The big pharma financial reporting season gets underway on July 19 with Novartis and Johnson & Johnson in the vanguard. Biosimilar threats to immunology and cancer drugs and new product ramp-ups are among the key things to watch for as results are announced.

Big pharma investments in early innovation are paying off in ways that still are hard to measure in any concrete way, but green shoots are sprouting through the pavement as startups supported by multimillion-dollar initiatives evolve from concept to reality.

Professor Dr Andreas Barner, the outgoing chief of Boehringer Ingelheim, was able to report a return to growth for the family-owned German company in 2015 at his final annual conference. The group was boosted by diabetes sales under its partnership with Eli Lilly & Co - as well as by the strength of the dollar. The company reports in euros but books nearly 40% of its sales in the US. With currency effects stripped out, the sales were up by a more modest 4.1% versus the 11.1% as reported.