The pivotal Phase II trial is testing Allogene’s CAR T candidate cemacabtagene ansegedleucel for large B-cell lymphoma. ALLO-647 was being used as a preparative lymphodepletion therapy.
Earlier this year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services scrapped a previous proposal, from the Biden administration, to include anti-obesity medications in Medicare Part D coverage.
A ripple effect of the NIH’s slashed 2026 budget will be felt throughout the biopharma ecosystem. Young companies must act now to weather the storm.
Delays in the decision dates for high-dose Eylea are linked to issues at a Catalent-owned facility. Once these are resolved, Regeneron expects “to receive favorable action” on these applications, CEO Leonard Schleifer told investors.
A U.K. Court of Appeals ruling confirms the validity of a patent covering modifications of mRNA used in Moderna’s vaccines.
It’s not often that a CEO outright dismisses M&A prospects, but Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel says the mRNA biotech has enough programs on its hands.
FEATURED STORIES
There are currently no treatments available for celiac disease beyond a gluten-free diet. Several late-phase companies aim to change the paradigm and deliver hope and progress soon.
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.
Even before the FDA’s recent approval of Dato-DXd in breast cancer, analysts predicted sales of the antibody-drug conjugate could hit $5.9 billion in 2030. However, the asset faced a series of setbacks in 2024.
Traditionally carrying a dire prognosis, the treatment paradigm for multiple myeloma is changing, with CAR T therapies, bispecifics and more contributing to multifaceted regimens unique to each patient’s needs.
Biopharma executives make their predictions for the year ahead, from a bold forecast for the return of the megadeal to a plea for the slow, healthy recovery of the industry at large.
As I ran from interview to interview across San Francisco, I was consistently warmed by the stories I was told by biotech and pharma executives—and the general comradery in the air throughout the chaotic event.
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Job Trends
Sana Biotechnology, Inc., a company focused on creating and delivering engineered cells as medicines, reported financial results and business highlights for the first quarter 2024.
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SPECIAL EDITIONS
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.
BioSpace data show biopharma professionals faced increased competition for fewer employment opportunities during the second quarter of 2025, with increased pressure from further layoffs.
DEALS
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Johnson & Johnson’s deal for Numab Therapeutics’ bispecific antibody NM26, slated to enter Phase II studies, comes on the heels of J&J’s $850 million Proteologix bispecific antibody acquisition.
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The potential purchase by the Japanese conglomerate could secure access to Calliditas’ IgA nephropathy therapy Tarpeyo, which won the FDA’s full approval in December 2023.
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Recent M&A activity indicates a potential resurgence in the appetites of larger companies for psychiatric drug development, but experts say the space may not offer a sufficient risk-reward proposition for R&D.
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As we near the end of second quarter of 2024, the initial public offerings among biotechs have slowed, but the market is still going strong.
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Orna Therapeutics announced Thursday it is acquiring ReNAgade Therapeutics, which launched in May 2023 with $300 million in Series A financing and is on BioSpace’s NextGen Class of 2024 startups to watch this year.
WEIGHT LOSS
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The acquisition was featured Monday in Roche’s Pharma Day presentation, which also included projections of more than $3 billion in annual sales from three early-stage obesity and diabetes drugs.
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Sen. Bernie Sanders’ aggressive targeting of Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy pricing, and not Eli Lilly’s rival drugs, is not fair.
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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.
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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.
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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.
POLICY
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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.
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Analysts at financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald are urging President Donald Trump to rethink his appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services.
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The European Union’s CHMP said that the benefits of the drug, already approved in the U.S., do not outweigh the risk of potentially fatal brain swelling and bleeding.
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The announcement by the Department of Health and Human Services highlighted a flurry of moves, which include the shifting of departments. Also this week, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tapped fellow vaccine critic David Geier to investigate vaccine safety within the CDC.
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Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on the EU would increase manufacturing costs for pharma companies and would stall medical innovation, according to the results of a recent survey by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization.
Getting job-hunting and career advice is hard, especially when you get it from those who have worked for decades. Some advice is still helpful today, like making a good impression, but others are considered counter-productive.
The salary expectation question is one of the most difficult questions asked during a job interview. Here’s how you can answer the question perfectly.
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic that has ravaged across the globe has demanded more experts in microbiology, particularly jobs in virology.
BioSpace’s Pharm Country Hotbed ranges from Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
“The Great Resignation” is a term that’s been coined to describe the wave of people leaving their jobs for other opportunities or exiting the workforce altogether.
A resume is your introduction to a potential employer, and as the saying goes, “You only get one chance to make a good first impression.” Follow these resume writing tips today.
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 FDA cited issues with a manufacturing facility as the reason for the rejection. J&J is currently “working closely” with the regulator to resolve these problems.
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Bristol Myers Squibb aims to generate around $1.5 billion in savings through 2025—a goal that it hopes to reach by lowering third-party expenditures, focusing only on key growth brands and cutting some 2,200 jobs by year-end.
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Some 90% of investigational drugs fail—and success rates are even more dire in the neuro space. Here, BioSpace looks at five clinical trial flops that stole headlines over the past 12 months.
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Incyte is abandoning its ALK2 blocker zilurgisertib, which it was trialing for myelofibrosis-associated anemia, while iTeos will deprioritize the development of inupadenant after it failed to meet the biotech’s clinical bar in a Phase II study of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.
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Pfizer, facing increasing pressure from Novartis, is touting a Phase III win for Ibrance as the first clinical evidence supporting the CDK4/6 inhibitor class’ use in patients with a specific type of breast cancer.
NEUROSCIENCE
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Researchers have linked Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide to a 40% to 70% reduction in the risk of Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis in a study of medical records from 1 million patients.
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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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Jefferies analyst Peter Welford noted that Roche’s pharma group came just slightly ahead of consensus expectations, driven by strong performance of its multiple sclerosis therapy Ocrevus and eye injection Vabysmo.
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Alto Neuroscience’s depression treatment failed to beat placebo just nine months after the biotech went public. The stunning failure called to mind Acelyrin, which faced a similar fate last year.
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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.
CELL AND GENE THERAPY
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Fatalities are an unfortunate reality of clinical trials. How can companies best protect themselves?
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After more than a decade devoid of therapeutic advancements, a first-in-class T cell receptor therapy could be on the immediate horizon for synovial sarcoma patients.
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The company’s candidate, giroctocogene fitelparvovec, met its primary and key secondary objectives of superiority compared to the standard treatment of regular Factor VIII infusions.
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The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General found that bluebird bio’s fertility support program for its gene therapies could potentially violate federal anti-kickback statutes.
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After a long and challenging journey for its stem cell therapy NurOwn, BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics has aligned with the FDA on the parameters of a Phase IIIb ALS trial that is expected to begin by the end of 2024.