Biogen has warned that uptake for its newly approved Alzheimer’s therapy will be slow in the beginning and doctors confirm it will take time to figure which patients can and should be treated.

The value of the COVID-19 market reached more than $8bn in the first quarter, fuelled by mRNA-based vaccines, but the future growth of the sector depends on the rather unpredictable course of the pandemic, and the response of healthcare providers and countries.

Janssen is the latest big pharma company to gain an approval for a new oral multiple sclerosis therapy in the EU, enhancing the competitiveness of the marketplace, and giving more choice for patients.

Market Snapshot: Acute myeloid leukemia is a serious condition that affects people mainly in late middle age, for which there is a large R&D pipeline of candidate products being researched by pharmaceutical and biotech companies, many of whom are using a targeted medicine approach.

INFOGRAPHIC: A snapshot of the industry in key performance indicators surrounding R&D taken in early 2021.

Market Snapshot: GSK's Blenrep and BMS's Abecma are the first of many drugs for the late-line setting. In many cases, the CAR-T may be the first choice, but some patients are unable to handle it or risk progressing while awaiting treatment.

AbbVie’s Humira easily retained its lead in 2020 with $20.3bn in sales. Gilead Sciences’ HIV triple combo Biktarvy was the fastest climber, entering the top 10 in eighth place after 53.2% growth in a year, while Avastin, Enbrel and Rituxan fell out of the list.

GlaxoSmithKline has discontinued treatment with its ICOS agonist feladilimab in the Phase II INDUCE-3 trial upon the recommendation of the study’s data monitoring committee, another setback for the big pharma’s plans to become a major force in the cancer therapy area.

Market Snapshot: Gilead’s Biktarvy and ViiV’s two-drug regimens are expected to dominate the HIV market over the next few years as market exclusivity losses loom, but drugs with new mechanisms of action, and longer-acting products, might influence market dynamics.