The Medicines Company, Amarin and Geron have all reported interim analyses for clinical studies recently and investors have been left disappointed. Were we better off without the interim analysis?

There is now no sugar-coating of the first-quarter 2016 earnings season for life sciences companies. By the end of the previous week a few companies had reported results that didn't disappoint but also didn't blow off any socks. By contrast, the second full week of earnings reports majored in significant disappointment.

InterMune is to pocket $55 million plus royalties over two years by selling the rights to Actimmune (interferon gamma-1b) to Vidara Therapeutics International. The company noted that it had stopped investigating new uses for Actimmune several years ago, and has viewed it as a "tactical financial asset". Sales of the drug (around $4 million in the most recent quarter) have been in decline since the company settled charges of illegal off-label promotion for its use in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), which remains its key revenue driver despite the fact that it is not actively promoted and is still not licensed for the indication.