Annalee Armstrong headshot

Annalee Armstrong

Senior Editor

Annalee Armstrong is an award-winning biopharma journalist covering the business of drug development. She began her career at small newspapers across Western Canada. During the assignment of a lifetime, the Yukon Quest Sled Dog Race, she met her husband in Alaska and eventually moved to the U.S. Since then, Annalee has covered energy, environmental regulations, healthcare and biopharma. Prior to BioSpace, Annalee was senior editor for Fierce Biotech, where she received several awards for her writing and editing. She lives in Ottawa, Ontario, with her husband, two wild boys, an anxious Rhodesian Ridgeback and an indifferent tabby cat.

The two most historically deal-conservative Big Pharmas have the most money to play with for a major M&A transaction, according to a recent Stifel analysis.
A new analysis from SRS Acquiom puts into perspective the headline values seen when a company announces a backloaded M&A deal. Biotechs have much on the line when they agree to deals with massive potential but little upfront.
After Emma Walmsley steps down as GSK CEO in January, Vertex Pharma’s Reshma Kewalramani will be the sole female CEO at a top-20 pharma company. Still, there are many prominent women in pharma that could someday break through again.
Chief Commerical Officer Luke Miels will replace outgoing GSK CEO Emma Walmsley at the U.K. pharma next year.
The FDA is hoping to repurpose GSK’s Wellcovorin for cerebral folate deficiency; Pfizer acquired fast-moving weight-loss startup Metsera for nearly $5 billion after suffering a hat trick of R&D failures; psychedelics are primed for M&A action and Eli Lilly may be next in line; RFK Jr.’s revamped CDC advisory committee met last week with confounding results; and Stealth secured its Barth approval.
While last week’s recommended changes by CDC advisors to the MMRV vaccine schedule are unlikely to have a tangible effect on Merck’s business, the company said the removal of choice for healthcare providers is “concerning.”
Bluebird bio has re-emerged after a private equity buyout as Genetix Biotherapeutics, marking a return to its roots and a new path forward for manufacturing.
FDA
In letters to Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, the FDA accused the companies of downplaying the risks of their GLP-1 weight loss drugs during a prime time special with Oprah Winfrey.
FDA
A complex state vs. federal regulatory scheme allows drug compounders to advertise drugs without disclosing risks like a pharma company must do. Experts say it’s time for the FDA to crack down.
The White House is clamping down on pharma’s ability to buy new molecules from Chinese biotechs; Sanofi, Merck and others abandon the U.K. after the introduction of a sizeable levy; Novo CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar lays off 9,000 while the company presents new data at EASD; Capsida loses a patient in a gene therapy trial; and CDER Director George Tidmarsh walks back comments on FDA adcomms.
The world of healthcare is evolving to more predictive care and patients are taking greater control—a trend already emerging around GLP-1 weight loss treatments. As PwC warns, pharma will need to be ready.
FDA
While the FDA is trumpeting this new initiative as “sweeping reforms” to the way drug companies can advertise, experts say the regulator is going after a problem that doesn’t exist.
The FDA has vowed to fix a pharma ad loophole—but they’re targeting the wrong one.
A new analyst survey suggests that doctors are still prescribing Sarepta’s Elevidys, even after a series of deaths in certain populations marred the gene therapy’s record.
IPO
LB Pharma landed on the Nasdaq Thursday, with 3 million additional shares sold than expected.