Fourth-quarter earnings reports from J&J, Novartis, AbbVie and Biogen all missed on sales but more worryingly, lower sales from some recent acquisitions contributed to the missed expectations. The time from child star to problem child seems to be shorter than I remember.

P&G launches a promotional campaign for the first digital test that can indicate a woman’s peak four days of ovulation under the Clearblue brand, which it markets for manufacturer SPD Swiss Precision Diagnostics.

P&G launches a promotional campaign for the first digital test that can indicate a woman’s peak four days of ovulation under the Clearblue brand, which it markets for manufacturer SPD Swiss Precision Diagnostics.

All facets of diabetes are a big focus of start-up and venture capital interest these days--insulin, blood-glucose testing, and new small-molecule drugs. Blood glucose monitoring is one of the few areas of in vitro diagnostics that attracts a significant amount of investor interest. Startups in this field pick one of two tacts: to try to change the testing paradigm with revolutionary technologies or to introduce incremental improvements, which could help attract big corporate partners.