Patients taking Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy plus Veru’s enobosarm saw 71% lower lean mass loss than those who were taking Wegovy alone but investors await more data.
While many industry players and observers have high hopes for the EPIC Act, some say budgetary headwinds could make it difficult for the current administration to make meaningful repeals or amendments to the IRA.
Kiniksa will now focus its development efforts on the IL-1 blocker KPL-387, which it is testing for recurrent pericarditis with Phase II/III trials planned for mid-2025.
Emalex is gearing up for a New Drug Application for ecopipam in Tourette syndrome later this year.
The latest Repare Therapeutics layoffs will include its chief medical officer and could leave the biotech with fewer than 35 employees as it works to advance two Phase I clinical programs.
BridGene strikes another partnership with Takeda as the latter company continues its dealmaking streak, following high-ticket agreements with Keros Therapeutics, AC Immune and Degron Therapeutics in the past nine months.
At the 2025 National Biotechnology Conference, gene therapies, bispecific antibodies and other novel modalities—relative newcomers to medicine—will be much discussed. In this curtain raiser, BioSpace speaks with conference chair Prathap Nagaraja Shastri of J&J about these highly anticipated topics.
FEATURED STORIES
With Sarepta’s gene therapy Elevidys now available to a majority of Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients, experts express cautious optimism while emphasizing the need for further data.
FDA
As therapies for rare and neurological diseases earn accelerated approval, experts laud the program’s intent while remaining concerned about confirmatory trials and clinical efficacy, especially as products greenlit under this pathway are pulled from the market.
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla is in a tough spot as activist investor Starboard Value continues to call for a change in the company’s leadership. However, analysts are supportive of the embattled executive.
LATEST PODCASTS
President Donald Trump unwrapped a massive drug pricing policy as CMS prepares for the next round of Medicare drug price negotiations; Vinay Prasad to take the helm at the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research; Bayer cuts 2,000 more employees; Eli Lilly’s Zepbound scores again; and the Galapagos story turns again.
In this episode of Denatured BioSpace’s head of insights Lori Ellis discusses the public health consequences of vaccine hesitancy and the critical distinction between skepticism and cynicism with Paul Offit, MD, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
A new executive order aims to smooth the path for getting U.S. manufacturing facilities up and running; HHS says it will require placebo-controlled trials for all vaccine approvals; tariff threats hit BioNTech; Novo Nordisk’s FDA application for an oral version of Wegovy is accepted; and more.
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SPECIAL EDITIONS
A new generation of checkpoint inhibitors is emerging, with some showing more promise than others. From recent TIGIT failures to high-potential targets like VEGF, BioSpace explores what’s on the horizon in immuno-oncology.
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.
DEALS
  1. The Chapter 11 bankruptcy was driven by increasing generic competition, declining profits and the unrelenting legal woes of its head Martin Shkreli, dubbed “Pharma Bro” in the media.
  2. The acquisition provides the Swedish company with an approved JAK inhibitor for myelofibrosis, a rare bone marrow cancer that disrupts the body’s normal production of blood cells.
  3. The biopharma company scored two major wins on Tuesday: a court victory over HIV patent claims and an acquisition deal to expand its pipeline in cancer and inflammatory diseases.
  4. Novel therapies often pass through several owners on their way to the market. Here’s a look at some of the drugs that got dropped before they hit primetime.
  5. Japanese biopharma scoops up Iveric’s investigational drug for age-related blindness disease. The drug, which trails Apellis’ Syfovre, is awaiting FDA approval with a decision expected by August.
WEIGHT LOSS
  1. FDA
    In this episode BioSpace’s Greg Slabodkin, Tyler Patchen and Lori Ellis discuss Zepbound, Wegovy, the weight loss race and the future of this drug class.
POLICY
  1. The Federal Trade Commission has asked for an additional 30 days for its review of Novo Nordisk’s $16.5 billion acquisition of Catalent, with the companies expecting to complete the merger by the end of 2024.
