Johnson & Johnson has solid growth drivers in pharmaceuticals, but still faces an overhang related to talc controversy; Bristol's call will be dominated by the just-announced Celgene acquisition; and AbbVie will face questions about its cancer plans after expensive failure with Rova-T.

Lilly's $8bn acquisition of genetics-based cancer specialist Loxo Oncology didn't involve any other bidders and was finalized in just days over the holidays as Lilly sought to make a news splash at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference, according to an SEC filing.

R&D head John Tsai spoke with Scrip about culture change at Novartis as it moves toward advanced therapy platforms and embraces digital technologies, and offered a peek into what’s in store for R&D in 2019 and beyond.

Annual payment plans for gene therapies appear closer to becoming reality now that bluebird bio detailed plans at J.P. Morgan. Novartis, Sarepta and others are also talking to payers about alternative payment models. Harvard Pilgrim's Michael Sherman applauded the effort in an interview.

Daily round-up of news and notes from the 2019 J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco: US generics see gains, researcher calls for more tech transfer, and biotech investor sentiment rises as big deals bring optimism – among other items from the last day of this year's JPM. 

Daily round-up of news and notes from the 2019 J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco: US generics see gains, researcher calls for more tech transfer, and biotech investor sentiment rises as big deals bring optimism – among other items from the last day of this year's JPM.