Proquad is rarely a newsmaker from Merck’s earnings, but this time around, the U.S. has had a series of measles outbreaks. Sales of the vaccine were $539 million for the quarter, a 5% decline from the same period in 2024.
Where thousands of former Health and Human Services employees will work next is unknown, but biopharma companies likely aren’t the main destination. Two biopharma executives discuss potential landing spots.
Roche’s exposure to the tariffs is mostly limited to four medicines, three of which it already produces in the U.S., according to CEO Thomas Schinecker, who declined to reveal what these assets are.
In this discussion, our guests explore how recent regulatory changes are shaping the future of AI in drug development in the US market. Watch now.
The deal is a blast from the not-too-distant past, when special purpose acquisition companies were an easy way for companies to list on the public market with a bundle of cash to operate on.
Roche’s Genentech is betting on the Flagship Pioneering–founded company’s discovery platform called DECODE to find new targets for an undisclosed autoimmune disorder.
FEATURED STORIES
As high prices and supply issues drive consumers to alternative markets for GLP-1s, physicians aren’t too interested in using these therapies to treat conditions like heart disease risk that have existing cheap standards of care.
SpringWorks Therapeutics sprung out of Pfizer’s storeroom, when a rare disease advocacy group pushed to keep a program for neurofibromatosis alive. This method could work for “every rare disease under the sun,” advocates say.
SpringWorks Therapeutics is the perfect case study for rescuing a discontinued assets. It’s time to repeat the process for every rare disease, experts say.
FROM BIOSPACE INSIGHTS
In a year when eradicated diseases are on the uptick in America, how will American children survive RFK Jr.’s vaccine scrutiny and inconsistency? Two experts call on pharma and regulatory bodies to rebuild trust.
LATEST PODCASTS
BioSpace’s Lori Ellis discusses the risks and challenges of cell and gene therapy combination products with DIA speakers James Wabby, AbbVie and Rob Schulz, Suttons Creek, Inc.
Mass layoffs represent a step for Bayer toward reducing managerial layers, while clinical results released in the last week could influence the parallel races between Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly in the GLP-1 and insulin spaces.
Bayer joined BMS in announcing major overhaul; Takeda drops up to $2 billion for an anti-amyloid drug from AC Immune; and BioSpace reflects on last week’s ASGCT meeting—the good, the bad and the ugly.
Job Trends
4D Molecular Therapeutics announced that interim data from the Phase 1/2 AEROW clinical trial evaluating aerosolized 4D-710 for treatment of cystic fibrosis lung disease will be presented at the 47th European Cystic Fibrosis Conference, taking place in Glasgow, UK.
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SPECIAL EDITIONS
A new generation of checkpoint inhibitors is emerging, with some showing more promise than others. From recent TIGIT failures to high-potential targets like VEGF, BioSpace explores what’s on the horizon in immuno-oncology.
Peter Marks, the venerable head of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, has been forced out. In this special edition of BioPharm Executive, BioSpace takes a deep dive into the instability of the HHS.
Year-over-year BioSpace data show biopharma professionals faced increased competition for fewer employment opportunities during the first quarter of 2025.
DEALS
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AbbVie on Thursday announced it has acquired Celsius Therapeutics to expand its immunology portfolio with a first-in-class TREM1 inhibitor CEL383, following other big players looking to cash in on the hot immuno market. -
After being spun off of sequencing giant Illumina, Grail on Tuesday is set to start trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market following a years-long antitrust battle with regulators. -
The combined company began trading Friday under the Nasdaq symbol TECX. A $130 million private placement was also completed, with a cash runway into mid-2027. -
Vanda Pharmaceuticals has rejected two unsolicited takeover offers, saying that they are “opportunistic attempts” to acquire the biotech at a heavily discounted price. -
The pace of mergers and acquisitions has accelerated. In this deep dive, BioSpace takes a closer look at the nature of recent deals and the players involved.
WEIGHT LOSS
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In a Tuesday Senate hearing on Novo Nordisk’s drug pricing, CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen said he would be willing to sit down with the three largest pharmacy benefit managers who committed that they would expand coverage of Ozempic and Wegovy if Novo lowers its list prices for the blockbuster drugs. -
New revelations from the showdown between Novo Nordisk’s CEO and Bernie Sanders’ Senate health committee Tuesday; PhRMA’s legal victory in IRA case; the federal interest rate cut and anticipated approval for schizophrenia. -
Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are expected to rule the obesity market for a few more years without much challenge. To ensure they stay there as competition enters, the companies are spending billions in licensing and M&A deals. -
Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster type 2 diabetes medication is a sure bet for the list of the next 15 drugs whose Medicare prices will be negotiated in 2025 and go into effect in 2027, according to analysts and academics. -
Amid a flurry of weight loss readouts, a fresh-on-the-scene startup has come out with Phase I results showing weight loss at day 36 on par with or better than competitors, with few gastrointestinal side effects.
