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.
These 27 markets, comprising countries across Asia, Europe and South America, together contributed some 12% of Lundbeck’s earnings in 2024.
Jefferies analysts expect a regulatory filing for rocatinlimab later this year, with a product launch in 2026.
Cullinan Therapeutics and Taiho Oncology’s zipalertinib elicited promising response rates in two mid-stage studies of non-small cell lung cancer patients with typical and uncommon EGFR mutations.
CDC
Former CDC director Susan Monarez and former chief medical officer Debra Houry will appear in front of the Senate HELP Committee on Sept. 17.
Novo Nordisk also lowered its full-year profit growth guidance in connection with the restructuring effort. The pharma now anticipates operating profit to grow from 4% to 10%, down from its prior projection of 10% to 16%.
This week’s release of the Make America Health Again report revealed continued emphasis on vaccine safety; Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s faceoff with senators last week amounted to political theater; the FDA promises complete response letters in real time and shares details on a new rare disease framework; and Summit disappoints at the World Conference on Lung Cancer in Barcelona.
FEATURED STORIES
Pharma stocks went on a wild ride Wednesday amid whiplashing tariff threats from the U.S. president.
FDA
Experts express concern that last week’s unprecedented FDA layoffs will trigger a little-known mechanism that could result in a “disaster” the Trump administration doesn’t see coming.
As the industry awaits official word from the administration on how the tariffs will hit, analysts go over the possibilities with one certainty: there will be increased costs for medicines.
Wegovy and Zepbound are just the latest drug dyads to face-off in the competitive pharma market, continuing a legacy of rivalry that includes blockbuster drugs Keytruda, Humira and Eliquis.
Billions in market cap are being shed as the markets reel over President Donald Trump’s escalating trade war. Eli Lilly’s value has dropped more than $95 billion in just one month.
Long considered resistant to economic downturns, the pharmaceutical industry may face a greater challenge this time around as GLP-1s dominate and the population grows older.
FROM BIOSPACE INSIGHTS
BioSpace’s Q3 2025 U.S. Life Sciences Job Market Report reveals a turbulent quarter for biopharma hiring, with record declines in job postings, rising layoffs, and cautious employer sentiment shaping the industry’s employment landscape.
UPCOMING EVENTS
LATEST PODCASTS
Eli Lilly offers weight loss drug Zepbound directly to consumers while Novo Nordisk continues to struggle with supply challenges for its own GLP-1s. Meanwhile, gene therapies for retinal diseases target competitive market, and layoffs persist.
In this episode, the third and final conversation of our mini-series on diversity in clinical trials, Lori and guests discuss framing strategies designed to protect DEI initiatives from legal challenges.
Well-financed startup Tome is winding down operations just as two new companies, Borealis Biosciences and GondolaBio, are launching. Meanwhile, in the midst of already tense relations with China, House lawmakers raise the alarm about U.S. companies working with the country’s military on trials.
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SPECIAL EDITIONS
In this deep dive, BioSpace investigates China’s rise as a biotech powerhouse.
In this deep dive, BioSpace explores the next big thing in obesity.
BioSpace data show biopharma professionals faced increased competition for fewer employment opportunities during the second quarter of 2025, with increased pressure from further layoffs.
DEALS
  1. Big Pharma can’t seem to get enough radiopharmaceutical biotechs. With Lilly, Sanofi and BMS chasing Novartis into the complex space, all eyes are on these specialty biotechs.
  2. On the heels of Keytruda’s success in a Phase III perioperative trial for a disease where it had previously failed to improve event-free survival, Merck touts an I&I deal with UK biotech Mestag.
  3. As traditional fundraising methods falter for smaller firms, the rise of royalty deals is reshaping how companies access capital, offering an alternative that bypasses equity dilution and debt.
  4. M&A
    The acquisition was featured Monday in Roche’s Pharma Day presentation, which also included projections of more than $3 billion in annual sales from three early-stage obesity and diabetes drugs.
  5. Pfizer’s sudden market withdrawal of sickle cell therapy Oxbryta, which some analysts predicted would reach $750 million in sales by the end of the decade, has left patients and healthcare providers with few options, while investors question the pharma giant’s dealmaking prowess.
WEIGHT LOSS
  1. Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1s outsell Eli Lilly’s thanks to its superior marketing. Here’s how.
  2. Eli Lilly’s request to intervene in a suit filed by compounding pharmacies against the FDA reflects a belief the outcome could affect its business and that the FDA does not adequately represent its interests.
  3. Already established as cornerstone therapies in diabetes and obesity, GLP-1 receptor agonists also show potential in several other indications, including cancer, addiction and neurodegenerative diseases.
  4. Novo Nordisk executives set a high bar for itself when it projected CagriSema could achieve 25% weight loss. When the GLP-1 combo didn’t hit that mark, investors reeled.
  5. Investors appeared disappointed by CagriSema’s Phase III readout, which showed weight loss that fell short of Novo Nordisk’s prior projections for the therapy. Meanwhile, Eli Lilly’s stock rose on the news.
POLICY
  1. While industry groups decried the Trump administration’s new drug pricing order, analysts say it lacked details and the teeth to make a major impact without an act of Congress.