  2. Ahead of the FDA’s June target action date for Sarepta’s Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy, ICER Chief Medical Officer David Rind blasted the regulator’s accelerated pathway in a JAMA viewpoint article.
  3. FDA
    Boehringer Ingelheim on Wednesday won the FDA’s approval for a high-concentration and citrate-free version of its Humira biosimilar Cyltezo, targeting AbbVie’s blockbuster drug.
  4. FDA
    J&J and BMS’ challenges to Medicare drug price negotiations shut down in federal court less than a week after BMS announced it was laying off more than 2,000 employees.
  5. In a bid to improve competition in the industry, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is challenging the patents of 20 different pharmaceutical products, disputing the accuracy and relevance of their patents.
CAREER HUB
Home to many of the world’s leading life science companies, the Genetown hotbed is a hub of activity. To help you in your job search, here are 10 Massachusetts biopharma companies hiring now.
Use this thorough interview checklist to guide you through the interview preparation process and move you closer to successfully attaining the job you seek.
Is there any point in reliving a job interview you’ve just gone on? Can any good come from analyzing it and ruminating on it?
If you’re planning a cover letter or have one ready to send, take a stroll through this list to ensure strategic optimization.
In the last article on our series of common biopharma careers, we take a close look at what it takes to become a successful computer and information research scientist.
“Why should we hire you?” is a question frequently asked in job interviews, but what’s really behind the question, and how should you respond to it?
Medical and health service managers work hard to improve the quality and efficiency required to deliver first rate healthcare services.
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
J&J opened Q1 2025 pharma earnings Tuesday, reporting sales of $21.9 billion and diluted earnings per share of $4.54. The medicines unit provided $13.9 billion while the medtech unit generated the remaining $8 billion.
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. FDA
    Rybrevant has been approved for use with carboplatin and pemetrexed in the first-line treatment of locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer with exon 20 insertion mutations in the EGFR gene.
  2. Retaining the full rights to Trodelvy, Gilead now has access to $210 million in financing from venture capital firm Abingworth to help push the antibody-drug conjugate into non-small cell lung cancer studies.
  3. At Thursday’s Oncology Innovation Day, Pfizer laid out its business strategy which includes building up its biologics business, specifically antibody-drug conjugates and bispecific antibodies.
  4. Janux Therapeutics on Monday announced positive updated clinical data for both of its clinical programs in prostate cancer advanced or metastatic solid tumors.
  5. The cancer space has been aflutter with notable approvals so far this year, but there are several more candidates with significant data expected over the next four months. BioSpace takes a closer look.
NEUROSCIENCE
  1. The neurodegenerative drug development space saw incremental victories in 2022. Leaders from Eisai, Voyager and QurAlis discuss upcoming milestones.
  2. The FDA approved Eisai and Biogen’s lecanemab (Leqembi) Friday afternoon. It is the second anti-amyloid antibody to be approved for Alzheimer’s disease in two years.
  3. A letter published Wednesday in the NEJM links a stroke patient’s death to lecanemab. Eisai investigators respond.
  4. Two documents recently came to light: first, the results of a congressional investigation into the approval of Aduhelm; second, a revised clinical trial consent form for lecanemab.
  5. 2022 featured pivotal data that could change the landscape in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, Alzheimer’s disease, sickle cell disease and many more indications.
CELL AND GENE THERAPY
  1. Taking center stage at the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy meeting was the first-ever reported case of a personalized in vivo CRISPR editing therapy, which substantially eased the symptom burden in an infant.
  2. Since Elevidys’ accelerated approval in 2023, experts have been clamoring for more data, particularly in older and non-ambulatory children. New results, presented Friday, show mobility improvements in 8- to 9-year-old patients after one year of follow-up.
  3. Lilly will use Rznomics’ proprietary ribozyme technology to develop RNA editing therapies for congenital hearing loss.
  4. After warnings that the dragged-out process was putting the cell therapy company at risk of bankruptcy, bluebird bio now has a new deal to offer shareholders.
  5. It’s another wild twist in the story of Galapagos, a company that has been around for more than 25 years but has yet to get a therapy approved.