Deal Snapshot: Novartis partnered with IFM Due in 2019 and has now exercised an option to buy the IFM Therapeutics subsidiary, continuing its ongoing relationship with the group.

The well-known businessman and TV personality told the White House that the US needs to ‘stop doing business with the big three PBMs,’ helping to fight the drug industry’s battle against the middlemen with a friendlier face not associated directly with the brand industry.

More than 100 biopharma executives and experts told Scrip their predictions for therapeutic area advances in the coming year. The recent commercial success of GLP-1s in diabetes and obesity and their potential in further disease areas fuelled excitement around the metabolic space. Expectations were also positive in neurology following the launch of Leqembi for Alzheimer’s disease in 2023, while the multiple opportunities to improve cancer treatment kept oncology top of the pile overall.

In year two, Humira biosimilar uptake – or the lack thereof – continues to build the case for policy reform to incentivize use of cheaper biologics in the outpatient setting.