Good morning, everyone, and welcome to another working week, at least for those on our side of the pond, where we are returning from an extended holiday break. As usual this means that the predictable routine of online meetings and deadlines has returned. To cope, we are reaching for the tea kettle to have another cuppa. Our choice today is a blend of matcha, gingko, and a few berries. Please feel free to join us. Meanwhile, we have assembled a lengthy menu of items — a baker’s dozen, in fact — in hopes of easing your own journey today. Best of luck, and we hope you conquer the world. …
U.S. pharmaceutical companies are stepping up their campaign for higher drug prices in Europe, in some cases threatening to withhold new medicines if European lawmakers refuse, The Financial Times says. Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla, the first pharmaceutical boss to announce a pricing agreement with President Trump last year, said the deal forced Pfizer to increase prices abroad. “When [we] do the math, shall we reduce the U.S. price to France’s level or stop supplying France? We [will] stop supplying France,” Bourla told reporters at the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference last week. “So they will stay without new medicines. The system will force us not to be able to accept the lower prices.” Other pharmaceutical executives said at the conference that they were quietly considering withholding or delaying drug launches in Europe.
Chinese drugmakers signed a record $135.7 billion in cross-border out-licensing deals in 2025, as global pharmaceutical giants raced to tap China’s growing drug pipeline, Nikkei Asia reports. The sector completed 157 such deals throughout the year, a sharp rise from the $51.9 billion across 94 deals recorded in 2024, according to Chinese data provider PharmCube’s NextPharma database. Pharmaceutical out-licensing typically grants overseas partners some or all of the rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize a treatment originally developed by the licenser. The surge underscores China’s evolving role as a critical supply center for the global pharmaceutical industry, where multinational corporations are increasingly hunting for assets in fast-growing fields like antibody-drug conjugates and immunotherapy to offset looming patent cliffs, even as domestic firms grapple with the sustainability of these partnerships.Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…