The Swiss major's oncology business performed well in the third quarter with Kisqali sales catching the eye despite the specific problems that the pandemic has brought for breast cancer patients.

Erytech’s eryaspase has failed in its Phase III TRYbeCA-1 trial for second-line pancreatic cancer despite analyst excitement for the solid tumor indication. Its attentions now turn, once again, to its acute lymphoblastic leukemia indication.

CEO Vas Narasimhan sees Novartis very much as an innovative company so the long-awaited strategic review of Sandoz suggests that the generics/biosimilars business could be spun off or sold fairly soon.

Two IPOs and 12 venture capital and private equity deals in China raised a combined $1bn in a hectic few weeks of October.

Johnson & Johnson’s divisional recoveries were in contrast to the declines of Biogen’s franchises but both companies had a competitive pressure and a drug pricing issue.

Analysts expected at least $12m in third quarter sales, but the Alzheimer’s therapy brought in just $300,000. The company says educating doctors and procuring a coverage determination from CMS – not lower pricing – are key to growth.  

An attempt to show efficacy even in younger people with mild COVID-19 symptoms has fallen flat in Phase II, and AT-527 will now lag behind rivals Merck and Pfizer.

After the anti-PD-1/L1 antibody and cell therapy rush, antibody-drug conjugates are quickly gaining attention in China as new technologies and deal-making activity heats up, but one first mover warns of potential over-crowding.

The VC firm is making the most of a surge of capital from new and established investors who believe in the promise of European biopharma start-ups.

Boehringer Ingelheim, the UK Cystic Fibrosis Gene Therapy Consortium and Oxford BioMedica aim to get their CFTR gene therapy into the clinic soon, confident it could offer a long-lasting option for patients with cystic fibrosis.

Immunogenicity data from Valneva’s COV-COMPARE study are encouraging, but the inactivated vaccine will need proper efficacy data to gain a toehold in a crowded market.

From the latest COVID-19 advances to the emergence of a game changer for heart failure, Scrip’s editor in chief Eleanor Malone reviews the big stories of the past three months. Safety issues around JAK inhibitors and AAV vector-based gene therapy were also to the fore, while biopharma financing continued apace.