In light of President Donald Trump’s impending pharma tariffs, several big companies have made massive manufacturing investments in the U.S., including Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson and Novartis. BMS is the latest to make a multibillion-dollar push.
Twenty attorneys general allege that the recent workforce reduction at the Department of Health and Human Services is unlawful and could have potentially irreversible consequences.
Vertex has recorded some 25,000 prescriptions for Journavx since its January approval and is in the process of getting big PBMs to cover the non-opioid pain drug.
The biotech’s Huntingtin-targeting molecule lowered blood levels of the protein and elicited functional improvements in earlier-stage patients, but results were not as robust in other biomarkers or with patients at later stages of the disease.
Bristol Myers Squibb has made significant cuts to its workforce since last year as part of a strategic reorganization aimed at saving $3.5 billion through 2027. The latest cuts in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, bring that area’s total number of disclosed cuts this year to 806.
BNT327, a PD-L1/VEGF therapy, is still currently being manufactured in China, but BioNTech is working to establish a diversified supply chain, executives said during the company’s Q1 investor call.
FEATURED STORIES
Analysts have had to throw out their assumptions for the biopharma industry’s recovery heading into the first quarter earnings period given the ongoing tariff drama.
Johnson & Johnson’s Joaquin Duato is no longer the highest paid CEO in pharma. Meanwhile, just two women make the top 10.
Lined up for the FDA in the coming weeks are a cell-based gene therapy for a rare skin disease and two product expansions for Regeneron, one with partner Sanofi.
FROM BIOSPACE INSIGHTS
As researchers face delayed project timelines and inflated costs, industry leaders are offering an alternative option for sourcing nonhuman primates.
LATEST PODCASTS
In this episode, presented by the Genscript Biotech Global Forum 2025, BioSpace’s Head of Insights Lori Ellis and Tom Whitehead continue to discuss the patient and caregiver experience, where Tom gives his insights to the future of CGTs.
Novartis, Eli Lilly and more put on their deal-making caps, Bristol Myers Squibb targets $2 billion in savings through 2027, sales continue to soar for Lilly and Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1s and Regeneron sues Sanofi over an alleged failure to provide adequate information about Dupixent sales.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s HHS nomination moves to a full Senate vote; Donald Trump’s tariff war sparks China-related concerns for biopharma; Pfizer, Merck and more announce Q4 and 2024 earnings; and the non-opioid painkiller space heats up as FDA approves Vertex’s Jounavx.
Job Trends
Nineteen companies are receiving $21.4 million total in tax incentive awards to create 1,155 new life sciences jobs in Massachusetts. Moderna and Vertex received the largest awards and will add over 600 combined jobs.
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SPECIAL EDITIONS
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.
In this deep dive, BioSpace explores the diverse therapeutic modalities now in development, as well as the opportunities and battles for market dominance in this emerging space.
DEALS
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Donald Trump continues to make waves in biopharma; Sage rejects Biogen’s unsolicited takeover offer; the obesity space sees more action with new company launches, IPOs and fresh data; and experts get ready for an important era in the Duchenne muscular dystrophy space. -
Following a lawsuit filed last week, Sage has officially rejected Biogen’s unsolicited buyout offer, which valued the embattled biotech at just $469 million. -
Protein degradation–focused Neomorph nabs its third Big Pharma deal of around $1.5 billion in less than a year. -
The deal follows a $1.06 billion U.S. contract in July 2024 and a $1.24 billion agreement with an Asia-based pharma a few months later. -
On the company’s Q4 earnings call where an eyepopping $88.8 billion in full-year sales were revealed, leaders shifted focus away from enormous takeovers to single-digit billion buy outs.
WEIGHT LOSS
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Roche and Zealand plan to study petrelintide as a monotherapy and in combination with CT-388, a dual agonist of the GLP-1 and GIP receptors that Roche picked up in its recent acquisition of Carmot Therapeutics.
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BioSpace remembers COVID-19 five years after the pandemic was declared, Novo Nordisk’s CagriSema again misses expectations as the company joins a lawsuit filed by drug compounders against the FDA, Viking secures ample supply of its investigational obesity medication, J&J strikes out in depression, and Makary and Bhattacharya near confirmation.
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Analysts acknowledged the long-term manufacturing deal could dull Viking’s takeout prospects but hailed it as a smart move to ensure supply. -
The latest data showed 15.7% weight loss in patients with diabetes after 68 weeks. In December 2024, CagriSema returned another disappointing readout for Novo, eliciting weight-loss of 22.7% in patients without diabetes, below the pharma’s prior projection of 25%. -
While drug developers work to mitigate the side effects associated with GLP-1–based obesity drugs, recent studies reveal that myriad variables are causing patients to stop treatment.
