The biopharmaceutical industry's annual report card posted a B-plus. The BioWorld Biopharmaceutical Index, which embraces 21 of the top blue chip companies, generated a healthy 9 percent jump in value and the BioWorld Drug Developers Index soared a spectacular 55 percent in 2017. In a normal year, those returns would be more than enough to earn an A rating. However, the sector stumbled in the second half of the year with the Biopharmaceutical Index recording a 15 percent jump in value for the first six months of 2017, but a disappointing 5 percent drop in value in the second half of the year. Read More
Two weeks before the start of the 36th annual J.P. Morgan (JPM) Healthcare Conference, the annual gauge of life sciences investor sentiment, organizers caused a firestorm with their decision to bar media from the breakout sessions that follow canned presentations by 480 public and private companies over the four-day meeting. They relented 24 hours later, after media outlets took to Twitter to complain and stories in consumer press riled up retail investors, who publicly charged the forum with giving preferential treatment to institutional customers. Read More
If ever a statement was made, it was made in 2017 by the FDA with a record number of approvals that dwarfed last year's numbers in every aspect. The most dramatic change was seen through a doubling of the new molecular entities (NMEs) approved, as well as a 37 percent increase in orphan drug approvals. BioWorld reported on the approval of 46 NMEs, in contrast with 2016's 22 NMEs approved. (See BioWorld Insight, Jan. 2, 2017.) Read More
