As Sangamo runs out of cash, Eli Lilly and Astellas have emerged as stalking horse bidders for key assets, including a Fabry gene therapy currently being submitted for potential FDA approval.
Follow along as BioSpace tracks job cuts and restructuring initiatives.
While existing antibody-drug conjugates have been incredible advancements in cancer care, patients are ready for a better experience. At the BIO International Convention in San Diego on Thursday, BioSpace will lead a discussion on the next generation of ADCs.
Despite an overall survival miss, Leerink Partners said Pfizer’s antibody-drug conjugate showed “promising” signals of efficacy in a subgroup of patients who had undergone only one prior line of treatment.
Having stuck with local production in the years when offshoring to lower-cost locations was in fashion, Aquestive’s CEO is well placed to explain what the recent reshoring drive means for manufacturers.
Anticipated to be one of fastest-growing jobs in manufacturing, pharmaceutical jobs offer a salary 32% higher than the average U.S. manufacturing role.
China’s Haisco Pharmaceutical continues to wield deals, this time out-licensing rights to two late-stage programs to New Jersey biotech Nuvectis.
FEATURED STORIES
The FDA delivered two notable approvals for RSV immunization, UroGen overcame a negative advisory committee vote to secure an approval in bladder cancer, and more key regulatory nods from the past month.
In the race to make the most tolerable obesity drug, there seems to be no clear winner—at least not according to analysts parsing the data presented at the American Diabetes Association annual meeting this week.
Writing in JAMA, four former government officials warn that the Trump administration’s involvement in delaying the approval of Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine could indicate a politicization of the drug approval processes that could ‘imperil public health.’
Leading companies spent $1.4 billion upfront on licensing deals and embarked on vast R&D programs. Clinical setbacks mean many companies are unlikely to ever recoup their investments.
With much to cover, Democrats tackled Kennedy’s MAHA report; the firing of all members of the CDC’s ACIP committee; and much more. Little was accomplished, as Kennedy demurred and members of Congress accused him of risking American lives.
Drug pricing, budget cuts, tariffs and other shifts under the Trump administration undermine the biopharma and healthcare ecosystem.
FROM BIOSPACE INSIGHTS
Intellia Therapeutics’s Senior Vice President Maria Natale discusses why the most successful launches are shaped long before approval, with strategy, structure and patient insight at the core.
UPCOMING EVENTS
LATEST PODCASTS
In this episode of Denatured, you’ll hear from Mark Lowdell, CSO & co-founder at INmuneBio Inc. and Vishwas Seshadri, CEO & director at Abeona Therapeutics. We explore how recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa has become a defining case study for gene and cell therapy and what this ultra‑rare disease reveals about the future scalability of advanced therapies.
Moderna appears to have aligned with the FDA ahead of an advisory committee meeting for its mRNA-based flu vaccine, which the regulator initially turned away in February; biotech IPOs are going gangbusters, including two new records raises in as many weeks; layoffs continue across biopharma; plus much more.
In this episode of Denatured, you’ll be hearing from Hannah Franklin, associate at Biovance Capital and Pablo Gabriel Cironi Lopez, director of life science investment at Caixa Capital Risc as they discuss the rise of Southern Europe’s biotech ecosystem.
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SPECIAL EDITIONS
BioSpace examines how the FDA approval of Eli Lilly’s oral obesity drug Foundayo has ignited a key race with Novo Nordisk.
Opportunities increased by the end of the first quarter, according to BioSpace data.
FDA
BioSpace looks back at 2025 and where the FDA is going in 2026.
DEALS
  1. With drug pricing now embedded in U.S. policy, business development teams in biotech and pharma are changing the way they strike deals, including acknowledging policy uncertainties with renegotiation clauses.
  2. Formed by Sofinnova Partners and former Sanofi executive Frédéric Marrache, Bionyra Pharma emerged from stealth Monday with an initial focus in inflammatory bowel disease and atopic dermatitis.
  3. Eli Lilly plans to use BioArctic’s technology to shuttle an undisclosed drug candidate into the brain. The pharma hasn’t specified which neurodegenerative disease it will target.
  4. Insilico Medicine and SK Biopharmaceuticals will use generative AI to develop novel therapies for unspecified neuroimmune disorders.
  5. FDA
    Denali Therapeutics is the latest company to sell a priority review fast pass for an elevated price after the program was renewed earlier this year.
WEIGHT LOSS
  1. Rhythm Pharmaceuticals’ Imcivree reduced fat—while boosting muscle—in patients with Prader-Willi syndrome.
  2. After suffering the market withdrawal of its only product, Amylyx is gearing up for a pivotal Phase 3 readout in post-bariatric hypoglycemia. But the company’s driving ethos is still to treat “debilitating, devastating” neurodegenerative diseases, co-CEO Justin Klee told BioSpace.
  3. Novo Nordisk said that the information affected by the breach shouldn’t allow third parties to “identify participants in our clinical trials” despite “unauthorized access” to patients’ personal data.
  4. Eli Lilly and obesity rival Novo Nordisk stole the show at the American Diabetes Association conference, though plenty of other companies also had data to show for their own weight loss assets; GSK strikes the biggest traditional pharma buyout of 2026; and FDA initiatives still lack clarity.
