Look back at pharma news week to Mar 31

By Barbara Obstoj-Cardwell. Editor

Most of the headline grabbing news last week focussed on approvals of new medicines and some exciting clinical trial results. Among these were the approvals of Roche’s Ocrevus for multiple sclerosis, Tesaro’s Zejula for treatment of recurrent ovarian cancer and Sanofi’s Dupixent for atopic dermatitis. Also stirring interest was clinical data on Vertex’ combination of tezacaftor and ivacaftor.

On a wider front, with healthcare remaining status quo for the foreseeable future, now is the time to turn around and reinvest in pharmaceutical names, wrote Parke Shall on the Seeking Alpha blog. Not only does he predict that little will change on the healthcare front for the next few years, the issue of pricing is likely to come off the table over the next couple of years and companies who have been hit hard on price reduction fears may now wind up being good investments.