A Manhattan federal judge on Friday rejected Bayer's bid to enjoin Johnson & Johnson from running advertising claims that its prostate cancer drug Erleada reduces the risk of death by 51% compared to Bayer's Nubeqa. U.S. District Judge Dale Ho found Bayer failed to demonstrate a likelihood of success on its false advertising claims, a threshold required to secure preliminary injunctive relief. Bayer filed suit on February 23, arguing J&J's campaign misrepresented a real-world, retrospective study as equivalent to FDA-supervised clinical trials, and that Nubeqa patients in the study largely received treatment off-label, skewing the comparison. J&J countered that real-world evidence legitimately informs clinical decision-making when head-to-head trial data are unavailable. In his 41-page ruling, Ho concluded that J&J's communications accurately reflected its study's conclusions and that Bayer identified no methodological flaws serious enough to render the claims materially false or misleading. He noted the study's design was not out of step with prevailing scientific practice. The underlying lawsuit proceeds on the merits. Both drugs compete directly in a large market: Nubeqa generated 2.39 billion euros ($2.81 billion) in 2025 sales, while Erleada recorded $3.57 billion. With roughly 313,780 U.S. prostate cancer diagnoses projected for 2025, prescribing influence between these two therapies carries significant commercial weight.
HDFC Bank's board has approved Rajiv Kumar, former Chief Election Commissioner and financial services secretary, as its Part-time Non-Executive Chairman from June 30, 2026. His chairmanship still requires RBI approval, but the move ends the bank's prolonged search for a permanent board leader.
Indian startups raised $1.1 billion across 16 deals in the week of June 21-26, 2026, up 2.5 times from the prior week, with CRED's $900 million Series H led by Meta accounting for most of the total. Square Yards became India's 131st unicorn after closing a $95 million round.
Jet fuel costs dropped sharply after a US-Iran interim peace deal, but airlines are expected to use the savings to rebuild margins rather than cut fares. Tight capacity, aircraft delivery delays, and weak budget carriers give major carriers unusual pricing power heading into the second half of 2026.
Meta is investing $900 million in CRED at a $4.5 billion valuation, the largest Indian startup round of 2026, as founder Kunal Shah moves to a global leadership role at WhatsApp. Miten Sampat takes over as interim CEO, and a major employee stock buyback is expected within weeks.
