The End­points 100: No­var­tis gets 'poor' grade on da­ta scan­dal, Ned Sharp­less is­n't a 'wow' and that Cana­da drug im­por­ta­tion plan is a non­starter

No­var­tis’ lat­est scan­dal re­volv­ing around hid­den da­ta ma­nip­u­la­tion has be­come a cau­tion­ary tale for the bio­phar­ma in­dus­try — and one that of­fers clear guide­lines on do­ing the right thing.

That is just one of the in­evitable con­clu­sions to be reached from our lat­est sur­vey of the End­points 100, which tracks the opin­ion of a glob­al group of se­nior ex­ec­u­tives in the in­dus­try — who share some sharp ob­ser­va­tions on where we are head­ed in bio­phar­ma. 

Uni­for­mi­ty is clear­ly out when it comes to the E100, but it’s easy to see which way the wind is blow­ing for the ma­jor­i­ty of the 74 ex­ecs who par­tic­i­pat­ed in the lat­est round.

In ad­di­tion to the hot but­ton is­sues we sur­veyed the group on, we’re see­ing plen­ty of hir­ing con­tin­ue at these com­pa­nies — not un­ex­pect­ed in a field that has seen a decade of rapid growth. But while most con­tin­ue to see the fi­nan­cial en­vi­ron­ment we’re in now as a pos­i­tive — with ac­cess to cap­i­tal, a “warm” en­vi­ron­ment for M&A and good val­u­a­tions — there’s al­so been a dis­tinct re­duc­tion in the fer­vor that’s be­ing felt here.

That cool­ing en­thu­si­asm may not be un­ex­pect­ed at a time when stock val­u­a­tions for a host of play­ers have been beat­en up some — or a lot. But the fun­da­men­tals all still look rock-sol­id, for now.

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