Another company working on epilepsy, that is undergoing something of a scientific renaissance (years after many big pharma players left the neurological stage).

My sense is that $ARGX (bolstered by their balance sheet) is throwing Efgar at pretty much every Auto-Immune disease out there. Wonder if they've become less discriminating given recent clinical failures?

The Roctavian forecast seems ambitious to say the least.

In reality there is no shortage of CDMOs per se-more a lack of high quality names. Many CDMOs lack the scale/investment to grow. What you're suggesting is a step-change in Big Pharma manufacturing strategy to increase outsourcing significantly from its current levels.

What's interesting in all this, is the realisation that in the real world, there are likely more patients than disclosed in the literature (which forms the basis for much of indication selection and market size estimates).

That is the key point and apparently, yet to be completely internalised by many commentators.

And now for something completely different: tinyurl.com/4aek74zb $CTLT unloading its oral solids facility to another CDMO (Ardena)

$CSL & $TAK have sufficient breadth to weather the FcRN storm IMO. $GRF is another story but they've already undergone significant restructuring.

For those interested in AD (Alzheimer's), there's a recent piece advocating approval based exclusively on amyloid removal (tinyurl.com/36sdcpbd) -basically biomarker based approval. These folks are not giving up!

Lonza ($LONN) discloses plans to exit Capsules business (about time) & new operating model. lonza.com/news/2024-12-1…

Wasn’t that a husband & wife team (Kingsman?)

Point 5 is especially interesting, hinting at the strengths & weaknesses of Chinese biotech.

For those interested the annual Deloitte RD ROI has arrived (tinyurl.com/mr2ruj9j). Good news: ROI up to 5.9%; less good news: much of this is due to assets in obesity. Also cost of development up to $2.2bn (lots of variation here).

The latecomers to the FcRN party trying to uncover a profitable niche.

The UK investment relates to 2029/30 (jam tomorrow as they say).

He was as genuinely self-effacing as he was knowledgeable, very rare qualities indeed. Condolences to his family.

UK government playing ball with the US over pharmaceuticals pricing ustr.gov/about/policy-o…

The obvious question is the likelihood of widescale reimbursement following the trials.

The argument against China's inevitable rise and pre-eminence is the "translatability" of China only trials into a broader population. TBC that clearly does not absolve the West from the need to move faster in early development.

The second order impacts of failure to launch in Europe due to pricing issues, are not trivial, and ultimately do not bode well for the indigenous European biopharma sector.