Already very active in deal-making for fibrotic disease companies and candidates in the past year, Bristol-Myers Squibb ponied up $150m in upfront cash on Aug. 31 for an option to acquire Promedior Inc. and its mid-stage biologic for myelofibrosis (MF) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

The full-year reporting season began on 21 January with Johnson & Johnson reporting a strong showing from pharma sales (helped from an expected short-lived boost from its hepatitis C newcomer Olysio (simeprevir). Its fourth-quarter figures already showed the effects of "currency headwinds" that are expected to impact many in its pharma peer set in 2015. It warned that foreign exchange shifts with the recent strong appreciation of the US dollar will weigh on its 2015 figures. Goldman Sachs analysts believe big US pharma companies will take a 4-6% hit from currency headwinds in 2015, with about 37-50% of the top line hit flowing to EPS.

The FDA has granted a priority review to Pfizer's new drug application (NDA) for palbociclib as a first-line therapy in combination with letrozole as a first-line treatment for postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor positive (ER+), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 negative (HER2-) advanced breast cancer who have not received previous systemic treatment for their advanced disease, the firm said on 13 October.