterile drug container closure systems. The downgrade will cover drugs in shortage and those used to treat COVID-19.