Senior MSL I

AbbVie stock has returned 24.5% over the past three months, trading near its 52-week high. The pharmaceutical company's growth hinges on a pending regulatory decision for SKYRIZI, an immunology treatment that generates nearly a third of guided revenue. SKYRIZI sold $5.5 billion in Q2 2026, up 24% operationally. AbbVie guides the drug to $21.7 billion for 2026 against total company revenue of approximately $67.6 billion. The company has raised its 2026 guidance twice by $600 million combined. A subcutaneous induction option for Crohn's disease awaits regulatory approval this fall. Management expects the new dosing method to meaningfully accelerate SKYRIZI sales, though the commercial impact won't materialise until early 2027 due to contract timelines. Clinical trial results showed endoscopic response and remission rates 25 points above placebo.

UK's Smith+Nephew CFO John Rogers to step down for external role. August 19, 2026 The departure follows Smith+Nephew's decision weeks ago to cut its annual revenue growth forecast after second-quarter sales missed expectations due to weak U.S. knee and hip implant demand and pressure on skin substitute pricing International News via Reuters: Smith+Nephew said on Wednesday its finance chief John Rogers would step down at the end of September to take up an external position in the United States, ending his roughly two-and-a-half-year tenure with the medical products company. Here are some more details: - The departure follows Smith+Nephew's decision weeks ago to cut its annual revenue growth forecast after second-quarter sales missed expectations due to weak U.S. knee and hip implant demand and pressure on skin substitute pricing. - Smith+Nephew said it had appointed Senior Vice President Finance and Group Controller Pierre Palassian as interim chief financial officer until a permanent replacement was appointed. - Palassian, who joined Smith+Nephew in 2017, previously held senior roles at AbbVie and Abbott Laboratories. - Rogers, who took up the CFO role in early 2024, had relocated to the United States in 2025 for operational efficiencies. - Shares in the FTSE 100 company have gained nearly 14% during Rogers' tenure as CFO. - Smith+Nephew said Rogers would receive no severance payment, and that his outstanding incentive and share awards would lapse on September 30 under leaver rules. Reporting by Neeshita Beura in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu - Advertisement - August 19, 2026 - Advertisement -

Tavapadon update. Publication of a Phase 3 trial of the dopamine agonist tavapadon in mild PD shows that a new option will be available soon for people with PD. Tavapadon is a unique dopamine agonist, stimulating different dopamine receptors than the currently available agents. What I think of as first generation dopamine agonists - the ones that are available now (ropinirole, pramipexole and rotigotine) act via D2/D3 receptors to reduce the brake on movement. In contrast, what I call second generation drug acts via D1/D5 receptors to stimulate movement. The trials that I expect to yield FDA approval for tavapadon studied the effects of the drug compared to placebo. They showed benefit in people with mild PD [TEMPO-2] as well as those with more advanced disease as defined by motor complications [TEMPO-3]. It is a strong database. But ParkinsonsDisease don't have data to tell ParkinsonsDisease how to use 1st -gen vs. this 2nd gen dopamine agonist. Open questions include: · Does one more potent improve movement than the other? · Is one approach better tolerated with less side effects? · Are there situations where a person should switch from 1st -gen to this 2nd -gen therapy? · Could the two together or rotating between the two be the optimal approach? With such unanswered questions, how are ParkinsonsDisease to know how to use this new therapy? Conducting proper randomized clinical trials focused on each question is the only way. Trials comparing similar drugs: feasible and important. Abbvie is developing tavapadon after it was initially discovered by scientists at Pfizer. As a commercial entity, why would Abbvie conduct comparative studies that risk their drug being shown to be no better than a 1st-gen dopamine agonist, especially considering how cheap they are compared to a newly launched brand-name drug? Consider a couple of lessons. 1. Several companies selling the cholesterol-lowering statins were battling for market share (behind Lipitor). Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) sought to increase its share and launched a large-scale, multi-center, blinded, randomized clinical trial comparing its drug (Pravachol) to Lipitor. No one expected the two drugs to have equal cholesterol lowering effects, as Lipitor more potently lowered cholesterol. Instead, the trial focused on whether the clinical impact of any cholesterol lowering were similar or different. When I spoke with cardiologists about the trial, they seemed convinced that BMS knew something that made them confident enough to spend the millions of dollars the trial would cost - and so continued to write prescriptions for Pravachol. In the end, Pravachol was shown to be inferior (though still better than placebo). BMS did the right thing, though their gamble failed. 2. When the second beta-blocker was approved for treatment of heart failure, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) was concerned that its drug (Coreg) could lose market share - including to a generic beta-blocker. It launched a major clinical trial comparing its brand name drug to the generic. Again, doctors talking about the trial seemed convinced that GSK knew something that made it risk its beta-blocker franchise. In the end, Coreg was proven to be clinical superior to the generic beta-blocker metoprolol (that was also effective). GSK's did the right thing and their gamble paid off. Abbvie could to the right thing, but If such a trial is not already being planned, I am not optimistic Abbvie is likely to conduct such a trial. A call to action. If Abbvie has not already factored in this gamble to their soon to be launched drug, I am not optimistic they are likely to announce such a trial. But there is a way. The NIH, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, the Parkinson's Foundation and Cure Parkinson's - amongst others - could band together and make it happen. This is not merely a scientific curiosity. This is a major clinical need. And if you agree, tell these Foundations that you want to know the answers to these questions. In case you missed it... About Jonathan Sackner-Bernstein, MD Dr. Sackner-Bernstein shares his pursuit of conquering Parkinson's, using expertise developed as Columbia University faculty, FDA senior official, DARPA insider and witness to the toll of PD. Dr. S-B's Linkedin page RightBrainBio, Inc. was incorporated in 2022 to develop tranformative therapies for people with Parkinson's. I post on LinkedIn to highlight this weekly newsletter and engage in conversations with others. There was an old video of Michael J. Fox being interviewed by Barbara Walters about his ability and inability to control his movement.