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Good morning. My colleagues today launched a series investigating one of the biggest public health crises in the U.S. — the alcohol epidemic. Their stories will examine factors ranging from the influence of the alcohol industry to the gaps in treatment options for addiction. Read part 1 of the series here.

The need-to-know this morning

  • Rigel Pharma will market the newly approved breast cancer drug Veppanu under a commercialization agreement signed with Arvinas and Pfizer. 
  • Roche received European clearance for a new blood test to detect early Alzheimer’s disease. 
  • BridgeBio submitted an application to the FDA seeking approval of its drug encaleret to treat patients with autosomal dominant hypocalcemia type 1, or ADh2, a rare genetic disease that causes low calcium levels in the blood.

Bristol turns to Chinese drugmaker for early-stage pipeline restock

Bristol Myers Squibb this morning announced a partnership with Hengrui Pharma covering more than a dozen early-stage programs, the latest and a notably large case of a global pharmaceutical company looking to China for its next medicines, my colleague Andrew Joseph reports.

Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…