After a bidding war erupted between Pfizer and Novo Nordisk over the fledgling obesity drugmaker, Metsera sided with its original suitor in a final agreement announced late Friday evening.
During a press conference to announce a drug price deal for GLP-1s, President Donald Trump asked for more details about the ongoing bidding war between Novo Nordisk and Pfizer over obesity biotech Metsera.
Following restricted vaccine approvals and changes to CDC immunization schedules, Merck, Pfizer, GSK and Sanofi are all suffering revenue hits to their vaccine programs.
The Phase III results impressed Guggenheim Partners analysts both in terms of efficacy and safety. If approved, atacicept would become the first APRIL/BAFF inhibitor for IgAN to make it to the market.
The FDA previously placed two clinical studies on hold, including the Phase III trial in which the liver toxicity occurred. Intellia is working with experts to create a risk management program for nex-z.
The agreement will also secure a $150 price for future weight loss pills from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly—at least initially.
FEATURED STORIES
Executives from Eli Lilly, Merck and other companies foresee the FDA’s new onshoring proposal being anything from a bureaucratic waste of time to a transformative program that will eliminate inspection-related complete response letters.
The BioSpace 40 Under 40 winner opens up about his very personal career transformation from wealth management to biotech—and what it’s like to develop a drug for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia as a potential patient himself.
Last month, “historic positive results” from uniQure’s gene therapy snapped the Huntington’s community out of years of failure. As the biotech prepares to submit for FDA approval, BioSpace looks at four more candidates on the near horizon.
Pivotal results from uniQure’s gene therapy for Huntington’s disease have brought new light to patients who have known only disappointment in recent years—but one expert worries that communication of the results is creating “false expectations.”
M&A is back, the S&P XBI is rising again, a biotech pulled off an IPO and positive data is pulling in investors again. This may just be the industry’s new normal.
AI is changing the nature of leadership in biopharma. Here’s how executives can not only adapt, but lead the way.
FROM BIOSPACE INSIGHTS
The Future of Cell and Gene Therapy: Navigating Innovation, Regulation, and Manufacturing Challenges
An interview with Philip Vanek, chief commercialization officer of the International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy (ISCT), reveals both promising developments and significant concerns shaping the advanced therapies sector’s trajectory through 2025 and beyond. This interview was conducted with support from Tozaro.
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In this episode presented by Element Materials Technology, guests Dr. Jihye Jang-Lee and Dr. Khanh Courtney will explore how healthcare and pharmaceutical players are rethinking their strategies amid global supply chain disruption.
In this episode presented by PII, BioSpace’s head of insights discusses decentralized clinical studies and how connected technology can improve patient compliance with guests Oliver Eden and Travis Webb.
Johnson & Johnson has yet to make a drug pricing deal with Trump; Novo makes more moves under new CEO; more than 1,000 laid off from CDC, though many immediately hired back; the BIOSECURE Act is back and more.
Job Trends
This year, Novo Nordisk and Merck announced significant layoffs, with Novo planning to axe about 9,000 employees and Merck projecting it could let go of roughly 6,000. Meanwhile, Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Novartis and Pfizer have also made noteworthy cuts.
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SPECIAL EDITIONS
Peter Marks, the venerable head of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, has been forced out. In this special edition of BioPharm Executive, BioSpace takes a deep dive into the instability of the HHS.
Year-over-year BioSpace data show biopharma professionals faced increased competition for fewer employment opportunities during the first quarter of 2025.
In this deep dive, BioSpace explores the diverse therapeutic modalities now in development, as well as the opportunities and battles for market dominance in this emerging space.
DEALS
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Otsuka Pharmaceuticals could shell out over $400 million in total for the Asia-Pacific rights to 4D-150, which combines a VEGF-C inhibitory RNAi with Regeneron’s Eylea into a single ocular injection. -
Gilead is actively looking for late-stage and de-risked assets for potential deals across various therapeutic spaces, including liver disease, cancer and immunology. -
Pfizer called Novo’s offer “reckless and unprecedented,” in a statement issued Thursday morning. -
Mergers and acquisitions are not just for Big Pharma. A new report from Leerink Partners takes a stab at identifying the small- to mid-cap pharmas best prepared to bolster their pipelines with a buyout. -
Vas Narasimhan confirmed that Novartis is having weekly discussions with the Trump administration on drug pricing, but a deal has not yet been reached.
WEIGHT LOSS
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Both companies have submitted revised bids, with Novo’s coming in $1.9 billion higher than Pfizer’s. -
Novo Nordisk, under new CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar, has a new attitude. It’s making Pfizer livid. -
CEO David Ricks wants Eli Lilly’s upcoming obesity pill to be accessible to patients who need it, but the company still needs to pay for the next generation of obesity medicines to come after that. -
Mounjaro and Zepbound contributed more than $10 billion to the $11.98 billion in sales Lilly recorded for key products in the third quarter, despite price decreases for the GLP-1 medicines. -
The reprioritization initiative extends Aldeyra’s cash runway into the second half of 2027.
