Stock Watch

Investors love an opportunity to invest in a recovery play after the disclosure of bad news but, having lived in recent years under a succession of clouds, will generic drug companies begin to see biosimilars resurrect their sales growth?

When the traditional fundraising window closes and clinical, regulatory or commercial success eludes, other routes to raise cash emerge. But these have also become more scarce recently, leaving all-stock consolidations.

The accepted commercial dynamics of a competitive indication in older patients can be disrupted by new entrants with improved profiles, lower priced biosimilar competition and (soon) Medicare price negotiations.

With Pfizer expecting significant pandemic-related sales out to at least 2026, the difficulty forecasting those sales and inventory work-down resulted in stock price volatility.

Loss of exclusivity and other competitive pressures will continue to offset J&J’s pharmaceutical growth as its former blockbusters accumulate in ex-growth "other" categories. Can the pipeline take up the slack?

While the implications of the US Inflation Reduction Act are the focus of the sector’s concern this year, another regulatory development will impact earnings sooner.

Two clinical trial announcements in the same NASH indication separated by almost nine years had very similar stock price reactions despite the known unknowns of NASH remaining unknown.

Emerging from the pandemic after nearly three years, therapy areas and drug classes are traveling at different speeds.

If a clinical trial is positive, with safety and efficacy that trounces the competition, why be coy about the details?

Halfway through a race, adding more athletes, taking out some hurdles and extending the distance until the finish would be unsporting in track and field. But not in clinical trials.

The evolution of new drugs to treat diabetes has enabled some diabetes franchises to shrug off biosimilar competition to insulins. But is some of the growth of therapies for diabetes and obesity a result of the pandemic?

Some entrepreneurs combine talent and experience to produce multiple profitable exits for investors. But there are many who do not, and past success is indeed no guarantee of future performance.