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.
Six weeks after HHS Secretary RFK Jr. cited unexplained conflicts of interest in dismissing all 17 members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee, Democrats are asking for details.
While some analysts forecast the tariffs could mean billions in additional industry expenditure, others expect the overall impact to be “manageable.”
In a post on X, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. alleged that the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has “devolved into a morass of inefficiency, favoritism, and outright corruption.”
BMS is spinning out a new company with five immunology assets, including oral drugs being developed for systemic lupus erythematosus and plaque psoriasis, and $300 million in funds from Bain Capital.
The swift FDA action removes an overhang from Sarepta and allows Elevidys to return to the market without another safety study, as had been feared, Jefferies analysts said Monday.
In a Phase Ib/IIa trial, 91% of patients receiving the highest dose of trontinemab were amyloid negative after seven months of treatment, representing what B. Riley Securities called a “paradigm shift” to first-generation FDA-approved antibodies.
FEATURED STORIES
Continuing our SCOPE 2025 coverage, Rohit Nambisan, CEO at Lokavant addresses not only current challenges, but the life sciences industry’s responsibility to maintain scientific integrity.
Biopharma doubles down on immunology and inflammation as companies target new pathways and seek to improve on current options in inflammatory bowel disease, atopic dermatitis, myasthenia gravis and more.
After the rejection of Lykos Therapeutics’ MDMA-based PTSD treatment tempered excitement for psychedelic therapeutics, a recent approval and positive data are generating new momentum, which experts expect to continue throughout 2025 and 2026.
Jay Ferro, EVP, CIO, CPO & CTO at Clario discusses safety, trust and what keeps him up at night.
Just a few months after Vir Biotechnology lost an emergency authorization for its COVID-19 antibody, Marianne de Backer stepped in as CEO to answer a critical question: What’s next?
As the Q4 2024 pharma earnings period rolls on through the first month of President Donald Trump’s second term, executives find themselves faced with policy questions ranging from the Inflation Reduction Act to RFK Jr.
FROM BIOSPACE INSIGHTS
Establishing trust through thought leadership is no longer optional in today’s cautious biopharma market. This webinar will show leaders how strategic insights and targeted outreach can turn awareness into high-converting leads. Watch now.
LATEST PODCASTS
This week, we discuss the expanded approval of Sarepta’s Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy Elevidys, Alnylam’s high stakes ATTR-CM win and highlights from ADA.
BioSpace’s ⁠Lori Ellis⁠ and ⁠Chantal Dresner⁠ bring live updates from ⁠day three of #DIA2024⁠ in San Diego.
DEI
This week on Denatured, Head of Insights Lori Ellis and guests discuss the persisting challenges of diversity, equity and inclusion when designing clinical trials.
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SPECIAL EDITIONS
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.
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.
DEALS
  1. A report from J.P. Morgan shows an increase in biopharma activity so far this year and where some improvement can be made.
  2. Sangamo and Pfizer’s hemophilia A gene therapy candidate scored a Phase III victory last week. However, with the genomic medicine company soon to run out of cash, Sangamo’s short-term prospects look bleak but not unsalvageable, analysts say.
  3. Under the deal announced Monday with the California biotech, German pharma Boehringer Ingelheim is gaining access to novel immune checkpoint inhibitors designed to activate the immune system to fight cancer cells.
  4. A longtime biopharma exec and Moderna shareholder argues in an anonymous email to the companies’ CFOs that they have a fiduciary responsibility to close the deal. Analysts say the proposal is interesting but “too simplistic.”
  5. While supportive of Amylyx’s acquisition of a GLP-1 drug, analysts say the company’s future hinges on key upcoming readouts from multiple products in its pipeline.
WEIGHT LOSS
  1. Eli Lilly will provide the funding and expertise to advance Laekna’s LAE102, a first-in-class monoclonal antibody targeting the activin type IIA receptor to induce weight loss and boost muscle mass.
  2. Wegovy is being made available to Chinese patients five months after its approval in the country. Novo will sell the medicine for about $193.27 for a one-month supply.
  3. Despite crowding in the next-gen weight loss space, Metsera has raised over $500 million since its April launch, indicating a continued appetite for these drugs.
  4. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Olivia Brayer found supplementary bone mineral density data for Amgen’s obesity candidate MariTide that could point to a potentially greater fracture risk than previously revealed, but some other analysts view the findings as a nonissue.
  5. With Novo Holdings’ $16.5 billion buyout of Catalent being reviewed by regulators, what work the contract drug manufacturer may or may not be performing for Eli Lilly remains a point of contention.
