Follow along as BioSpace tracks job cuts and restructuring initiatives.
Less than a year after cutting roughly 30% of its employees, BioAtla is letting go of an even larger chunk of its workforce as it considers its future, which could include strategic partnerships and selling off assets.
Days after FDA Commissioner Marty Makary appeared to malign uniQure’s AMT-130 in an interview with CNBC, the agency confirmed to the biotech that a sham surgery–controlled study is needed before submitting the gene therapy for approval.
As Novo Nordisk continues to lose ground in the obesity market to rival Eli Lilly, the Danish company has started construction projects to establish the ex-Alkermes plant as a hub for supplying oral GLP-1 products to global markets.
Aardvark Therapeutics is down 54% since Friday after the biotech said it detected “reversible cardiac observations” in a healthy volunteer study of its drug to treat extreme hunger in patients with the rare genetic disease.
Yuviwel will compete with BioMarin’s Voxzogo. Meanwhile, BridgeBio is working to bring its own achondroplasia drug, the FGFR3 blocker infigratinib, to the market.
FEATURED STORIES
Akero Therapeutics, 89bio, Boston Pharmaceuticals and more are working to bring novel treatment options for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis to a market that could reach $16 billion by 2033.
Researchers in pharma and beyond have historically glommed onto a limited number of disease targets, limiting innovation. AI could change that.
While it’s not unusual for certain positions to turn over with a new administration, the number of senior-level FDA staffers who have recently left the agency is unprecedented. The lack of communication, transparency and human decency is as well.
Bo Wang is a renowned AI scientist at the University of Toronto. He’s bringing his open-source culture and computational biology to Xaira Therapeutics in June.
With the recently announced layoffs of 3,500 FDA staffers and exits of branch directors Patrizia Cavazzoni and Peter Marks, there could be a wealth of talent available to biopharma companies. Does this pose an ethical quandary? It depends on who you ask.
While Novartis and Bayer got there first, AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb and Eli Lilly are all vying to bring their radiopharmaceutical assets to a market projected to be worth over $13 billion by 2033.
FROM BIOSPACE INSIGHTS
The U.S. Congress greenlit a historic $315 million in federal ALS research funding for 2026 amid Rare Disease Month, spotlighting biotech progress like VectorY Therapeutics’ first patient dosing in its TDP-43-targeting PIONEER-ALS trial and EverythingALS’ pharma consortia driving biomarker innovations and trial alignment.
LATEST PODCASTS
In this episode of Denatured, you’ll be listening to Indu Navar, CEO and founder of EverythingALS and Dr. Olga Uspenskaya, chief medical officer at VectorY Therapeutics. We’ll be speaking about patient-pharma collaborations accelerating trials and hope, advances in ALS biology understanding and biomarker-driven endpoints.
Eli Lilly notches another win over Novo Nordisk, as Zepbound bests CagriSema in a head-to-head trial sponsored by Novo; The FDA kicked off Rare Disease Week, providing draft guidance on its new plausible mechanism pathway, while a bipartisan senate hearing on Thursday will focus on the authorization process for rare conditions; Another leadership change shakes up CDC; and Gilead acquires CAR T partner Arcellx for nearly $8 billion.
Corsera Health’s Chief Operating Officer Rena Denoncourt and CFO Meredith Kaya speak with BioSpace about the biotech’s mission and vision for the next generation of cardiovascular care.
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SPECIAL EDITIONS
The BioSpace team hit the ground running at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference earlier this month to bring you the news from the streets of San Francisco.
BioSpace data show job postings live increased quarter over quarter, while layoffs fell year over year.
Recent breakthroughs and three decades of progress in treating Huntington’s disease
DEALS
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While Boehringer Ingelheim hasn’t yet revealed what diseases it will go after, Sitryx’s oral drug candidate could potentially be disease-modifying for a variety of autoimmune and inflammatory conditions. -
Pfizer will be responsible for all global clinical and regulatory activities for Beam Therapeutics’ liver-directed gene editor. -
After its next-generation obesity asset CagriSema lost a head-to-head matchup with Eli Lilly’s Zepbound, Novo Nordisk is throwing more money into the obesity space, striking a deal with Vivtex to advance novel weight loss pills. -
Ecnoglutide, which Pfizer licensed from Sciwind Biosciences, is already approved in China for type 2 diabetes mellitus, and a marketing application for weight loss has been accepted by regulatory authorities in the country. -
In a Phase 1 study, 82% of patients on VIR-5500 achieved at least a 50% reduction in PSA levels—a result analysts praised as competitive in the prostate cancer space.
WEIGHT LOSS
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Infrastructure and location have helped make Holly Springs a future hub for obesity drug production, with Amgen and Roche planning to manufacture GLP-1 therapies there to compete in the growing market. -
On the FDA’s docket this month are two decisions pushed back from 2025, including one for a rare form of obesity and another for dry eye disease. -
Novo Nordisk reported a loss in a head-to-head trial of CagriSema against Lilly’s Zepbound earlier this week. This time around, Lilly’s orforglipron bested Novo’s oral semaglutide in blood sugar control and weight reduction—albeit with a few extra discontinuations as compared to its rival. -
Slate Medicines will move forward with a migraine drug from a Chinese biotech, while Alveus Therapeutics will advance a dual GLP-1/GIPR fusion protein for weight loss. -
Eli Lilly notches another win over Novo Nordisk, as Zepbound bests CagriSema in a head-to-head trial sponsored by Novo; The FDA kicked off Rare Disease Week, providing draft guidance on its new plausible mechanism pathway, while a bipartisan senate hearing on Thursday will focus on the authorization process for rare conditions; Another leadership change shakes up CDC; and Gilead acquires CAR T partner Arcellx for nearly $8 billion.
