Gilead and ‘Good News’ Make A Rare, Joint Appearance at HIV Conference

With sales of its hepatitis C drugs falling and an oncology pipeline that has largely disappointed, bictegravir is vitally important for Gilead to defend and grow its dominant HIV franchise. Bictegravir, the company’s next-generation integrase inhibitor, suppressed the HIV virus in newly diagnosed patients better than dolutegravir, a similar, rival drug from GlaxoSmithKline , according to results from a mid-stage clinical trial announced Monday night.

Johnson & Johnson’s Most Exciting Opportunity

Can cancer drug sales continue to soar? Here’s why cancer drugs could be Johnson & Johnson’s most exciting opportunity in 2017. Global spending on cancer drugs eclipsed $100 billion two years ago, and aging and longer-living populations worldwide have IMS Health projecting that global spending on cancer medicine could hit $150 billion in 2020.

3 Biotechs Likely to Be Acquired in 2017

The year is still young, but we’ve already seen acquisitions of Ariad and CoLucid . Which biotechs could be scooped up next in 2017? Here’s why Clovis Oncology The number of big companies battling to acquire Medivationin 2016 shows that the oncology space is hot.

Merrimack Soars on $1 Billion Sale of Cancer Drugs to Ipsen

The Nasdaq-listed cancer drugs developer is up 43% in pre-market trading after promising shareholders special dividends worth more than its closing share price on Friday. Nasdaq-listed Merrimack Pharmaceuticals agreed to sell oncology treatments, including its pancreatic-cancer treatment Onivyde, to French drugmaker Ipsen for as much as $1.05 billion, including benchmark payments.

3 Takeover Candidates in the Drug Space

This commentary originally appeared on Real Money Pro at 7 a.m. ET Friday, Jan. 6. Click here to learn about this dynamic market information service for active traders. We expect quite a number of M&A deals in the health-care sector in 2017.

Cheating Death Can Cost $200,000 as Cancer Tops Pharma Sales

Years before becoming a top cancer specialist, Eric Winer used to save money on his own medical care by talking U.S. pharmacists into giving him expired treatments for free. Winer, who has a bleeding disorder known as hemophilia, knew the drugs would still work for a brief time after the official use-by date.