If all goes to plan, the European Medicines Agency will shortly be offering companies yet another tool for expediting the development of innovative drugs for major public health needs: the PRIME (priority medicines) scheme, which is expected to be put out for consultation around the end of October.

UK innovation charity Nesta's distinctive contribution to the global bid to address antimicrobial resistance was announced recently: its resurrected Longitude Prize will award £10m ($17m) to anyone who can develop a "cost-effective, accurate, rapid and easy-to-use test for bacterial infections that will allow health professionals worldwide to administer the right antibiotics at the right time."

Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. In a trend that frankly would have been scarcely creditable just a few years ago, research-based multinationals are buying or allying with generics firms in China.

Dovetail's goal is to find a non-toxic, small, stable molecule against cancer, starting with myeloma.