In this webinar, we’ll explore how the Truveta Language Model (TLM)—a multi-modal AI model trained on EHR data—unlocks insights from clinical notes at scale. Watch now.
Massachusetts biopharma workforce growth was fairly flat last year, and R&D and manufacturing employment declined, according to a new MassBio report. BioSpace data further highlight challenges facing the state, showing roughly 2,300 people out of work in 2025 and jobs live on the website falling.
Scott Gottlieb, who served as FDA commissioner during the first Trump administration, wrote in a JAMA editorial that China is speeding drugs to market and could potentially surpass the U.S. in the innovation game.
AMX0035—approved as Relyvrio in 2022 for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis but voluntarily pulled from the market last year—was unable to distinguish itself from placebo in a mid-to-late-stage trial of progressive supranuclear palsy.
Novartis has bet up to $772 million to gain access to BioArctic’s BrainTransporter platform, which was leveraged in a partnership with Eisai to produce Leqembi.
Regeneron’s cemdisiran, used alone or in combination with its complement inhibitor Veopoz, significantly improved activities of daily living in patients with generalized myasthenia gravis.
FEATURED STORIES
Participants in trials of BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics’ NurOwn filed a Citizens’ Petition with the FDA earlier this month seeking a new review of the stem cell therapy that was rejected in 2022 based on real-world data and 90% survival in an expanded access program.
From Wall Street to real estate to a “big, ugly” pharma building, Mayo Venture Partner Audrey Greenberg reflects on a career defined by taking a leap at just the right moment.
Some of the most high-profile acquisitions in recent years have involved women-fronted biotechs. BioSpace reviews five of the most notable here.
Seven biotech unicorns are advancing AI-powered drug discovery and development—but must contend with a difficult investing environment where competition is steep and the usual roads to exit are uncertain.
More than thirty years since its 1993 founding, Catherine Owen Adams and Elizabeth Thompson—the R&D combo that has led Acadia since last year—are managing two products on the market and a pipeline estimated to be worth an additional $12 billion in sales.
New data and analyses presented at the American Diabetes Association’s annual meeting highlight the priorities for the next generation of weight loss medicines: muscle preservation, limited side effects and novel targets.
FROM BIOSPACE INSIGHTS
BioSpace surveyed our community to gain their insights and perspectives on work, their employers, and to understand who makes up the life science community.
LATEST PODCASTS
China continues to be a source of innovation as Pfizer strikes biggest pact yet; HHS provides more info on Trump’s Most Favored Nation executive order; FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and CBER director Vinay Prasad reveal new COVID-19 vaccine strategy following Novavax approval; ODAC underway after chaotic planning; more.
President Donald Trump unwrapped a massive drug pricing policy as CMS prepares for the next round of Medicare drug price negotiations; Vinay Prasad to take the helm at the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research; Bayer cuts 2,000 more employees; Eli Lilly’s Zepbound scores again; and the Galapagos story turns again.
In this episode of Denatured BioSpace’s head of insights Lori Ellis discusses the public health consequences of vaccine hesitancy and the critical distinction between skepticism and cynicism with Paul Offit, MD, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Job Trends
Looking for a biopharma job in New Jersey? Check out the BioSpace list of eight companies hiring life sciences professionals like you.
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SPECIAL EDITIONS
BioSpace did a deep dive into biopharma female executives who navigated difficult markets to lead their companies to high-value exits.
BioSpace data show biopharma professionals faced increased competition for fewer employment opportunities during the second quarter of 2025, with increased pressure from further layoffs.
BioSpace did a deep dive into executive pay, examining the highest compensation packages, pay ratios and golden parachutes—what a CEO would get paid to leave.
DEALS
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The deal helps revitalize the TREM2 target after the high-profile failure of AbbVie and Alector’s candidate last year. -
BioSpace’s NextGen companies are rising in one of the most confounding biotech markets ever experienced. Executives sounded off on how to keep your head above water during our webinar, Are We There Yet? -
The largest Chinese licensing deal behind Pfizer’s is Novartis’ partnership with Shanghai Argo Biopharma, worth potentially more than $4 billion. -
The star of the acquisition is the enzyme replacement therapy INZ-701, being developed for the rare disease ENPP1 deficiency. -
After warnings that the dragged-out process was putting the cell therapy company at risk of bankruptcy, bluebird bio now has a new deal to offer shareholders.
