Sanofi expects to add “a significant number of high-paying jobs” in the U.S. with $20 billion investment through 2030.
Looking for a manufacturing job? Check out the BioSpace list of 11 companies hiring life sciences professionals like you.
Nine states in the Southeast showed growth in bioscience employment and establishments from 2019 to 2023, according to 2024 data from BIO and TEConomy Partners. NCBiotech and Bexion executives discuss the area and the pros and cons of setting up shop far from major hubs.
Canada’s health agency says it has been “taking all necessary action safeguard the drug supply and ensure Canadians have access to the prescription drugs they need.”
The FDA’s independent advisors found Pfizer’s data lacked the precision needed to establish the efficacy of Talzenna in patients with prostate cancer who do not carry HRR mutations.
The FDA had given Pfizer and Moderna until May 17 to propose changes to the labels of their COVID-19 vaccines or challenge the agency’s directive. The products’ labels already include myocarditis warnings, albeit for different age groups.
The CMS last month declined to include anti-obesity medications in its Medicare coverage for Part D, a move that Lilly says could interfere with patients getting the appropriate medical care.
FEATURED STORIES
Disruptive conditions are typical in non-Western markets. The U.S. industry, thrown into a period of significant change as the Trump administration overhauls HHS and considers implementing tariffs, could learn a thing or two by looking overseas.
Like they say about the weather in Iceland, if you don’t like an action taken by the new administration, wait five minutes; it’ll probably change. The markets, it seems, don’t react kindly to that kind of policymaking.
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.
LATEST PODCASTS
In this episode of Denatured, BioSpace’s Head of Insights Lori and guests from Teva Pharmaceuticals and TOWER Capital Group discuss how critical it is to incorporate women into leadership positions and board rooms as a sound investment strategy.
Trump fingers Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the HHS, lupus and ATTR-CM dominate headlines this week, bluebird bio has a cash gap to leap and RegenxBio eyes Sarepta in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
A tale of two multi-billion schizophrenia deals, AstraZeneca touts strong sales while deflecting questions about an investigation into China exec, the Huntington’s pipeline builds momentum and layoffs continue with Sana Biotechnology and 23andMe.
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SPECIAL EDITIONS
BioSpace did a deep dive into executive pay, examining the highest compensation packages, pay ratios and golden parachutes—what a CEO would get paid to leave.
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.
DEALS
  1. The acquisition from Wuxi Biologics, the embattled CDMO named in the BIOSECURE Act, marks another expansion of Merck’s manufacturing operations in Ireland.
  2. M&A didn’t return as hoped for in 2024. The biopharma industry is heading into the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference next week in a grim mood.
  3. Roche has once again returned to China to bolster its antibody-drug conjugate pipeline, this time striking a licensing deal with Innovent for $1 billion in biobucks.
  4. High profile failures and long timeframes for revenue have shifted investment away from Phase I, as VCs seek to mitigate risk, Pitchbook said in its 2025 outlook.
  5. BioArctic received $100 million upfront with another $1.25 billion in potential milestone payments on the line for two pyroglutamate-amyloid-beta antibodies.
WEIGHT LOSS
  1. IPO
    The GLP-1 IPO arena has been heating up for the past two years and Metsera’s ask is one the largest in recent history.
  2. Patients taking Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy plus Veru’s enobosarm saw 71% lower lean mass loss than those who were taking Wegovy alone but investors await more data.
  3. The readout comes on the heels of CagriSema’s disappointing Phase III performance, where it missed Novo’s projection of 25% weight reduction.
  4. The San Diego–based company’s molecules avoid the well-trod GLP-1 pathway in favor of an alternate route in the gut.
  5. Biopharma executives shared their thoughts on the potential impacts of the new administration; Annalee Armstrong recaps JPM and her talks with Biogen, Gilead, Novavax and more; Wegovy’s higher dose induces more weight loss; AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo’s Dato-DXd scores its first FDA approval.