POLICY
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The British proposal to increase support for pharma is “clearly positive,” according to analysts at Leerink, who noted that the NHS’ move will improve patient access to treatments. -
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices was scheduled to convene Oct. 22 to 23, but this meeting has been postponed, with no new date specified. The delay comes as the VA published new research showing that COVID-19 shots prevented hospitalizations and death. -
The $48 million award, granted through the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, will help Kernal take its in vivo mRNA-encoded CAR T therapy forward. -
Cell and gene therapy experts question where the FDA designation fits in an environment that features a range of intersecting regulatory perks. -
A new group of CDC advisors voted last month to separate the chickenpox vaccine from the measles, mumps, rubella components of the MMRV shot due to concerns over febrile seizures, while recommending a more risk-based approach to COVID-19 immunizations that mirrors recent FDA approvals.
Whether you’re moving on or being moved out, how you leave can shape your reputation more than how you led.
Learn how to extract the full value from executive coaching, starting with being open and honest with your coach.
Just raising the alarm won’t drive action. Use these three steps to turn insights into solutions that leadership can’t ignore.
Learn about making the most of interview feedback, navigating bonus clawbacks and networking for niche roles.
Layoffs leave more than empty desks—they leave uncertainty, guilt and anxiety. Three simple steps will help you regain control of your work, well-being and career.
As they navigate a competitive job market, biopharma professionals are making four key interview mistakes, according to two talent acquisition experts. They discuss those errors and offer tips for how to get those critical conversations right.
HOTBEDS
REPORTS
The 9% average salary increase from 2023 to 2024 was the largest for life sciences professionals since 2021. Several factors could be behind the spike, including companies providing higher pay because bonuses and stock compensation went down.
Year-over-year BioSpace data show there were fewer job postings live on the website in the fourth quarter of 2024, and the decrease was higher than the third quarter’s drop.
Landing a job remains challenging for life sciences professionals, according to a new BioSpace report. While 59% of surveyed organizations are actively recruiting, nearly half of unemployed survey respondents had been out of work for at least six months, and 20% of surveyed employers expect to lay off employees this year.
CANCER
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Last month, investors’ hopes were dashed as Replimune suggested alignment had not yet been reached with the FDA on RP1’s future. Now, the regulator has accepted a refiled application after all. -
Ivonescimab’s progression-free survival data in non-small cell lung cancer bode well for an upcoming overall survival readout, according to Truist analysts, who noted that “OS is likely to be statistically significant” in favor of the PD-1/VEGF bispecific. -
Recent headlines proclaim a ‘potential’ or ‘functional’ cure for multiple myeloma, but the fight against the disease must continue. -
Roche will gain worldwide rights outside of the Greater China region to Hansoh’s HS-20110, an antibody-drug conjugate in early-stage development for colorectal cancer. -
2025 has been a busy year for Boehringer Ingelheim, which has so far inked at least five hefty partnerships—including its latest one with South Korea’s AimedBio for an antibody-drug conjugate therapy for cancer.
NEUROSCIENCE
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The company is dropping its social anxiety disorder program but will still test the molecule in post-traumatic stress disorder. -
Bristol Myers Squibb and insitro first partnered in 2020 to develop induced pluripotent stem cell models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia. Last December, BMS exercised its option for an ALS target. -
Elecsys’ approval could help boost the uptake of currently approved Alzheimer’s disease therapies, including Biogen’s Eisai-partnered Leqembi, with CEO Chris Viehbacher recently noting that such biomarker-based tests could “remove some of the bottlenecks” in uptake. -
The centerpiece of the deal is orelabrutinib, a BTK inhibitor in late-stage development for multiple sclerosis that Biogen once paid $125 million for but abandoned after less than two years of testing. -
MapLight laid out the terms of its planned IPO in a regulatory filing on Monday, providing greater detail about what the funds will be used for.
CELL AND GENE THERAPY
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Novo Nordisk’s leadership gets another shake-up as President Trump promises to significantly slash prices for its GLP-1 drugs; Summit/Akeso, Exelixis and more present new data at ESMO 2025; Replimune pops as FDA accepts resubmitted BLA; FDA names first winners of Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher program; and more. -
Galapagos at the start of the year had planned to split into two businesses, with one resulting entity focused on cell therapies. The biotech nixed these plans a few months later, instead choosing to put up for sale multiple cell therapy assets. -
With more than $1.5 billion on the line, Gilead looks to bolster its CAR T portfolio. -
Despite announcing a broad pivot to siRNA earlier this year, Sarepta is following through with an investigational gene therapy: its limb-girdle muscular dystrophy candidate. But the treatment’s path forward, analysts say, is highly uncertain. -
After the FDA revoked Sarepta Therapeutics’ platform designation in July, Krystal Biotech is “poised to be the first major beneficiary” of this program, according to analysts at William Blair.
