Yet another company – this time Novo Nordisk – has decided that it wouldn't be good business to sell its antidiabetic in Germany following a rocky ride through the AMNOG benefit assessment and pricing negotiations. While companies are worried about the future of treatments for chronic diseases in Germany, prescribers and health insurers are more sanguine and believe that German patients are not yet missing out on important innovations in the market.

Aegerion Pharmaceuticals sank 41% to $20.19 per share on 31 October after the company revealed lower than expected third quarter sales and cut its full-year 2014 sales guidance due to increased discontinuation rates for Juxtapid (lomitapide) and reimbursement challenges in ex-US markets.

Gilead's Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) provides additional benefit in hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients, but that benefit is unquantifiable, according to Germany's health technology appraisal body, IQWiG. The institute's lukewarm evaluation sets the scene for difficult pricing negotiations for Gilead.

The life sciences industry in the UK is continuing to put pressure on the government in an effort to make it deliver on the much-vaunted but still-to-materialize early access to medicines scheme. There is speculation that an announcement on the scheme is not far off, with a new “promising innovation medicine” designation expected to be introduced as part of it.