To view this email as a web page, click here

Subscribe

Advertise

 

 

 

 

 

 

January 11, 2019

Welcome to FierceLifeSci Weekly Digest, your roundup of the biggest and most popular stories from each of our publications.

 

Editor's Note


The J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference whirlwind has come and gone for another year, leaving behind more headlines, hallway buzz and general chatter than ever. So much, in fact, that our annual JPM special issue couldn’t contain even half our coverage, and the daily roundup of updates overflowed. In this follow-up edition, we’re recapping the conference with expert analysis, a best-of roundup of our on-the-ground reporting, our final dispatches from San Francisco—don’t miss the Novartis AI interview—and a few of the most-read stories of the week. And for those of you who couldn’t make our annual breakfast event in person, you’ll find our coverage of those two expert panels moderated by FierceBiotech and FiercePharma editors. So long, San Francisco, for another year. — Tracy Staton

Featured Story

As JPM 2019 wraps up, biopharma's outlook is 'cautiously optimistic,' executives say

Executives at this year's J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference agreed the tone was somewhere between gloom and sunshine—“much better than I would have anticipated,” Neurocrine CEO Kevin Gorman said.

Top Stories Of The Week

JPM recap: Must-reads of the week, from FDA to IPO to M&A and more

Big deals, attempts at decent deals and impending IPOs—sure, the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference was awash in deal buzz as well as the occasional rainfall. But that's far from all the talk that came out of meeting rooms, restaurants and hotel lobbies. Here's our top coverage from FierceBiotech and FiercePharma, with a couple of extras thrown in.

Rewiring R&D: The FierceBiotech JPM 2019 breakfast debate

SAN FRANCISCO—We certainly like to offer a full breakfast here at FierceBiotech, especially at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, where attendees have probably had to get a second mortgage for a three-day hotel stay.

JPM pricing parley: False choices, secret deals and a hyperfocus on drug costs

Despite Trump’s furor, Congress’ scrutiny and public uproar, drug prices—at least list prices—are still going up. There are ideas on all sides—as a FiercePharma panel talk at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference showed—but neither the government nor private payers nor the industry can come up with an effective solution alone.

FDA shutdown no foil for Aimmune’s peanut allergy drug, but holds up egg, multinut programs

The FDA shutdown is holding up human trials for Aimmune's egg allergy program and may delay approval for its oral immunotherapy for peanut allergy.

Novartis puts AI on the job to help reps say the right things to the right doctors

Artificial intelligence is a big buzzword in R&D right now, but at Novartis, it's hard at work in the sales department, too. And U.S. chief Paul Hudson was scouting health-tech companies at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference for a major "tech disruption" in pharma this year.

Newly hitched ResMed and Propeller Health announce Walgreens partnership

SAN FRANCISCO—It’s been a busy year for Propeller Health, culminating at JPM this year with the closing of its $225 million buyout by ResMed and a new partnership with Walgreens that allows patients to refill their prescriptions through their smartphone app.

FDA creating innovation office to speed drug development

The FDA is creating an office of drug development science to cut the cost of bringing new medicines to patients, BioCentury reports. Staff at the office will create tools that sponsors and the FDA can use to streamline the development and regulatory assessment of drugs.

JPM: Why hasn't Merck been making deals? It's not for lack of trying, CEO says

There’s a reason Merck hasn’t made a big acquisition lately. And it’s not because it doesn’t want to. “We’re very active,” CEO Ken Frazier said during a Monday afternoon fireside chat at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. What's the holdup, then?

Eli Lilly grabs spotlight at J.P. Morgan with $8B Loxo Oncology buyout

Eli Lilly will buy Loxo for $235 per share in cash—a 68% premium over Loxo’s most recent closing price. Announced as JPM kicked off, the deal gives Lilly the high-priced TRK inhibitor Vitrakvi and three other targeted cancer drugs.

IPO bonanza as biotechs get in while the iron’s hot (or before it cools)

It feels like there’s a little more than just precipitation in the air at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference this year: a dash of optimism and cash.

Resources

[Whitepaper] The 3DP Revolution: Planning Effective Brand Extension for In-Market Drugs

Get ahead of looming challenges in the market that include both generic products and new branded drugs.

[Infographic] Clinical Development Trends And The Impact On Clinical Trial Technology

New infographic shows trends in clinical development and the impact on randomization and trial supply management technology (RTSM).

[Webinar] Building the Business Case for Transformational RIM

Reduce the effort to create submissions and track registrations with a move to unified RIM. Watch the on-demand webinar.

[eBook] Digital Workflows: How to Focus Investment to Cut Costs and Drive Growth

Life sciences companies must immediately identify and realize productivity gains to drive down operational costs—or risk seeing more nimble competitors disappear into the distance. Where to begin?

[Whitepaper] Evaluating RIM Suites? Unification matters.

Learn how to spot an imposter with an integrated suite vs. one that’s unified. Read this whitepaper to learn more.

[eBook] 2018 Weekly Compendium

The Biopharma industry is moving at lightning speed and it can be a challenge to keep pace. Here at Biotech Primer we spend hours each week researching, writing, and editing original content for the Biotech Primer WEEKLY with one goal in mind: to help everyone better understand the latest science and technology driving today’s healthcare industry.