Taltz has sailed through the latest trial in Lilly’s COAST program, in non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis, but choppy waters may be ahead; meanwhile, Lilly signs an immunology deal with Avidity Biosciences.

ViiV Healthcare has published results from the first long-term Phase III study for switching from a three-drug combination, to an oral two-drug combination. It disproves resistance and safety fears that have hampered prescriber comfort, however, it may have to dampen its sales ambitions when ViiV’s soon-to-be-approved combo Tivicay/Epivir comes to market.

As the most advanced AXL inhibitor product in the global pipeline, BerGenBio’s bemcentinib has continued to show encouraging data in AML, following on from monotherapy trials last year.

Orchard is aiming to get its second autologous gene therapy on the market next year, with a European filing for MLD and a BLA to follow.

While the proposed Bristol/Celgene merger nears an April vote, Celgene continues a recent spate of deal-making, paying $25m up front to Exscientia to discover small molecule candidates for cancer and autoimmune disease.

Lilly is prepared to splash over $600m on an early development deal with ImmuNext on an immunometabolism target which ties the companies together for three years while an antibody is being developed.