The new additions would bring ACIP membership to 14 total. Several of the proposed members have taken part in anti-vaccine activity or made anti-vaccine statements.
As more and more groups call for the health secretary’s removal from office, senators will question Kennedy on his recent moves, including the controversial firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez.
In this episode presented by Taconic Biosciences, BioSpace’s head of insights Lori Ellis discusses how preclinical research companies are helping drug developers navigate the current challenging funding environment with Mike Garrett, CEO.
The reprioritization effort will help AC Immune extend its cash runway through the third quarter of 2027.
While the new framework signals continued flexibility at the FDA regarding rare disease approvals, some analysts and advocates question what tangible impacts the new guidelines will have.
YouTube has shut down a channel containing hundreds of videos of comments made by doctors and other influencers—including CBER Director Vinay Prasad, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya—during the pandemic. This comes as Prasad reveals further details about last week’s updated COVID-19 approvals.
FEATURED STORIES
Congress did not reauthorize the rare pediatric disease priority review program at the end of 2024. Advocates say the ripple effect is already being felt across biopharma.
In the current legal and political landscape, it is all about survival for DEI initiatives.
Two recent documents—one from the FDA, the other from a commission organized by The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology—indicate an evolving mindset toward treating obesity as a chronic disease.
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.
While at SCOPE 2025, Sam Srivastava, CEO at WCG Clinical discusses the challenges and responsibilities of the life sciences industry in building public trust amidst growing anger towards healthcare.
ITF, IntraBio and Orchard are among the companies that have won FDA nods in the past year for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Niemann-Pick disease type C, metachromatic leukodystrophy and more.
LATEST PODCASTS
This week on Denatured, Head of Insights Lori Ellis and guests discuss the persisting challenges of diversity, equity and inclusion when designing clinical trials.
This week’s news ranged from BioSpace’s on-the-ground updates from DIA to safety concerns in clinical trials to BIOSECURE Act updates to new projections that the GLP-1 market could top $100 billion within 10 years.
BioSpace’s Lori Ellis and Chantal Dresner bring live updates from the first day of #DIA2024 in San Diego.
Job Trends
AbbVie Presents New Data Supporting Leading Gastroenterology Portfolio at 2024 Digestive Disease Week®.
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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 did a deep dive into biopharma female executives who navigated difficult markets to lead their companies to high-value exits.
DEALS
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While supportive of Amylyx’s acquisition of a GLP-1 drug, analysts say the company’s future hinges on key upcoming readouts from multiple products in its pipeline.
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The acquisition of the contract development and manufacturing organization will allow Agilent Technologies to provide a one-stop source for gene-editing services for its customers.
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Oral doses of SIGA Technologies’ antiviral drug Tpoxx will help the U.S. maintain its reserves of the vaccine in preparation for future potential outbreaks, according to the company.
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After completing a buyout transaction with The Column Group to remove it from the stock exchange, NGM Bio has raised a $122M Series A to fund a registrational study for a rare liver disease drug and a Phase II trial in hyperemesis gravidarum.
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Asceneuron, which develops small molecules targeting tau protein aggregation, plans to use the funds to advance its Alzheimer’s disease asset into Phase II.
WEIGHT LOSS
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Novo Nordisk’s total revenue in the third quarter missed analysts’ expectations but sales of weight loss drug Wegovy exceeded the consensus forecast. Still, the Danish drugmaker narrowed its full-year guidance for revenue and operating profit.
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While expected and seen as largely incremental, Jefferies analyst Peter Welford in a Tuesday note to investors said the detailed data for three early-stage assets support moving them into Phase IIb studies and creates a “foothold” for AstraZeneca in the weight loss space.
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Jefferies analyst Roger Song in an investor note said that Viking Therapeutics’ readout for its investigational therapy VK2735 exceeded expectations, with “class-leading” weight loss. Patients on 100-miligram doses of the pill lost 8.2% of their body weight after 28 days.
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In part 1 of the pivotal ESSENCE trial, Novo Nordisk’s weight loss drug Wegovy demonstrated “statistically significant and superior improvement” in liver fibrosis in patients with metabolic dysfunction–associated steatohepatitis.