POLICY
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Here’s how drug developers can best approach interactions with the agency following last year’s seismic changes to its leadership, workforce and policies. -
One of the two new members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices questioned the safety of COVID-19 vaccines before the Texas Senate in 2021. -
The CDC’s changes threaten to cut vaccine sales for makers including Pfizer, Moderna, Merck and more, but a legal expert suspects affected manufacturers will stay on the sidelines rather than back a push to declare the revised schedule unlawful. -
This week’s Capitol Hill meetings come on the heels of rejections of ultra-rare disease drugs developed by Biohaven and Saol Therapeutics. Physicians and patient groups implored the FDA to expedite these treatments. -
FDA Commissioner Marty Makary presented a new idea to staff this week: bonus payments for employees that complete regulatory review processes faster than expected.
This webinar provides a clear-eyed assessment of current hiring conditions across biopharma, exploring which roles and skills are in demand, where opportunities are emerging, and how hiring practices are evolving.
Looking for a biopharma job? Check out the BioSpace list of 12 top companies hiring life sciences professionals like you.
If workloads aren’t adjusted as needed, the company’s priorities are already compromised. Executive coach Angela Justice explores what happens when goals move forward without removing unnecessary work and what to do about it.
At some point in your research career, you may find yourself transitioning from academia to industry or vice versa. To best set yourself up for success, adapt your approach to the specific scientific culture where you work.
Venture funds attending the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference said mounting funding pressures and Chinese competition have sharpened their focus on leadership qualities, from regulatory expertise and industry experience to the ability to scale—or step aside—as companies mature.
Clarity on employment terms is essential to protect careers. In this column, Kaye/Bassman’s Michael Pietrack speaks to employment attorney Howard Matalon, JD, partner at OlenderFeldman, on how to evaluate the fine print of an employment agreement.
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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A combination of Merck’s Keytruda and Pfizer’s Padcev could offer a chemotherapy-free treatment alternative for patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer, even those eligible for cisplatin treatment. -
Last week, the FDA made its one pivotal trial policy official, sparking myriad questions from industry leaders, including around specific evidence required for the single study and why it hasn’t been implemented across all therapeutic areas before now. -
Solstice Oncology will gain an exclusive worldwide license to Harbour BioMed’s porustobrt, an anti-CTLA-4 antibody currently being studied for melanoma, colorectal cancer and other malignancies in China. -
The necessity of delivering medicine days after it’s produced drives decisions about where to build facilities and how to ship radioactive materials to healthcare providers. -
The centerpiece of the takeover is anito-cel, a CAR T therapy under development for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. An FDA decision on the therapy is expected by December 2026.
NEUROSCIENCE
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In this episode of Denatured, you’ll be listening to Indu Navar, CEO and founder of EverythingALS and Dr. Olga Uspenskaya, chief medical officer at VectorY Therapeutics. We’ll be speaking about patient-pharma collaborations accelerating trials and hope, advances in ALS biology understanding and biomarker-driven endpoints. -
Bysanti is based on iloperidone, an active metabolite of a compound that forms the core of Fanapt, another drug by Vanda Pharmaceuticals. -
Tracy Beth Høeg addressed FDA staffers for the first time in her role as the fifth CDER chief under President Donald Trump, announcing inquiries into the use of SSRIs in pregnancy and RSV antibodies in infants despite well-documented safety of these treatments. -
Korsana’s lead program uses a next-generation shuttling technology to improve delivery into the brain and lower the incidence of amyloid-related imaging abnormalities. -
The FDA outright refuses to review Moderna’s mRNA-based flu vaccine as CBER director Vinay Prasad’s conduct is scrutinized; Disc Medicine receives an unexpected rejection, which Prasad may also have had a hand in; Compass Pathways posts new late-stage data on its psilocybin-based depression drug; CDC is once again leaderless.
CELL AND GENE THERAPY
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After a rocky 2025, Sarepta Therapeutics’ executives admit they have work to do to bring patients back into the fold as sales of Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy Elevidys continue to decline. -
The rejection of Atara Biotherapeutics’ Ebvallo in January was a “complete reversal” of the conesensus FDA reviewers had come to, according to a former agency employee, who said manufacturing problems were the only approvability barrier for the drug. -
Regulators overseeing rare disease treatments need better tools to weigh competing risks in real time. Sarepta Therapeutics’ Elevidys is a prime example of why. -
A lower court had previously ruled for Sarepta in the companies’ long-running dispute, finding that REGENXBIO’s AAV patent was invalid because its elements were naturally occurring. The appeals court on Friday said that this original decision adopts a “narrow” view of the invention. -
The first gene therapies approved to treat sickle cell disease in December 2023 are struggling on the market. But there are glimpses of forward momentum as Vertex and Genetix Bio provide updates.
