Busy stretch before Christmas holidays sees two deals around oncolytic virus therapeutics, a Middle East partnership for Orexigen’s Contrave, immuno-oncology deals involving Pfizer and ElsaLys, and Roche and ImmuNext partnering to develop drugs targeting the VISTA pathway.

In the company’s third-quarter conference call, Novartis CEO Joe Jimenez admitted that generic competition to its blockbuster Gleevec will continue to drag on the company in 2017. However, he touted a pipeline of 12 potential blockbusters and restructuring efforts over the past three years as evidence that the company will be positioned for growth from 2018.

Novartis has completed its acquisition of eyecare specialist Alcon, after shareholders approved the proposed takeover, worth $51.6bn in total, earlier today. Alcon's shareholders gave the acquisition the green light yesterday.