Big pharmaceutical oncology franchise sales generally grew in the third quarter of 2023, but some were transitioning through loss of exclusivity and others were not being helped by their most innovative therapies.

AstraZeneca is the latest GLP-1 agonist aspirant after Novo’s and Lilly’s recent earnings season successes. Already, a segmentation of potential patients and frantic competition among new GLP-1 agonists and drug combinations are emerging.

From the unfavorable comparisons brought about by lower pandemic-related product sales, vaccines for other diseases bring hopes for longer-term success.

Earnings season was not going too badly until a spate of self-inflicted wounds by BMS and Sanofi soured sentiment. Many new product launches remained too small to help.

Once a cancer drug powerhouse, Roche’s newer oncology launches were not taking up the slack caused by biosimilar competition to its former blockbusters. Something else was required.

J&J’s separation from its consumer division increased its cash, reduced its share count and provided interest income greater than third-quarter worldwide sales of some of its new drugs.