Lying underneath AstraZeneca’s stellar quarter were the growth engines of emerging markets and China, where novel drugs, especially in oncology, delivered. But mounting pricing pressures and a massive new centralized bidding process are clouds on the horizon.

In the latest round of what appears to have been a bruising set of price negotiations for Roche, the UK’s cost effectiveness agency NICE has recommended Perjeta in another breast cancer setting.

Cancer drug-developer Black Diamond emerges from stealth mode with Series A and closes Series B in the same month, while aging-focused Juvenescence closes its initial tranche and looks complete Series B by the end of the quarter. 

The drug major has presented a set of financials that have comfortably surpassed analyst forecasts and show that its new oncology therapies now make up around 30% of group sales and are growing strongly.

Analysts are enthusiastic about the US earnings prospects of leading Indian generic firm Aurobindo after the company reported a nearly 20% jump in consolidated net profit for the third quarter, and declared it would focus on digesting its acquisitions.

Committee overwhelmingly supports approval for treatment-resistant depression but warns that pricing and combination therapy indication could hinder patient access. Esketamine’s risks of sedation and dissociative effects, and its abuse potential, will necessitate a strict risk management strategy.

Part 3: Scrip spoke with companies working on cell and gene therapies and novel approaches to neurological diseases during the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference about how regulators are supporting novel modalities, which in turn improves investor and partner sentiment.

The Irish specialty pharma has made its first filing in the US with an infusion of acetaminophen that Altan hopes will break the monopoly of Mallinckrodt's Ofirmev.

The recent failure of the CREAD studies to show a therapeutic effect for crenezumab in Alzheimer’s disease stunned developers. However, an ongoing clinical study of the MAb, and a series of other innovations being explored at Switzerland’s AC Immune, might still provide answers to this intractable condition.

Funded entirely by grants and partnerships to date, Affinivax’s pneumococcal vaccine candidate has begun a Phase I/II study less than five year’s after the biotech’s founding. Firm thinks its technology may eventually apply to immuno-oncology as well.

Gilead took a risky approach with selonsertib in NASH, pursuing a tough liver fibrosis benefit and failing, continuing a trend of disappointments outside of its antiviral franchises. Analysts don’t expect the second Phase III study in less-sick patients to succeed either.