On December 24, 2018 Varian (NYSE: VAR) reported it received notification from the United States Trade Representative (USTR) that its exclusion request for Halcyon radiotherapy systems for cancer treatments, which are manufactured in China and subject to Section 301 tariffs, was granted (Press release, Varian Medical Systems, DEC 24, 2018, View Source [SID1234532268]).

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"On behalf of the more than three million patients Varian technologies touch each year, we thank USTR and the U.S. government for recognizing the impact of Varian’s cancer treatment technology by excluding our Halcyon product from the current trade dispute, and we are hopeful that China will do the same," said Dow Wilson, president and chief executive officer, Varian. "Varian remains dedicated to ensuring that our customers, and the patients they treat, are able to achieve new victories against cancer without any global disruption in access to our leading-edge technologies."

Until further notice, the China tariffs on U.S. imports announced on August 23, 2018, remain in place. Additionally, Varian’s exclusion applications from U.S. Tariffs, for components sourced from China for linear accelerators manufactured in the U.S., are still pending with the USTR.

The U.S. tariff exception granted for Halcyon will have a less than $1M impact on financial results for the 2019 fiscal year. During its first quarter fiscal year 2019 conference call, which is scheduled for Wednesday, January 23, 2019, at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time, management will provide more details related to this announcement. Until then, the company is currently in quiet period and will not be making any further comments.

On December 24, 2018 Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) reported that it will participate in the 37th Annual JP Morgan Health Care Conference on Monday, Jan. 7th, at the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco. Joseph J. Wolk, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Jennifer Taubert, Executive Vice President, Pharmaceuticals and Ashley McEvoy, Executive Vice President, Medical Devices, will represent the Company in a session scheduled at 2:30 p.m. (Pacific Time) / 5:30 p.m. (Eastern Time). Alex Gorsky, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, will accompany the team for a subsequent Question & Answer session scheduled for 3:00 p.m. (Pacific Time) / 6:00 p.m. (Eastern Time).

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A webcast for both events will be available to investors and other interested parties by accessing the Johnson & Johnson website at www.investor.jnj.com.

On December 24, 2018 Pharma major Lupin Limited (Lupin) and global biopharmaceutical company AbbVie Inc., reported that AbbVie has licensed Lupin’s MALT1 (Mucosa-Associated Lymphoid Tissue Lymphoma Translocation Protein 1) inhibitor program (Press release, Lupin, DEC 24, 2018, View Source [SID1234532263]). Through this partnership, AbbVie gains exclusive global rights to develop and commercialize Lupin’s MALT1 inhibitors. MALT-1 is a protein involved in T-cell and B-cell lymphocyte activation and AbbVie intends to pursue development across a range of hematological cancers, many with limited current treatment options.

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Commenting on the development, Nilesh Gupta, Managing Director, Lupin Limited said, "Delivering on new drugs was a key element of Dr. Deshbandhu Gupta’s vision. We are extremely proud of being able to realize his vision to bring new treatments to patients in need. We are very pleased to partner with AbbVie who share a commitment to deliver high quality medicines in areas that lack approved treatment and have a dire medical need. Their proven success in rapidly commercializing new targeted oncology treatments made them our partner of choice for this program."

Commenting on the partnership announcement, Dr. Raj Kamboj, President of Lupin’s Novel Drug Discovery and Development (NDDD) stated, "We are delighted with the success of our NDDD program to bring India’s first pharmaceutical innovation in this space. This is a first-in-class drug discovery program delivered exclusively by Lupin right from concept generation through the various stages of drug discovery and development. We are proud of the conceptualization, strategic direction and impeccable execution done by the team at Lupin that meets the global standard of pharmaceutical research."

Tom Hudson, M.D., Vice President, Discovery, AbbVie commented, "Lupin’s MALT1 program is exploring a new and innovative approach in difficult-to-treat cancers. AbbVie is committed to pursuing advanced treatment options for patients and we look forward to partnering our expertise in hematological oncology with Lupin’s discovery program to offer new hope to patients."

Under the terms of the agreement, AbbVie will pay Lupin an upfront payment of US$ 30 million for an exclusive license to the program. Upon successful completion of regulatory, development and commercial milestones, Lupin is eligible to receive total milestone payments of up to US$ 947 million. Additionally, Lupin will be entitled to receive a double-digit royalty on the sales of the product and will retain commercial rights to the program in India.

Lupin’s Novel Drug Discovery and Development team is focused on building a pipeline of highly differentiated and innovative new chemical entities in the therapeutic areas of Oncology, Immunology and Metabolic disorders. Lupin’s NDDD activities were started in 2010 with the vision to use cutting-edge research in bringing novel molecules that address unmet medical needs in multiple therapeutic areas to market globally.

On December 24, 2018 Precigen, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intrexon Corporation (NASDAQ: XON), and a biopharmaceutical company specializing in the development of innovative gene and cellular therapies to improve the lives of patients, reported that the company will host a conference call on Wednesday, December 26, at 8:30 AM ET to provide business updates, including an overview of Precigen’s recent transition from an exclusive channel collaboration model to an agile R&D engine for greater focus, full developmental control and acceleration of its core programs and an overview of the recently announced FDA clearance for the Investigational New Drug (IND) application for the first-in-class PRGN-3006 UltraCAR-T therapy for treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and higher risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) (Press release, Intrexon, DEC 24, 2018, View Source [SID1234532260]).

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Precigen invites the public and media to listen to the presentation via live audio webcast, which can be accessed under "Investor Relations" in the Events section of the Intrexon website at investors.dna.com/events. Participants may dial in to the conference call at +1-888-317-6003 (Domestic US), +1-866-284-3684 (Canada), and +1-412-317-6061 (International) and provide the participant number 6733054 to join the call. A replay of the webcast will be archived on the Intrexon website following the presentation.

On December 24, 2018 Allergan plc (NYSE: AGN), a leading global biopharmaceutical company, reported that Chairman and CEO Brent Saunders will present at the 37th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, California (Press release, Allergan, DEC 24, 2018, View Source [SID1234532256]). The presentation will begin at 3:30 p.m. Pacific Time (6:30 p.m. Eastern Time) on Monday, January 7, 2019 at the Westin St. Francis.

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The presentation will be webcast live and can be accessed on Allergan’s Investor Relations website at View Source;. The webcast can also be accessed through the following URL: View Source;.

An archived version will be available within 24 hours of the live presentation and can be accessed at the same location for 90 days.