CEO Sean McCarthy told BioWorld Today that Cytomx Therapeutics Inc.'s deals will be "increasingly strategic," structured for purposes of "not just bringing cash in the door," and the latest – the firm's third pharma pact – with Abbvie Inc. typifies what he's talking about: "a foundational, pipeline-building" arrangement.

CEO George Scangos said Biogen Inc. has "deliberately brought in a series of compounds and [is] conducting late-stage trials and things that are outside" of multiple sclerosis (MS) in order to keep the business growing. Thursday's reaction to first quarter earnings by the Cambridge, Mass.-based firm varied from "a solid start to the year and biotech earnings season" (Cowen and Co. analyst Eric Schmidt) to "good enough is the theme right now" (RBC Capital Markets' Michael Yee). Piper Jaffray's Joshua Schimmer observed drily: "Lower spending, otherwise same Biogen."

Positive data with Oncosec Medical Inc.'s Immunopulse interleukin-12 (IL-12) electroporation therapy against melanoma "set pulses racing," in the words of H.C. Wainwright analyst Mark Breidenbach, as investors cheered evidence that the approach could boost CD8+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and thereby set patients up to benefit more from anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy, the emerging standard of care in the deadly skin cancer.

CEO Michele Garufi told BioWorld Today that Nicox SA's eye-drop form of cetirizine "has a good chance to take a nice market share" in eye itching related to allergic conjunctivitis (AC), and could win priority review, thanks to data in pediatric patients. "Of course, [market success] will depend on the partner that we select for commercialization," he added. Talks are under way.

What the FDA's CRL for Mycapssa to treat adult patients with acromegaly might mean for the ongoing European study remained unclear, as Chiasma Inc. is "revisiting all priorities" and preparing for a post-review meeting with U.S. regulators, said CEO Mark Leuchtenberger.

With about 5.4 million people suffering from Alzheimer's disease in the U.S. and 44 million worldwide, and with populations in developed countries living longer, the search for effective therapies is becoming ever more urgent. Analysts at J.P. Morgan call AD "one of the most attractive potential new categories in major pharma and biotech," with the potential for more than $10 billion in peak sales for a drug that works. A new report by the firm pegs "a number of key catalysts" this year, and anticipates that investors' focus on AD will increase as 2016 wears on.

Enthusiasm for bispecific antibodies has anything but abated since late 2014, when the FDA granted accelerated approval of Amgen Inc.'s Blincyto (blinatumomab) for Philadelphia chromosome-negative precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).