POLICY
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Novartis is seeking to prevent the entry of generics for its blockbuster heart failure drug Entresto, its top-selling asset that brought in more than $6 billion in net global sales last year. -
The payment scheme will tie gene therapy payments to improvements in health outcomes—and could potentially boost the uptake of these sickle cell disease treatments. -
Based on how President-elect Donald Trump’s first administration handled immigration, experts are concerned about how his second term will impact foreign-born biopharma professionals. Two immigration attorneys discuss what may be ahead, including increased difficulty getting work visas. -
President-elect Donald Trump and his incoming administration are unlikely to attempt a wholesale restructuring of U.S. healthcare and could promote M&A activity, but controversial picks like Robert F. Kennedy could impact vaccine sales, experts say. -
Trump is rounding out his health cabinet with another controversial figure: one of the authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, which advocated for herd immunity through infection during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since 2020, the life sciences industry has worked to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic. But one sector’s growth has far outpaced the others–the biotech industry.
Location is everything when it comes to compensation in the life sciences. We’ve compiled data from BioSpace’s 2023 Life Sciences Salary Report to help you choose the best place to live and work.
Sales and marketing roles in the life sciences field are in high demand. To help with your job search, we’ve compiled a guide to sales and marketing jobs in the life sciences industry.
With a swirl of rumors around the changes in ownership in the pharma industry, this invariably triggers reviews of business strategies. Because of this, wider skillsets from related sectors are needed.
Candice Richards, the Manager of Talent Acquisition at Kyowa Kirin North America, shed some light on what to expect from a pharma interview and how to effectively prepare.
BioSpace sat down with Gregg Burkhalter, a LinkedIn Expert, for a quick Q&A about the three most common LinkedIn mistakes and how they can affect your personal brand.
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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Protara is advancing a cell therapy that triggers both adaptive and innate antitumor immune responses, while CG Oncology’s approach makes use of an oncolytic immunotherapy that preferentially targets cancer cells and proliferates inside them, destroying them from the inside. -
One year after a potential $1.7 billion deal with Hansoh Pharma, GSK goes back to China to forge another alliance with DualityBio for another deal that could be worth up to $1 billion as it continues to build up its ADC portfolio. -
Keros’ elritercept has shown promising efficacy signals in myelofibrosis and myelodysplastic syndromes and could pose a formidable challenge to Bristol Myers Squibb’s Reblozyl. -
The deal with Tubulis will help Gilead regain its footing in the ADC space following the withdrawal of Trodelvy in bladder cancer and its late-stage fail in NSCLC. -
Alongside the layoffs, Alligator will also suspend work on all of its earlier-stage assets and devote its resources to lead candidate mitazalimab, being developed for the frontline treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer.
NEUROSCIENCE
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Roche drops a third Alzheimer’s candidate this year, terminating a partnership with UCB just four years after agreeing to work together on new treatments for the neurological disease. -
Seaport Therapeutics, kick started by the former leaders of Karuna Therapeutics, has raised $225 million in an oversubscribed Series B to fund a pipeline of neuropsychiatric medicines. -
BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan Seigerman in a note to investors said the late-stage data for Vertex’s experimental non-opioid pain medication “reaffirms our confidence in the strength of suzetrigine’s profile.” However, William Blair analysts view these data as “an incremental positive” as the company faces challenges in targeting the acute pain market. -
Wave Life Sciences in a Tuesday filing with the SEC said Takeda has elected to terminate its option to continue work on Wave’s WVE-003 clinical-stage Huntington’s disease program—a potential $5 billion commercial opportunity, according to the biotech.
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Johnson & Johnson is cutting several programs—most of which are in neurology and psychiatry—as the company also pulls back from the infectious diseases market.
CELL AND GENE THERAPY
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BioMarin Pharmaceuticals on Monday said it is restricting sales of its hemophilia A gene therapy to three countries in an effort to reduce costs and help the treatment become profitable by 2025. -
Longeveron and Lexeo Therapeutics are working on CGT therapies to treat Alzheimer’s disease, but it’s not clear whether they have a better chance of success than traditional approaches. -
Ultracompact CRISPR systems, which are in some cases one-third the size of Cas9, are being designed to be more specific and enable in vivo gene editing in difficult to reach tissues. -
Approved under the regulator’s accelerated pathway, Tecelra is also the first new synovial sarcoma therapy in more than a decade, according to Adaptimmune Therapeutics. -
Sarepta has been hit with another patent infringement lawsuit, this time from Sanofi and its subsidiary Genzyme alleging that the biotech used protected technology related to AAV vectors.