POLICY
  1. Under Friday’s final ruling anti-obesity medications for weight-loss will remain ineligible for Medicare coverage.
  2. Kennedy, a long-time opponent of vaccines, stated that the MMR vaccine is “the most effective way” to combat the measles outbreak, which has already claimed the lives of two children in the U.S.
  3. Pharma’s reprieve from Donald Trump’s tariffs is expected to be temporary, with Leerink analysts anticipating possible sector-specific duties “in the next month or so.”
  4. FDA
    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.
  5. Trump has repeatedly called April 2 “Liberation Day,” alluding to a more sweeping and aggressive set of tariffs. Leerink Partners analysts said that the risks from Trump’s tariffs on the biopharma industry are “underappreciated.”
CAREER HUB
Consider each company using three different criteria: its match with the candidate’s “why,” its financial health and its employee reviews.
To avoid overextending yourself and harming your work-life balance, how should you set and maintain boundaries at work?
Join us in this discussion on how you can optimize your chances of landing a new role despite a highly competitive job market.
BioSpace spoke to HR leaders about how they have been supporting companies navigating a challenging economy while meeting the needs of the workforces they support.
Politics can be a touchy subject, especially during a presidential election year. How should you engage in political discussions at work?
A string of rejections prompt some to look beyond research roles in the biopharma industry as they seek to launch a career.
The past year saw the slowest year-over-year growth in biopharma salaries in the past five years, according to the BioSpace 2024 Life Sciences Salary Report.
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
Despite mixed results, analysts maintained faith in ivonescimab’s ability to cross over between Eastern and Western patient populations.
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. Protagonist Therapeutics notches a milestone in its pact with Takeda for rusfertide. New data show that many patients with a chronic blood cancer taking the drug didn’t need to have their blood removed to bring down dangerously high hemocrit levels.
  2. 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.
  3. The company will push through with an accelerated approval application for odronextamab in follicular lymphoma, leaving diffuse large B cell lymphoma behind.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
NEUROSCIENCE
  1. The FDA is putting Atara’s active Investigational New Drug applications on hold due to manufacturing concerns at a third-party provider while releasing Amylyx’s investigational ALS therapy from a previous pause.
  2. Computational research conducted by scientists from Washington University in St. Louis shows that GLP-1 agonists can have mental and cognitive health benefits but may also harm the kidneys and pancreas.
  3. Biogen’s effort to buy Sage reveals its “desire to expand its pipeline at a discount,” according to analysts from BMO Capital Markets.
  4. As the year gets underway, analysts and biotech executives highlight cell therapy’s pivot from oncology to autoimmune diseases, a continued appetite for next-generation obesity drugs and an increased focus on neuromuscular, kidney and cardiovascular diseases.
  5. Boehringer Ingelheim’s trio of late-stage schizophrenia failures on Thursday came a day after the Department of Health and Human Services hit back on the pharma’s legal challenge to the IRA’s drug price negotiation program.
CELL AND GENE THERAPY
  1. In this short teaser, BioSpace’s Head of Insights Lori Ellis talks to CBER Director Peter Marks and Tom Whitehead, Co-Founder of the Emily Whitehead Foundation about anticipated discussions at the upcoming GenScript Biotech Forum.
  2. In a deal expected to close in Q1 2025, Roche will gain access to Poseida’s off-the-shelf CAR T candidates.
  3. By mid-2025, the biotech will split into two entities: a new, as-yet-unnamed innovative medicines specialist and a cell therapy company, the latter of which will inherit the Galapagos name.
  4. BioSpace presents 25 noteworthy biopharma startups in ’25; analysts forecast stronger M&A as the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference kicks off next week; GLP-1s continue to expand their reach as Novo, Lilly fight against compounders; and a look ahead to five key FDA decisions in Q1.
  5. From ADCs and radiopharmaceuticals to cell and gene therapies, eager young startups are betting on advances in biopharma’s most competitive therapeutic spaces—and attracting dollars from Big Pharma.