The stock price performances of the top two coronavirus vaccine producers are inversely correlated to their sales and pipelines. There seems to be an expectation of declining coronavirus vaccine sales for some, but not for others.

From clinical trials to in-person sales calls, the pharmaceutical value chain has been tested by the COVID-19 pandemic, but has held up. Nevertheless, recent friction within this chain may be more than a passing irritation.

It is not only gene therapy companies that have found European payers hard to convince of the value of their products. Amarin’s proposed European pricing may lead to another US company exit.

Big pharmaceutical franchises may be recovering from the pandemic, but the extent of the untreated backlog of cancer patients from 2020 is still an important unknown driver even after second-quarter earnings season, and smaller cancer companies may still be bearing the brunt of COVID-19’s effects.

Lilly’s second-quarter earnings announcement relegated its core business in favor of its experimental Alzheimer’s disease drug. This diverted attention away from competitive reimbursement challenges that may be affecting its insulin business.

Pfizer’s earnings were skewed by its coronavirus vaccine for the second quarter running while GSK’s vaccine sales were helped by the catch-up on pediatric immunization schedules. Sales of influenza vaccines may come to the fore in the second half.

Oncology diagnoses and therefore revenues are returning as we emerge from the pandemic, but the recovery also brings the challenges of reduced diagnostic and eventually vaccine revenues.

Poxel’s shift to new therapeutic areas may be necessary despite Japan’s approval for its diabetes drug. Twymeeg looks set to be hamstrung by placebo-controlled studies without outcomes data.

The subdued number of acquisitions of biotech by big pharma has more than one cause. The structural improvement of the process of drug discovery and development at big pharma is the main one.

Intellia’s announcement of the first in vitro gene editing proof of principle sent shockwaves through the life science investment space. But are there still many known unknowns.

The pharmaceutical sector is often unfairly demonized in the drug pricing debate. Other participants exploit the complex US health care system almost with impunity.

Biogen’s recent contentious approval put the cat amongst the pigeons in the debate on surrogate markers as a basis for accelerated approval. The history of such approvals goes back to the last century.