POLICY
  1. The Fourth Circuit’s ruling follows a Supreme Court verdict that also allowed the Trump administration to move forward with its mass layoffs at federal agencies.
  2. As the industry awaits official word from the administration on how the tariffs will hit, analysts go over the possibilities with one certainty: there will be increased costs for medicines.
  3. Analysts suggested that the tariffs will have little effect on reshoring manufacturing and will likely decrease patient drug access and increase costs.
  4. The National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology recommends at least a $15 billion investment into biotech over the next five years.
  5. Jazz is being accused of anti-competitive practices regarding its narcolepsy drug, as generic competitors emerge on the market.
CAREER HUB
Here are four questions to think about when considering a career change during the pandemic.
Finding the most cost-effective school for your undergraduate pharmaceutical degree can allow you to start working in the field without incurring astronomical student debt.
Peer review is integral to the scientific process, and one group plays a bigger role than you might think: Scientific Review Officers.
Take a look at which states pay the highest and lowest salaries for pharmacists and how that pay compares to the cost of living.
From research to sales and marketing, the pharma industry has a wide range of employment opportunities to accommodate those looking for a chance to work in the field.
A life science degree can provide various academic and professional opportunities to you. Here’s an overview of what you can do with a life science degree.
Understanding the difference between talent acquisition and recruitment is vital not only for your hiring process but for the entire organization.
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
While Truist Securities analysts said the results from the ATTAIN-2 trial leave “room for competition,” they also pointed to a manufacturing advantage that could unlock a “double-digit billion dollar opportunity” for Eli Lilly.
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. Enhertu’s label expansion comes on the heels of the FDA’s approval of the partners’ Datroway for a related type of breast cancer.
  2. Bristol Myers Squibb’s Opdivo plus Yervoy, as well as Pfizer’s Braftovi, have each shown strong Phase III performances that could position them as new standards of care in certain subtypes of metastatic colorectal cancer.
  3. The Japanese pharma had one asset rejected by the FDA and withdrew a regulatory application for another, but already this month the company has secured an approval for AstraZeneca-partnered Dato-DXd, to be marketed as Datroway.
  4. The unsuccessful Phase III results are the latest to suggest that the blockbuster cancer drug is finally bumping up against its limits after racking up around 50 approvals since getting its first FDA nod in September 2014.
  5. Protein degradation–focused Neomorph nabs its third Big Pharma deal of around $1.5 billion in less than a year.
NEUROSCIENCE
  1. By speeding lifesaving drugs’ way to market and focusing on the underlying causes of disease, the pathway has helped save many lives.
  2. The Muna partnership will give GSK access to Muna’s MiND-MAP platform, which it will apply to postmortem brain samples to identify potential therapeutic targets for Alzheimer’s disease.
  3. Novartis, Gilead, Roche and Takeda commit to new partners in a spate of mid-sized collaborations this week. Meanwhile, Applied Therapeutics’ stock tanks 80% after govorestat is denied approval, Intra-Cellular Therapies seeks to expand Caplyta into major depressive disorder and the FDA investigates the safety of bluebird bio’s Skysona.
  4. Intra-Cellular submitted its application to the FDA for Caplyta’s approval in major depressive disorder, potentially opening up an additional $1 billion in sales. Still, the stock remains “cheap,” according to Jefferies analysts.
  5. Monday’s agreement comes days after PTC discontinued the development of another asset, utreloxastat, due to disappointing Phase II data in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
CELL AND GENE THERAPY
  1. Large pharmaceutical companies were out in force at this week’s 2024 Cell & Gene Meeting on the Mesa, as they look to expand their presence in the industry.
  2. Tim Hunt, CEO of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine, said Monday at the 2024 Cell & Gene Meeting on the Mesa that investments reached $10.9 billion in the first half of this year—outpacing 2019’s $9.8 billion total—but far below the pandemic peak.
  3. The Financial Times reported Thursday that WuXi AppTec is looking to sell its cell and gene therapy manufacturing unit, with facilities in Philadelphia, while WuXi Biologics wants to offload some of its production sites in Europe.
  4. Stephen Majors from the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine, which hosts the conference, spoke with BioSpace about what the more than 2,000 attendees can expect to learn next week in Phoenix about the pressing issues confronting the industry.
  5. To say that 2seventy bio’s short two years of existence have been dramatic is an understatement. CEO Chip Baird told BioSpace transparency and a committed staff have kept the biotech going through thick and thin.