The arrival on the US eczema market of a couple of oral JAK inhibitors with stellar data on itching could provide a challenge to Sanofi and Regeneron's blockbuster Dupixent. However, Pfizer and AbbVie will have to overcome dermatologists' fears about the class-effect safety warnings their drugs come with.

Licensing deals and partnerships carried the day during another hectic J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. Pfizer racked up its third deal of the week in a cancer collaboration with Dren Bio.

Chaos wrought by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. A heavy workload and continuing resource constraints at the European Medicines Agency. Nonetheless, a record number of novel drugs and vaccines were cleared for marketing in the EU last year.

The $300m upfront payment should provide considerable runway for the base-editing company, which also plans multiple IND filings and enrolling the first patient in its sickle cell study this year.