The sun has set on the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, but we're still digesting the multicourse meal of news and commentary we've come to expect from the meeting each year. Here's our menu of JPM coverage, in case you missed any of your favorite dishes.
Fierce interviews
Novartis CEO Joe Jimenez warned last year that tech was an area where pharma would have to “pay real attention.” Now, with Qualcomm and Google collaborations already set, CMO Vas Narasimhan tells FiercePharma that the Swiss drugmaker is scouting more high-powered digital partnerships to take on pressing pharma issues like the high cost of drug development. Interview
Deal talk is hard to ignore at JPM—especially for a pair of the world’s biggest hemophilia drugmakers. Execs at Bioverativ, Biogen’s soon-to-be-spun-off hemophilia biz, are all too familiar with rival Shire's $32B deal for Baxalta, a newly spun-off pharma centered on hemophilia. Bioverativ's not interested in a sale, the execs say. And Shire CEO Flemming Ornskov says his company "doesn't need to" buy anything. Article
Even as Big Pharma interest in cancer vaccine combos surges, Bavarian Nordic is intent on remaining an independent vaccine company, CEO Paul Chaplin told FiercePharma. That's because, he says, it's the “best and most fruitful way” to get the most out of the company's platform in a variety of disease targets. Interview
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Ionis CEO Stanley Crooke, fresh off his approval of Spinraza with Biogen, tells FierceBiotech that the company is seeking to get its heart drug volanesorsen in front of the FDA as soon as possible. It's also looking to work on a new alternative med with Biogen after dropping development of IONIS-DMPK-2.5-R. Story
When the time comes to launch his company's new atopic dermatitis treatment dupilumab, Sanofi's Genzyme CEO David Meeker told FiercePharma that he has one key objective—and it isn't about sales numbers; he thinks those will take care of themselves. It's about building a rare-disease-style patient community to get the drug to the right patients, and only the right patients. Interview
Big Pharma and Big Biotech news
AbbVie CEO Richard Gonzalez joined the 10% price-hike pledge Wednesday, following Allergan and Novo Nordisk, as the drug pricing debate sent biopharma shares reeling once again. But other CEOs speaking at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference criticized that trendy 10% limit as a poor answer to the industry's pricing woes. Story
Sanofi CEO Olivier Brandicourt believes the French drugmaker has fixed the issues at a fill/finish plant in France that delayed its experimental rheumatoid arthritis drug sarilumab. Dupilumab is going through that same facility. Brandicourt says Sanofi and partner Regeneron should be back on track with their applications; Regeneron CEO Len Schleifer separately said he's looking for good news with a dupilumab decision later this quarter, thanks to progress already made at the Sanofi plant. Story
After Regeneron CEO Len Schleifer took Amgen to task for trying to push his company's PCSK9 drug Praluent off the market in a patent dispute, Amgen hit back, saying Regeneron and its partner Sanofi had launched a drug "they had no right to manufacture or sell" and that they'd failed to prove their case in court. Schleifer said Amgen could have waited for the appeal to be heard at the Federal Circuit Court, "the place where these cases are really decided," but didn't. "Is that putting patients first?" Schleifer asked during his JPM presentation. "It’s no small wonder that our industry isn’t beloved, because we talk a lot about putting patients first, but I don’t think people always do." Updated story
Celgene faced big expectations heading into JPM, and though it disclosed street-beating 2016 earnings on Monday—and a growth forecast of 18% for 2017—shares were down on the news. CEO Mark Alles talked up its collaborations, and for those keeping track, execs said Celgene is on its way to hitting a 2020 revenue goal of $21 billion-plus. Article
M&A talk
Pfizer’s dealmaking over the past few years follows a pattern: It likes buys that bring in new sales, and quickly. And executives say that's a trend they intend to continue. Looking for revenue growth “now or soon,” as CFO Frank D’Amelio said during a Tuesday fireside chat, is still the M.O. And if the company gets to repatriate overseas cash without a tax penalty under President-elect Trump, it'll have some serious firepower, he said. Report
Everyone wanted to listen to Gilead Sciences at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco on Monday, but though the company talked up its HIV and NASH programs, it did not come up with what many investors most wanted to hear: a major deal. Story
Pipeline updates
After flying in semi-stealth mode for some time now, causing accusations of secrecy, mRNA biotech Moderna finally shone some light onto its pipeline and delivery technology. The company highlighted the five assets it currently has in the clinic; shared updates on its work with Merck and AstraZeneca; and outlined its focus on immuno-oncology, infectious diseases and cardiovascular disease. Story
Sarepta Therapeutics saw a 21% bump Tuesday after it announced a new, early-stage research deal in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and announced early results from its controversial med for the disease, Exondys 51 (eteplirsen). The drug brought in $5.4 million in Q4, after its fall approval, and 250 patients have started going through the process of winning reimbursement for the drug. Some analysts were unimpressed, however, saying that those numbers fell short of their expectations. Story
Just three months ago, gene silencing specialist Alnylam was pummeled after deaths in a phase 3 clinical trial forced it to abandon its revusiran candidate for hereditary ATTR amyloidosis. Now, it is hoping to file its replacement candidate by the end of the year. Story.
CureVac had some disappointing news to report to investors at the J.P. Morgan conference this week after its lead drug failed a phase 2b trial in prostate cancer. The German specialist in mRNA-based drugs said CV9014 was unable to meet its primary objective of improving survival in the trial, which involved patients with asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). Story
After raising $45 million in a Series D round in October, True North Therapeutics said it is boosting its development plan for TNT009 by starting extra tests in the U.S. and Europe for a rare form of autoimmune hemolytic anemia. It's also looking at TNT009 in additional Complement-driven rare diseases. Release.
Specialty pharma news
Price-hike poster child Valeant used the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference to make a big statement about its arduous turnaround, which is largely focused on paying down its $30 billion debt burden. On Tuesday, the company announced a couple of long-awaited asset sales that will yield $2.1 billion in cash for paying down debt. Report
Allergan CEO Brent Saunders is tired of hearing from investors that chin-fat buster Kybella’s launch isn’t going as well as, say, that of IBS-D med Viberzi or schizophrenia treatment Vraylar. “Kybella is not a pharmaceutical launch,” he stressed during a JPM presentation. “It’s a medical aesthetic launch. It’s a new market, and we know from looking at historical data of launching Botox and launching fillers that Year 2 is pivotal.” Story
Last week, Teva had to slash more than $1 billion off the 2017 sales guidance it announced last July. On Monday at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference, CEO Erez Vigodman explained exactly how the company arrived at the off-base forecast in the first place. Thing is, observers aren't so sure Teva can do better going forward. Story
Big industry issues
More than 100 biopharma leaders have signed an open letter advocating for the adoption of 10 best practices to increase gender diversity in the industry. Publication of the list, which was signed by people from Big Pharma, biotech and venture capital, comes one year after the hiring of models to attend a party at the J.P. Morgan conference sparked protests and soul-searching in the industry. Story
And about potential U.S. tax reform: Drugmakers are speaking up about changes that could take place under U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. Amgen CEO Robert Bradway, for one, proclaimed on Monday that Amgen "will be a clear beneficiary of that change,” while Pfizer execs said they expect to benefit, too. But as J&J chief Alex Gorsky pointed out, for other companies, it may not be so black and white. Some pharmas might actually see their tax rates go up. Article