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Stock Watch
Taking a broad view of big pharma share price movements as the sector reported 2024 financials, company-specific issues were complicated by geopolitical factors including Donald Trump’s tariff announcements.
What a company says – and does not say – about its outlook can sway sentiment. Meanwhile, the snapshot of a big pharma’s quarterly results offers an insight to the circle of a portfolio’s life, with new products ascending to blockbuster status as previous blockbusters disappear.
When a sector re-rates and goes out of favor against the backdrop of wider headwinds, even sales growth may not distract investors from greener grass in other sectors.
After a less auspicious prelude and a positive start to the biggest healthcare conference of the year, the news flow and investors’ support for biotech initially improved.
From gene therapies to small molecule drugs, investors seemed to have eschewed the risks of biotech company investment propositions in 2024 but last year’s disappointments provided good lessons going forward.
As broad stock markets finished the third quarter of 2024 on a high, two large biotech companies battled on more than one front. Despite both announcing positive news in the last week of the quarter, neither seemed to be a clear winner over that period.
R&D managers can sometimes drive a drug’s development despite evidence of its unviability. This has recently resulted in a scramble to adjust in-progress trial protocol and post-approval cost-effectiveness concerns.
The biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors outsource much of their drug discovery and clinical development efforts to contract organizations. Investors’ reduced appetite for biotech is now impacting those contractors.
As it navigates product transition in ophthalmology against biosimilar and branded rivals, Regeneron seems to have a simpler challenge in another major therapeutic area.
Historically, announcements from biotech companies have triggered stock price fluctuations as investors misinterpret the details. However, two recent instances suggest this pattern might be shifting.