Slashing adverse drug reactions through pharmacogenetics and advanced AI could help rehabilitate the pharmaceutical industry’s reputation amid mounting criticism.
Tidmarsh, an adjunct professor at Stanford’s medical school, brings decades of industry experience to the table. Serving as director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research will be his first government position.
The path to market for Roche’s astegolimab became more uncertain after the investigational antibody failed to significantly lower disease exacerbation rates versus placebo in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Otsuka and Lundbeck’s data are insufficient to establish significant efficacy of Rexulti plus sertraline in PTSD, according to the FDA’s outside experts.
In light of recent patient deaths, the FDA has also revoked its platform designation for Sarepta’s AAVrh74 technology. The designation, granted last month, was the first of its kind to be announced publicly.
Roche and Genentech were unable to sufficiently demonstrate the benefit of using Columvi in an earlier treatment setting for DLBCL in a U.S. population, according to the FDA.
The rollercoaster week for Sarepta Therapeutics continued, with shares of the embattled gene therapy-turned-siRNA biotech down 37% Friday afternoon as media outlets reported FDA plans to request a stop to all shipments of the Duchenne muscular dystrophy therapy Elevidys following a third patient death linked to the underlying platform.
FEATURED STORIES
COUR Pharmaceuticals has been around a while, but not until last year did the company solidify behind its ultimate mission with a series A raise.
FDA
The hammer came down on an unspecified number of FDA employees this weekend, days after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed as HHS Secretary.
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.
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.
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.
Jay Ferro, EVP, CIO, CPO & CTO at Clario discusses safety, trust and what keeps him up at night.
FROM BIOSPACE INSIGHTS
Establishing trust through thought leadership is no longer optional in today’s cautious biopharma market. Learn how strategic insights and targeted outreach can turn awareness into high-converting leads.
LATEST PODCASTS
With U.S. election season now in full swing, BioSpace looks at pharmaceutical-associated campaign contributions. Plus, Q2 earnings, Adaptimmune’s big approval, an anticipated FDA decision on an MDMA-assisted treatment and more.
In this episode, Lori and guests discuss the pursuit of adequate representation and how clinical trials are being shaped by the legal environment they operate within.
Second-quarter earnings season continues with Big Pharma beating Wall Street expectations, the author of an encrypted email sent to BioSpace has a proposal for Moderna and Merck, Roche and Viking seek quicker entry to the obesity market, and AAIC is in full swing.
Subscribe to Genepool
Subscribe to BioSpace’s flagship publication including top headlines, special editions and life sciences’ most important breaking news
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. Not all licensing deals are successful. Here, BioSpace examines a few noteworthy assets that Big Pharma returned in the last 12 months.
  2. Belgium-based biopharma UCB is selling its Chinese neurology and allergy business to Singapore asset management firm CBC Group and Abu Dhabi investment company Mubadala.
  3. Venture capital in the sector hit $9.2 billion in the second quarter of 2024, up from $7.4 billion in Q1, while exits fell on a slower M&A cycle and picky IPO market.
  4. M&A activity surges and IPOs return as the biotech industry navigates a changing business landscape marked by strategic consolidation and renewed investor focus on innovation.
  5. The Connecticut-based biotech, which emerged from stealth last year, has secured $202 million to date as it looks to move two assets targeting prostate and breast cancer into the clinic.
WEIGHT LOSS
  1. The letters come amid the Outsourcing Facilities Association’s ongoing lawsuit against the FDA over the regulator’s decision to end the shortage for tirzepatide.
  2. Now that they’ve received the go-signal from both U.S. and EU anti-trust regulators, Novo Holdings and Catalent expect to wrap up their deal in the coming days.
  3. The EMA approved a kidney disease–related label expansion for the blockbuster GLP-1 drug after a study showed reduced risk of death by 20%.
  4. The discontinuation of STRIDES is a rare stumble for the next-generation obesity field and comes just weeks after Amgen announced underwhelming mid-stage data for MariTide.
  5. Eli Lilly is aggressively ramping up its manufacturing capacity for tirzepatide as compounding pharmacies continue to challenge an FDA decision to formally end the shortage of the obesity and diabetes drug.
