Takeda and Millennium's recent out-sized tie-up reflects the different but real industry pressures from which both companies are suffering.Facing near-term patent exiprations of several key drugs, Takeda desperately needed to bulk up its R&D pipeline. Millennium, for its own part, was heavily dependent on the label expansion of its lead product, Velcade, as it struggled to maintain sustainable earnings growth and advance its early stage compounds through the clinic.

Adding non-transfusion-dependent anemia patients to the Reblozyl label is a key strategy for the product, which BMS expects to reach $4bn in annual sales.

Biogen has warned that uptake for its newly approved Alzheimer’s therapy will be slow in the beginning and doctors confirm it will take time to figure which patients can and should be treated.