Considerable value has been assigned to the companies developing coronavirus vaccines. Multiple suppliers and a met clinical need may erode much of that value after the pandemic.

Lexicon’s announcement of two positive cardiovascular outcome studies was tempered by the realization that its drug is not approved in the US, nor in Europe in the diabetic populations studied.

Among big pharma there is a creeping realization that the effects of the coronavirus on revenues and prescriptions may linger. At smaller biotechs, it is patently obvious.

It is one thing to aspire to build a rival to another company’s banner therapeutic franchise, but quite another to start from the ground up, especially when your form in that area is mixed.

Pfizer’s results may have heralded a third-quarter stabilization of pandemic-related effects had the costs and expectations for its vaccine not hijacked sentiment.

Biogen’s poor third-quarter results cannot be blamed solely on the pandemic. Pipeline attrition and underperformance in most franchises pushes all the risk onto a dubious throw of the regulatory dice.