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Lilly CEO Dave Ricks in Wednesday’s third-quarter earnings call acknowledged that the company is at the mercy of wholesaler stocking decisions.
POLICY
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In the wake of unprecedented workforce cuts at the FDA, former Commissioner Scott Gottlieb and an unnamed former CBER director spoke to analysts about potential implications for drug review timelines and agency morale.
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Playing both sides of trade war, pharma companies are asking for certain compensations for scientific innovation and a smoother regulatory framework.
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Analysts are “cautiously optimistic” about Trump’s executive order, noting that changes to the IRA drug price negotiation program will still require Congressional action before being implemented.
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Trump could use the findings of the probe to impose certain trade restrictions on pharma products, including tariffs.
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After the gutting of the Department of Health and Human Services, fears mount about the future direction of the FDA—with regulatory experts predicting delays in drug approvals and greater influence of political appointees.
Conducting some research before your job interview can help ease your mind. You will feel less stressed once you know what to look forward to during the meeting and which skills will allow you to shine.
Setting yourself apart from other job candidates can be a challenging thing to do - but it doesn’t have to be with these eight important tips!
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Differing skillsets mean that extroverts and introverts will usually approach the same job differently. Here is how each of them do it.
If you’ve been getting the itch to job search but you aren’t sure if you should, here are some reasons to possibly leave a job that might help you decide if you should stay or if you should go.
Everyone wants a positive work environment but how do you find one? This article will provide you with deep insights into how you can find a company that you dream of.
HOTBEDS
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
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The layoffs follow an announcement in early January that I-Mab will re-prioritize resources to focus on advancing a CLDN18.2 and 4-1BB bispecific antibody for gastric cancers.
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The move is part of a strategic restructuring aimed at getting azenosertib to the market for patients with gynecological malignancies.
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Enhertu’s label expansion comes on the heels of the FDA’s approval of the partners’ Datroway for a related type of breast cancer.
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Bristol Myers Squibb’s Opdivo plus Yervoy, as well as Pfizer’s Braftovi, have each shown strong Phase III performances that could position them as new standards of care in certain subtypes of metastatic colorectal cancer.
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The Japanese pharma had one asset rejected by the FDA and withdrew a regulatory application for another, but already this month the company has secured an approval for AstraZeneca-partnered Dato-DXd, to be marketed as Datroway.
NEUROSCIENCE
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Intra-Cellular submitted its application to the FDA for Caplyta’s approval in major depressive disorder, potentially opening up an additional $1 billion in sales. Still, the stock remains “cheap,” according to Jefferies analysts.
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Monday’s agreement comes days after PTC discontinued the development of another asset, utreloxastat, due to disappointing Phase II data in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
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Despite hotly debated biomarkers and failed or delayed confirmatory trials, the accelerated approval program has a track record of propelling R&D for some of medicine’s most challenging illnesses.
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Emboldened by technological advances and a deeper knowledge of glioblastoma, Merck, Kazia Therapeutics, CorriXR Therapeutics and others are targeting the often-fatal brain tumor.
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Despite the “unfortunate” failure, William Blair analysts do not believe that the utreloxastat readout will heavily affect PTC, instead postulating that the upcoming FDA decision on its phenylketonuria candidate sepiapterin will be a stronger driver of the biotech’s stock.
CELL AND GENE THERAPY
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While some of the initial excitement around immunotherapies has waned, companies—particularly smaller biotechs—are developing newer iterations that will take cancer care to the next level.
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The biotech beat Wall Street’s third-quarter revenue forecast by 6%, driven by increased uptake of its achondroplasia drug Voxzogo. However, William Blair downgraded BioMarin’s shares to market perform due to a “lack of near-term catalysts” and uncertainty around Voxzogo’s potential revenue growth.
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With Sarepta’s gene therapy Elevidys now available to a majority of Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients, experts express cautious optimism while emphasizing the need for further data.
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With an upfront payment of $50 million from Roche, the partnership will leverage Dyno Therapeutics’ in vivo gene therapy delivery technology, which synthesizes virus capsids with better functionality and manufacturability.
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While ex vivo genome editing results in highly effective cell therapies, it can lead to off-target effects. Caribou Biosciences has come up with a novel approach for potentially more precise gene editing compared to all-RNA guides.