The introduction of gene therapies has been the highest-profile new modality to reach the market, but new RNA-based therapeutics hold significant potential and could be more accessible for patients. Scrip reviews the leading drug developers in this space.

Bayer’s drive to lead a new market opportunity in Europe for histology-independent cancer agents like Vitrakvi has been set back by interim decisions from the UK’s NICE and Germany’s IQWiG, but there is a now a clear pathway to follow.

Additional highlights from the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, including Takeda’s partnering outlook, Sage’s guidance on Zulresso sales, Frequency’s next steps for its hearing loss drug and Revance’s preparations to take on the aesthetics market. 

Daily round-up from the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco: AbbVie's Skyrizi takes psoriasis lead, Amarin goes it alone, Viatris debuts, BeiGene on US drug pricing and Roche think neuroscience is the new oncology.

Executives and analysts predict trends spanning M&A, leadership diversity, curative gene therapy commercialization, biosimilars strategy and more. Expect technology innovation to continue to drive investment and deal making in biopharma.

Advances in multiple scientific areas will mature into novel therapeutics, often tailored for the individual patient and increasingly curative, making biopharma an exciting place to be in 2020.

AbbVie’s upadacitinib has become the latest JAK inhibitor to be approved in the EU for active rheumatoid arthritis, and its selectivity could allow it to compete effectively with established therapies including other JAK inhibitors, TNF-inhibiting biologics and biosimilars.

The European Commission has granted a marketing authorization for UCB and Amgen’s bone-building MAb, romosozumab, and first launches are expected in the first half of 2020; patient groups suggest that the prevention and treatment of fragility fractures has not attracted the attention it deserves.

A PFS benefit and favorable tolerability profile associated with AstraZeneca’s BTK inhibitor acalabrutinib used first-line in CLL, when given alone or combined with obinutuzumab, may serve it well against entrenched competitors and BTK inhibitors in clinical development.