For Sage, the mid-stage failure of SAGE-324 in essential tremor is its second setback in a year full of clinical trial readouts. For Biogen, it highlights a lack of later-stage pipeline prospects.

Payers are restricting access to obesity drugs due to huge patient numbers and a wave of innovation in other areas

Sales of the company’s new drugs have a lot of growing to do to make up for older products’ declines, but Biogen highlighted signs of strength for new launches in its Q1 report.

Dalzanemdor (SAGE-718) showed no difference from placebo in a Phase II Parkinson’s disease study, raising concerns about readouts later this year in Huntington’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.