The Canadian specialty pharma has exceeded its near-term debt-reduction goals, but are its plans for a return to growth grounded in reality? Market analysts recommend caution, but see some reason for optimism.

Winter is coming, yet China’s financial market is still hot for healthcare companies looking at a prosperous period of investment before the year ends. Capital investments from Chinese investors dramatically increased in November, particularly in the precision medicines segment. Although Chinese Creat Group’s expected record-breaking outbound pharmaceutical acquisition deal worth $1.5bn failed to gain US approval, cross-border M&A remained active.

At first glance, giving back Addyi to the original owners for next to nothing looks like a complete disaster but investors are relieved debt-ridden Valeant has managed to offload another asset.

Public Company Financings: Rhythm and OptiNose are the 30th and 31st initial public offerings of 2017. Also, reverse mergers add two more newly public firms, Valeant raises $1bn to pay down more debt, and PhaseRx and Trevena cut jobs.