To emerge from a wilderness period or biotech winter where generalist investors shun the sector, biotech’s good news needs to outweigh the bad and be attractively priced. We may not be there yet.

The biotech sector is so diverse that for every acquisition there will be at least one second-best. Even after years of independence following a drug approval, investors keep hoping that their pharmaceutical Prince Charming will arrive.

An uptick in deals and an improving macro-economic outlook laid the groundwork for a rosier sentiment across much of the industry at the annual health care conference.

Daily notebook from the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference: Deal and strategy news from Novartis, BMS and Pfizer; Gilead talks lenacapavir PrEP launch plans; BioMarin's new CEO makes an appearance and Saunders explains the status at Bausch + Lomb.