More than thirty years since its 1993 founding, Catherine Owen Adams and Elizabeth Thompson—the R&D combo that has led Acadia since last year—are managing two products on the market and a pipeline estimated to be worth an additional $12 billion in sales.
Looking for a biopharma job in North Carolina? Check out the BioSpace list of seven companies hiring life sciences professionals like you.
A new report found that 85% of pharma respondents are increasing their artificial intelligence investments, and 70% see AI as an immediate priority. Two experts discuss how biopharmas are implementing and adopting AI, including their increased use of external help with the process.
George Tidmarsh has only been at the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research for nine days, but will now add supervision of a second FDA division to his portfolio after Vinay Prasad’s sudden departure.
FDA
As analysts parsed news of Vinay Prasad’s ouster, worries over drug approval delays, cell and gene therapy impacts and more were top of mind.
Madrigal will study SYH2086 in combination with Rezdiffra for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, aiming for clinical trials in early 2026.
Long-term data presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference show Leqembi can help patients stay in the earlier stages of Alzheimer’s disease as compared to the condition’s natural progression.
FEATURED STORIES
With incoming president Donald Trump threatening a trade war with China, experts told BioSpace that the new administration will likely understand why medicines should be treated differently.
Annemarie Hanekamp has overseen some of the most transformative changes in oncology over her years in Big Pharma. Now, she will oversee BioNTech’s transition from a COVID-19 vaccine maker to an “end-to-end organizational oncology powerhouse.”
While investors and analysts push for a deal, Biogen CEO Chris Viehbacher and Head of Development Priya Singhal refuse to make one out of desperation.
Amidst a “renaissance” of interest in neuropsychiatry, Seaport’s executive team is taking nothing for granted.
BioSpace recaps 2024’s top venture capital rounds in biopharma, from Xaira Therapeutics’ blockbuster $1B raise to back-to-back series from obesity-focused Metsera that totaled more than $500M in a space that has garnered more than a fivefold increase in VC dollars this year.
J.P. Morgan kicked off with a flurry of deals, with Eli Lilly, GSK and Gilead all announcing deals potentially worth more than $1 billion while J&J committed $14.6 billion to buy Intra-Cellular. These moves have reinvigorated sentiment across the biopharma industry.
FROM BIOSPACE INSIGHTS
Building and scaling biopharma workforces can go beyond recruiting permanent employees to include fractional workers and consultants. A Slone Partners executive discusses how these blended workforces operate, highlighting the strategic benefits.
UPCOMING EVENTS
LATEST PODCASTS
Plus, how the geopolitical tensions with China will affect U.S. biopharma
FDA
Plus, another big buy points to strength of CDMO market and a new treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension
The pharmaceutical industry is facing critical attention, particularly around drug pricing and development costs. Drug development cost is about 10% of the total healthcare spend in the United States. Broader issues such as local monopolies, utilization, unit, and costs and local monopolies, politics and a fragmented payer system contribute to the increasingly high costs to patients.
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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
  1. Days after backing out of two Ionis-partnered neuro programs, Biogen has inked a potential $1.8 billion buy of Human Immunology Biosciences and boosting its late-stage immunology pipeline.
  2. Neuroscience-focused Rapport Therapeutics and radiopharma developer Telix Pharma announced their respective plans Friday for initial public offerings on the Nasdaq for undisclosed dollar amounts.
  3. Johnson & Johnson announced Thursday it is paying $850 million in cash, plus a potential milestone payment, for privately held biotech Proteologix and its atopic dermatitis-focused bispecific antibody candidates.
  4. While the FTC continues to review its $16.5 billion buy of Catalent, Novo Holdings announced Wednesday it has acquired a majority stake in Single Use Support, an Austrian life sciences tools company.
  5. With its $525 million investment, Royalty Pharma will acquire the royalties and milestones for ImmuNext’s anti-CD40 therapy frexalimab, which is currently in Phase III trials for multiple sclerosis.
WEIGHT LOSS
  1. M&A
    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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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
  1. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on pharmaceuticals “to come at some point,” per CNBC, as companies promise to build infrastructure in the U.S.
  2. If confirmed, Susan Monarez will have her work cut out for her, facing a measles outbreak that has already killed two people—the first measles-related deaths in the U.S. since 2015.
  3. After withdrawing its nomination for Dave Weldon last week, the Trump administration is now reportedly considering Texas Republican Michael Burgess to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  4. A group of medical experts expressed concern about growing “disinformation” and “misinformation,” calling for adherence to recommended vaccine schedules.
  5. Democratic senators from Georgia, Oregon, Maryland and New Mexico called the Trump administration’s decision to terminate hundreds of CDC staffers reckless and unfair.
CAREER HUB
Ask yourself these questions to get an idea of whether a new job should be in your near future.
Discover the pros and cons before you hire an independent contractor (IC). These include freelancers, consultants, seasonal workers, and other temporary professionals.
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.
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
YouTube has shut down a channel containing hundreds of videos of comments made by doctors and other influencers—including CBER Director Vinay Prasad, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya—during the pandemic. This comes as Prasad reveals further details about last week’s updated COVID-19 approvals.
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. Both vibostolimab and favezelimab have had disappointing runs leading up to their termination, sustaining several late-stage failures.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
NEUROSCIENCE
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
CELL AND GENE THERAPY
  1. Fatalities are an unfortunate reality of clinical trials. How can companies best protect themselves?
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. ALS
    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.