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Stock Watch: Blockbuster Promise? Buyer Beware?

Are Drugs With $1bn In Annual Sales A Threatened Species?

 
• By Andy Smith

Big pharma is under pressure to find the next big thing, and new launches bring high hopes. But focusing on the number of new drugs approved each year may mislead on the sector’s success if profitability and significant sales elude a majority.

Stock Watch Image, Andy Smith
ANDY SMITH OFFERS A LIFE SCIENCE INVESTOR'S PERSPECTIVE ON BIOPHARMA BUSINESS

As the business development directors of big pharma companies flock to the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference in San Francisco, important meetings will happen away from the conference ballrooms and break-out sessions where big companies meet privately with small ones.

When I worked as a commercial person in a big pharma company, I was told of a cross-functional analysis where the number of in-licensing transaction evaluations that had comprised years of work by the business development and licensing groups, and their estimated peak sales values, were reviewed by colleagues in portfolio development

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Stock Watch: Stock Watch: Lilly And Novo Duke Out Q1

 
• By Andy Smith

Novo Nordisk enjoyed a surprise GLP-1 agonist contracting win in the first quarter of 2025. This provided a welcome boost to its stock after it had spent the previous quarter on the back foot against rival Lilly.

Stock Watch: Market Optimism Outshines Q1 Currency And Tariff Woes

 
• By Andy Smith

The weak US dollar helped some companies reporting first-quarter results and hindered others reporting in stronger currencies. But even the impacts of currencies and Medicare modernization on first-quarter revenues were overlooked when an end to the trade wars seemed possible.

Stock Watch: Sanofi, Merck Open Windows Into Geopolitical Risks

 
• By Andy Smith

First-quarter results season featured tariff talk but without any full-year quantitation. As tariffs and foreign exchange movements bump up against capped drug prices, profitability could suffer.

Stock Watch: Dollar Weakness, Tariffs, Biosimilars In J&J’s Q1 Mix

 
• By Andy Smith

Announcing increased full-year earnings guidance and another dividend increase, Johnson & Johnson’s stock price weakened, outweighed by concerns about the replacement of Stelara revenues and possible drug import tariffs.

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Pipeline Watch: Thirteen Approvals And Ten Phase III Readouts

Pipeline Watch is a weekly snapshot of selected late-stage clinical trial events and approvals announced by pharmaceutical and biotech companies at medical and industry conferences, in financial and company presentations, and in company releases and statements.

J&J’s Imaavy Approval Is The Starting Line For Pipeline-In-A-Product Strategy

 
• By Jessica Merrill

The company’s FcRn inhibitor nipocalimab was approved by the US FDA for generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG), where it will join a competitive market.

Pipeline Watch: Five Approvals And One Phase III Readout

Pipeline Watch is a weekly snapshot of selected late-stage clinical trial events and approvals announced by pharmaceutical and biotech companies at medical and industry conferences, in financial and company presentations, and in company releases and statements.