FDA
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Following the dramatic late-night resignation of Peter Marks last Friday, Steele, a senior advisor to the division, takes the reins in a department inside an agency beset by cuts, layoffs, and confusion. -
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. -
Already reeling from years of market chaos, the announced departure of CBER chief Peter Marks sent a ripple across biopharma markets. -
The latest cuts, which are part of a larger reduction of 10,000 at the Department of Health and Human Services, were reportedly underway Tuesday, with CDER Office of New Drugs Director Peter Stein added to the list of casualties. -
The stock market—and biotech insiders—reacted negatively to the allegedly forced resignation of CBER Director Peter Marks, who said RFK Jr. does not seek “truth and transparency” but rather “subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.”
The federal judge’s decision Tuesday said the Federal Trade Commission exceeded its statutory authority in implementing a final rule aimed at restricting noncompete clauses.
Massachusetts’ new salary range transparency law can be a tool for companies looking to attract biopharma professionals while also helping candidates and current employees improve their job searches and salaries, according to two experts.
By building and nurturing a strong personal brand, you can benefit in multiple ways, including enhancing your credibility, attracting opportunities and inspiring investor confidence.
To avoid being laid off, a third of biopharma professionals would take a pay cut and nearly a quarter would take a demotion, according to BioSpace LinkedIn polls. We spoke to several professionals about their layoff experiences and what they would—and wouldn’t—have done to keep their jobs.
Plus, learn how to handle vacation time in a new job and navigate the stress of a recent promotion to leadership.
A BioSpace LinkedIn poll showed that just 19% of respondents believe biopharma professionals need Ph.D.s for scientist roles.
HOTBEDS
REPORTS
How does age affect employees’ experiences in the workplace? This report examines the intersection of age along with gender and other demographics.
In the final instalment of our Diversity in Life Sciences series, BioSpace provides life sciences organizations with practical solutions and benchmarking data to strengthen their DEI initiatives.
BioSpace surveyed industry employers and professionals to understand what to expect from the recruitment market in 2022. What do professionals want? How difficult will it be to recruit new talent?
CANCER
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Johnson & Johnson and Legend Biotech hope to hit blockbuster status for Carvykti this year. -
Vepdegestrant did not improve progression-free survival broadly but saw improvements in one specific patient cohort. Arvinas’ stock took a 43% tumble on the news, and analysts are downcast on the drug’s prospects. -
Abecma made $406 million in 2024, of which BMS paid $43 million to 2seventy bio as part of their profit-sharing agreement. -
The FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee recently voted to narrow the label for checkpoint inhibitors Keytruda and Opdivo in stomach and esophageal cancers based on PD-L1 expression levels—but the high unmet need in these patient populations should also be considered. -
On the agenda for the FDA this month are two RNA-based treatments for rare diseases.
NEUROSCIENCE
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Emalex is gearing up for a New Drug Application for ecopipam in Tourette syndrome later this year. -
BridGene strikes another partnership with Takeda as the latter company continues its dealmaking streak, following high-ticket agreements with Keros Therapeutics, AC Immune and Degron Therapeutics in the past nine months. -
The treatment, called DB-OTO, is one of several early-stage gene therapies being developed to treat relatively straight-forward causes of genetic deafness. -
After SPN-820’s failure, Supernus is relying on its non-stimulant ADHD drug Qelbree and the recently approved Parkinson’s therapy Onapgo to sustain the company. -
The partnership splits the rights to Stoke’s epilepsy antisense oligonucleotide, with up to $385 million in potential payments due to Stoke.
CELL AND GENE THERAPY
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Gilead beat consensus estimates in Q4 with $7.6 billion in revenue, driven largely by its HIV drug Biktarvy and CAR T therapies Trodelvy and Yescarta. -
Vertex expects to make the newly approved non-opioid pain medicine Journavx available by the end of February. -
Adding a new indication for the CAR T cell therapy could help BMS offset the loss-of-exclusivity headwinds it faces in the coming years.
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Faced with the encroaching threats of patent expirations and generics, biopharma companies in 2024 invested 33% more in licensing deals, on average, than in 2023 with an eye toward enriching their pipelines with novel and potentially more effective therapies. -
Several companies—including JCR Pharmaceuticals, Denali Therapeutics and Regenxbio—have products in the pipeline that could improve treatment options for this rare disease.
