Pharma news weekly roundup

By Barbara Obstoj, editor

US drugmaker MannKind Corp got a boost this week, with a deal that could provide revenues of over $100 million, and investors cheered as the company’s shares gained on the news. But that came on the back of losing a potential $925 million deal with Sanofi, which has pulled out of marketing agreement for the human insulin Afrezza due to very sluggish sales. So should investors be cheering?

Bears will point out that what MannKind really needed was a hefty up-front payment, which this deal does not include, wrote Brian Feroldi on the Motley Fool blog. In addition, there isn't much information out there about Receptor Life Sciences, as it is "a newly formed entity" that is "quietly laying the foundation for groundbreaking new products in the specialty pharmaceutical market." Investors were not given any information about who is behind this company and what kind of resources it has access to. Is it secretly a front for a deep-pocketed company like Sanofi that wants to remain in the shadows? Or is this newly formed company just another small start-up biotech firm that is full of promise but short on capital?