  5. AstraZeneca is pushing its small molecule GLP-1 drug to Phase 3 development for weight control, diabetes and other cardiometabolic conditions despite the asset failing to best one from Structure Therapeutics.
POLICY
  1. Former FDA, CDC and NIH leaders convene at the BIO International Convention to discuss the dismantling of the Department of Health and Human Services under the Trump administration—and where we go from here.
  2. The U.S. government has argued that it pays too much of biopharma R&D costs, demanding that other high-income countries contribute fairly to global innovation efforts.
  3. Weeks after Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly retracted billions of dollar in German commitments, the nation’s government is reportedly changing a contentious element of its planned healthcare reforms.
  4. DemeRx is launching the first U.S. clinical trial of an ibogaine-derived drug candidate, marking a pivotal moment for a controversial psychedelic long sidelined by safety concerns.
  5. The FDA must provide consistent and predictable regulatory frameworks if the U.S. is to maintain its leadership in gene therapy, one of the most consequential therapeutic fields of our generation.
CAREER HUB
Even something as simple as “Tell me about yourself” can trip up biopharma professionals during job interviews. Two recruiting experts discuss what candidates should and shouldn’t say when answering five specific questions.
Three experts discuss whether biotech and pharma professionals should try to convince employers to adjust employment offers, mistakes people make during the process and tips for getting it right.
The people most trusted to deliver are not always the ones invited to shape direction. Executive coach Angela Justice examines why the habits that build a career can eventually limit advancement.
Scientists who focus only on generating data risk missing their role in shaping strategy and driving innovation.
Panel interviews can play a major role in getting jobs. Two career coaches discuss what to do before and during the interview, including identifying how to differentiate yourself, engaging in true conversations and not overlooking a key panel member.
Over one-third of BioSpace LinkedIn poll respondents have done free work while interviewing for jobs. A recruiting expert and career coach discuss why employers make work requests and how biopharma professionals should evaluate and respond to them.
Finding the right people for critical open roles can be difficult even for biopharma leaders. In this column, Kaye/Bassman’s Michael Pietrack discusses four pitfalls executives face during the hiring process, starting with confusing scientific brilliance with leadership ability.
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
The FDA in February briefly refused to review Moderna’s flu vaccine, citing trial inadequacies, but reversed course a few days later. A verdict is expected by Aug. 5.
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 the mid-stage readout, Verastem Oncology has decided to move away from its investigational pancreatic cancer drug combo, instead putting resources behind its KRAS inhibitor pill for solid tumors.
  2. Elicio Therapeutics’ investigational cancer immunotherapy failed to meet the primary endpoint of disease-free survival in a Phase 2 trial—a result the company attributed mostly to a disproportionate number of patients with higher residual disease.
  3. Eli Lilly’s new JAK2 inhibitor—which it obtained from the recent acquisition of Ajax Therapeutics—reduced spleen volume by more than a third in 70% of patients with myelofibrosis.
  4. HIV
    While Merck and Gilead Sciences reported back-to-back late-stage victories for their weekly HIV pill, the partners also discontinued a Phase 3 program for their cancer combo after disappointing lung cancer survival data.
  5. Nuvalent Bio is GSK’s third big-ticket purchase this year, after the pharma dropped $2.2 billion in January for RAPT Therapeutics and $950 million in February for 35Pharma.
NEUROSCIENCE
  1. Results for Definium Therapeutics psychedelic candidate for major depressive disorder “exceeded expectations,” according to Stifel, while Jefferies called the efficacy data “profound.”
  2. As uniQure prepares its closely watched Huntington’s disease gene therapy for FDA review, the biotech is also making waves in chronic epilepsy with another gene therapy that Stifel says is off to a “promising start.”
  3. ALS
    Nura Bio will use the series B financing to carry two neuroprotective drug candidates through early- to mid-stage clinical studies, one targeting ALS and the other for a broader neurological profile.
  4. After a regulatory odyssey that delayed a filing for what would be the first genetic medicine for Huntington’s disease, the FDA has agreed that three-year data from uniQure’s Phase 1/2 trial are sufficient to support an accelerated biologics license application.
  5. Alto Neuroscience is advancing a depression drug based on the dopamine agonist pramipexole, which an independent study has found to help boost feelings of pleasure in patients with mood disorders.
CELL AND GENE THERAPY
  1. If cell and gene therapy makers are going to achieve their mission to improve patients’ lives, the industry must come together to share information across stakeholders, from regulators to manufacturers to payers.
  2. Be Biopharma’s terminated trial is the latest setback in the hemophilia space, where companies like Pfizer and BioMarin have opted to pull their respective products from the market after weak traction.
  3. Instead of using viral vectors, SonoThera’s genetic medicines are delivered through an ultrasound-mediated technology that could help sidestep key safety issues with conventional delivery methods.
  4. All six non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients on Legend Biotech’s CAR T therapy responded to treatment—findings that could make the biotech an attractive takeover target, according to analysts at Oppenheimer.
  5. ALS
    For Peter Pitts, a former associate commissioner at the FDA, the appointment to the board of BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics is an opportunity to fulfill a promise he made long ago to a patient with ALS.