WEIGHT LOSS
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For $812 million, Novo Nordisk will enlist Deep Apple to discover and develop a non-incretin therapy for obesity, months after the Danish pharma’s amylin efforts underwhelmed investors. -
The deal is Lilly’s second obesity tie-up in a week, after sinking up to $870 million into an agreement with Camurus to develop long-acting versions of molecules against GLP-1 and other incretins. -
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made waves this week, firing the remaining members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices; Metsera’s amylin drug produced weight loss of 8.4% at 36 days; and FDA leaders gathered last week to discuss the future of cell and gene therapy, a sector that has been in turmoil since the ousting of CBER Chief Peter Marks. -
In what Guggenheim Partners called one of Metsera’s “critical program milestones” this year, its ultra-long-acting amylin injection MET-233i showed promising weight-loss after a little more than a month of treatment. -
Given the evidence, the committee has recommended that the labels for Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Ozempic be updated to include the “very rare” risk of non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy.
POLICY
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The FDA has denied that it plans to combine the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research and Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research into one entity. -
In 17 identical letters posted to his Truth Social account, the president said companies must lower their prices or the government ‘will deploy every tool in our arsenal to protect American families from continued drug pricing practices.’ -
George Tidmarsh has only been at the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research for nine days, but will now add supervision of a second FDA division to his portfolio after Vinay Prasad’s sudden departure. -
As analysts parsed news of Vinay Prasad’s ouster, worries over drug approval delays, cell and gene therapy impacts and more were top of mind. -
Monarez is the first CDC director to be confirmed by the Senate under a new 2023 law and will be the first person without a medical degree to assume leadership of the agency in more than 70 years.
A BioSpace LinkedIn poll showed that just 19% of respondents believe biopharma professionals need Ph.D.s for scientist roles.
Employers have adjusted to higher salaries. That also means they’ve become adamant they get specific skill sets, according to Greg Clouse, BioSpace recruitment manager.
Looking for a job in Texas? Check out these nine companies hiring life sciences professionals like you.
Whether they’re newly minted managers or C-suite executives, effective managers often lead with empathy, intellectual curiosity and vulnerability.
Generative AI could enhance and accelerate the way people work on clinical trials. In this Q&A, a management consultant shares his insights on benefits, risks and more.
After more than 20 years at Eli Lilly, Leslie Sam moved into independent consulting. To prepare for the transition, she focused on becoming technically deep and earning industry recognition.
HOTBEDS
REPORTS
Get up to speed with BioSpace’s data with up-to-date info about retention, layoffs, “quiet quitting” and projections for 2023.
After a tumultuous 2022, life science employers are settling into their hiring goals for 2023. Though they may be hiring at lower volume, the majority of organizations are still actively recruiting.
Economic turbulence has persisted into 2023 and the life science industry is certainly not immune. How are organizations juggling business needs, budgets, recruitment and retention?
CANCER
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Gilead is betting up to $750 million on Kymera’s anti-CDK2 molecular glue for solid tumors, while Sanofi elected to move forward with another protein degrader from the biotech, designed to target immune-mediated diseases. -
In May, Revolution Medicines projected its cash and equivalents of $2.1 billion would last into the second half of 2027. With new funding from Royalty Pharma, the biotech has withdrawn that runway end date. -
In combination with Roche’s PD-L1 blocker Tecentriq, zanzalintinib bested Bayer’s Stivarga. Exelixis is positioning the drug candidate as a successor to cabozantinib, which is set to lose patent exclusivity in 2030. -
Venclexta, when combined with azacitidine, elicited an overall survival benefit below 10% in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes. -
The deal gets NextCure the rights to Simcere’s novel ADC for solid tumors outside of China.
NEUROSCIENCE
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While ALTO-203 missed its depression-related endpoints, improvements in EEG biomarkers, attention and wakefulness point to signals of drug activity, William Blair said, though the analysts pointed to other indications as potentially more promising for future development. -
Although the company withheld detailed findings from the study of treatment-resistant depression, analysts at Stifel called COMP360’s efficacy “more than good enough” for registrational purposes. -
The U.K.-based biotech is set to enter mid-stage studies for its depression drug this year, while two other GABAA modulators are poised for clinical trials in 2026. -
Jefferies analysts said on Tuesday that Ventyx could leverage its mid-stage data for VTX3232 to position the oral drug candidate as a treatment for other neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s. -
Analysts at Jefferies give Roche and Prothena’s Phase III study just a 25% to 40% probability of success.
CELL AND GENE THERAPY
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In a roundtable event on Thursday, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said his office will work to eliminate barriers that keep cell and gene therapies from the market. -
Interim results from a small group of children in a Phase I/II trial are essentially in line with that of Elevidys, according to BMO Capital Markets analysts. -
The Platform Technology Designation, which predates the current FDA leadership, is designed to streamline the drug development and review process, particularly for rare diseases. -
J&J has a multi-year head start, but Gilead believes it can win market share by delivering a drug with better safety and at least as good efficacy. -
While an adverse event reported in Intellia’s gene therapy trial was a “non-concern” for analysts, it follows a handful of patient deaths in other trials for the modality and sent the company’s stock tumbling in pre-market trading.