POLICY
  1. Trump could use the findings of the probe to impose certain trade restrictions on pharma products, including tariffs.
  2. FDA
    After the gutting of the Department of Health and Human Services, fears mount about the future direction of the FDA—with regulatory experts predicting delays in drug approvals and greater influence of political appointees.
  3. As the biopharma industry grapples with the uncertain macro environment brought on by the new administration, CEOs, regulators and many others speak out.
  4. According to analysts at Jefferies, legislation such as the newly proposed bills that aim to streamline regulatory processes would be a positive for the biotech industry.
  5. Biotech companies are already seeing regulatory delays and plenty of uncertainty after around 3,500 FDA employees were cut by the Trump administration.
CAREER HUB
Discover the pros and cons before you hire an independent contractor (IC). These include freelancers, consultants, seasonal workers, and other temporary professionals.
With a swirl of rumors around the changes in ownership in the pharma industry, this invariably triggers reviews of business strategies. Because of this, wider skillsets from related sectors are needed.
Candice Richards, the Manager of Talent Acquisition at Kyowa Kirin North America, shed some light on what to expect from a pharma interview and how to effectively prepare.
BioSpace sat down with Gregg Burkhalter, a LinkedIn Expert, for a quick Q&A about the three most common LinkedIn mistakes and how they can affect your personal brand.
There are many reasons why you might want to negotiate your stock options. Read on to discover what stock options are and how to negotiate your stock options with your employer.
BioSpace sat down with Maritza Gamboa, the associate director of talent acquisition at Intellia Therapeutics, to find out how to identify and avoid scam job offers.
BioSpace sat down with Axogen’s Chief Human Resources Officer Maria Martinez to understand why now is the best time to make the switch to pharma and biotech.
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
FDA
After exiting the FDA less than two weeks ago for unclear reasons, Vinay Prasad is once again director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, HHS confirmed to several outlets Saturday.
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. Following an initial report from Reuters, Merck KGaA confirmed that it is in talks with SpringWorks for a potential acquisition, though details of its offer have yet to be revealed.
  2. Eli Lilly inked two collaborations on Monday, one focused on cardiometabolic diseases with South Korea’s OliX Pharmaceuticals and another for cancer therapies with Australia’s AdvanCell.
  3. 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.
  4. Kuro Oncology and partner Kyowa Kirin are on track for an NDA submission for ziftomenib in the second quarter of this year.
  5. Despite significant dips in its vaccines sales, the British pharma narrowly beat consensus estimates for Q4 2024 and raised 2031 sales projections to just over $50 billion.
NEUROSCIENCE
  1. BioArctic received $100 million upfront with another $1.25 billion in potential milestone payments on the line for two pyroglutamate-amyloid-beta antibodies.
  2. The report comes just two days after Novartis announced its own Parkinson’s drug failure.
  3. Even as Biogen and Eisai’s Leqembi and Eli Lilly’s Kisunla slowly roll out onto the market, experts question the efficacy of these anti-amyloid antibodies and the amyloid hypothesis overall.
  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. GSK, Gilead and Arcellx, Vertex and more present new data at the American Society of Hematology annual meeting just as sickle cell therapies Casgevy and Lyfgenia have a new outcomes-based payment model; Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk pump new funds into manufacturing; and AbbVie makes a Cerevel comeback while uniQure clears a path toward accelerated approval in Huntington’s disease.
CELL AND GENE THERAPY
  1. BioSpace takes a look at the headlines across a heavy earnings week for biotechs, checking in on Allogene, Rapport and more.
  2. Analysts did not seem very concerned by the treatment-related serious adverse event, noting that NGN-401 was well-tolerated at a lower dose and showed promising efficacy outcomes.
  3. The investigational therapy, vesleteplirsen, had been positioned as an updated version of Sarepta’s original exon 51-skipping Duchenne muscular dystrophy drug Exondys 51.
  4. Truist Securities analyst Asthika Goonewardene in an investor note said data for anito-cel—particularly its safety profile—will help differentiate the CAR T therapy from Legend Biotech and J&J’s entrenched Carvykti in relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma.
  5. In our anniversary episode, we discuss a rare earnings miss for Eli Lilly, a pivotal metabolic dysfunction–associated steatohepatitis victory for Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy, growing excitement about CAR Ts for autoimmune disease and the ongoing controversy over HeLa cells.