  2. The package revives President Donald Trump’s much-maligned Most Favored Nation rule but goes further into the private markets and beyond, leveraging the patent system, drug importation and more.
  3. The FDA and CDC have also recommended pausing the use of Ixchiq in seniors 60 years and older while safety investigations are ongoing.
  4. As the Trump administration slashes funding for HIV-related research and infrastructure, Gilead, Immunocore and more are targeting the next goalpost: a cure.
  5. With President Donald Trump expected to deliver a drug pricing order on Monday that Big Pharma and patient groups alike have railed against, the industry’s tumultuous ride is far from over.
CAREER HUB
Providing interview feedback to the candidate after an interview is very crucial if you want to pick out only the best. This article will help you do that efficiently.
Thinking about starting a career in biotech? We’ve put together a guide to help you decide where to go within the biotech field and what steps you should take to get there.
The search for a biopharma job can be daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. Here is a complete guide to the biopharma job hunt, from researching job openings to writing resumes and cover letters.
Even if you aren’t looking for a new role in biopharma, nurturing relationships will only benefit you in the long run. To help, here is a complete guide to networking in the life science industry.
To help alleviate some of the stress related to finding a new job, we’ve created a comprehensive guide detailing how to prepare for your biopharma job search.
Requesting disability accommodations is vital for your success in the workplace. You can find out everything about how to ask for accommodations in our guide.
Before searching for a job in the life sciences industry, it is essential to understand the differences between working as a contractor and a full-time employee.
HOTBEDS
Where are the Best Places to Work in life sciences? BioSpace’s annual Best Places to Work list demonstrates a company’s desirability in the recruitment marketplace - find out who made the list this year.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
The U.S. government remains shut down, with the FDA closed for new drug applications until further notice; cell and gene therapy leaders gather for the annual meeting in Phoenix with the field in a state of flux; Pfizer and Amgen will make drugs available at a discount as President Donald Trump’s tariffs still loom; and new regulatory documents show how Pfizer beat out the competition for Metsera.
REPORTS
In this Employment Outlook report, BioSpace explores current workforce sentiment, job activity trends and the prospective job and hiring outlook for 2025, particularly as it compares to the previous year.
BioSpace’s third report on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in life sciences examines dramatic shifts in attitude around diversity initiatives.
CANCER
  1. More than a decade after Merck’s Keytruda and BMS’ Yervoy ushered in the immuno-oncology revolution, the space is at a crossroads, with experts highlighting novel targets, combinations and pre-emptive immunization as the next wave for IO.
  2. The company will push through with an accelerated approval application for odronextamab in follicular lymphoma, leaving diffuse large B cell lymphoma behind.
  3. In the Phase III SERENA-6 trial, camizestrant—in combination with CDK-inhibitors—beat out current standard-of-care treatments in terms of progression-free survival, according to AstraZeneca.
  4. Eikon’s lead candidate, EIK1001, is being tested for advanced melanoma. The candidate is currently in late-stage development, which the biotech will fund using Wednesday’s series D raise.
  5. At the 2025 National Biotechnology Conference, gene therapies, bispecific antibodies and other novel modalities—relative newcomers to medicine—will be much discussed. In this curtain raiser, BioSpace speaks with conference chair Prathap Nagaraja Shastri of J&J about these highly anticipated topics.
NEUROSCIENCE
  1. AbbVie and Gilead are going back to their roots and leaning on their established areas of expertise to set themselves up for sustainable success in 2025.
  2. Amidst a “renaissance” of interest in neuropsychiatry, Seaport’s executive team is taking nothing for granted.
  3. J&J, GSK, Eli Lilly and others struck high-value transactions in the early days of biopharma’s annual kickoff conference. Meanwhile, Biogen proposes to acquire struggling neuro partner Sage, and obesity dominates discussions as Pfizer goes “all in.”
  4. Lykos Therapeutics is currently working out ways to fund an additional Phase III study for its MDMA-assisted PTSD therapy following an FDA setback last year.
  5. An OIG report zeroed in on what it said were three particularly problematic accelerated approvals: Biogen’s Aduhelm, Sarepta’s Exondys and Covis’ Makena.
CELL AND GENE THERAPY
  1. When hiring job candidates to work on cell and gene therapies, companies look for more than just technical skills. Talent acquisition executives from Bristol Myers Squibb and Intellia Therapeutics offer an inside look at what they want in an employee.
  2. With nearly 90% of patients showing no detectable cancer cells after treatment, J&J and Legend’s Carvykti could stave off competition from emerging CAR T therapies such as Gilead and Arcellx’s anito-cel.
  3. In a Type B meeting, the FDA signified that it will allow uniQure to use a natural history control, the composite Unified Huntington’s Disease Rating Scale, and neurofilament light chain levels to support the accelerated approval of its gene therapy AMT-130.
  4. Anito-cel has shown no signs of delayed neurotoxicity at around 9 months of follow-up, hinting at a safety profile that could set it apart from J&J and Legend’s Carvykti.
  5. Vertex unveiled long-term durability data for Casgevy, while Beam presented Phase I/II findings for its investigational base editor BEAM-101, building up to a BLA by late 2026.