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Diabetes drugmakers have suffered the most under a new drug-price paradigm, in which pharmacy benefit managers and insurers prod older medicines in competitive classes into costly price wars. Sanofi and Novo Nordisk A/S hope their new two-drug diabetes combinations Soliqua and Xultophy, both approved by the FDA Monday afternoon, will help reverse this price crunch to some extent. But while these medicines will likely help in a dismal environment, they're not going to be saviors. (Max Nisen, 11/22)

Biotech's Trump-inspired rally has been a major source of relief for the industry, in more than one way. With the Nasdaq Biotech Index (NBI) up nearly 10 percent since Election Day -- including the biggest one-day jump in biotech shares in nearly a decade -- companies can now tap equity markets for funding more successfully. That's a big relief for companies depending on share sales to fund years of losses as they develop drugs. (Max Nisen, 11/22)

In an increasingly polarized political climate in the U.S., there is one topic that has gained support across party lines: action to keep prescription drug costs low. More people are paying attention to prescription drugs because of a large spike in costs, leading to a frenzy of media attention on the issue.  (Allison Aase, 11/21)

Precision medicine provides better targeting of treatments to patients who really benefit from them. Fewer people will be treated with a given drug, compared to standard therapies, but everyone is better off – the treated have better outcomes, and everyone else can move on to another therapy that works for them. In a world where prices are increasingly based on value, this means that drug prices are likely to rise, but overall spending on pharmaceuticals may not change, or could actually fall. (Jason Shafrin, 11/21)