Tariffs Continue to Dominate Q1 Earnings, AACR Excites Cancer Space, CEO Pay Gaps, More

As Q1 2025 earnings season continues, tariffs remain top of mind for pharma CEOs and investors. Meanwhile, the American Association for Cancer Research’s annual event kicks off this year’s oncology conference season. Plus, will the FDA become politicized under HHS Secretary RFK Jr.?

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Policy issues—particularly tariffs—loom large as Q1 2025 earnings season rolls on, with Pfizer , Novartis, AstraZeneca and many more all reporting this week. On Pfizer’s call, CEO Albert Bourla called the Trump administration’s national security concerns “legitimate,” but objected to the proposed tariffs in general. Meanwhile, Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan brushed off the tariff risk but expressed concern over President Donald Trump’s desire to bring back the ‘Most Favored Nations’ rule.

Meanwhile, cancer conference season is in full swing, with the American Association for Cancer Research’s annual event continuing in Chicago. Merck, GSK, Boehringer Ingelheim, Roche and others have presented highly anticipated data from some of their cornerstone cancer drugs and other candidates.

Turning to the latest news out of the FDA, newly minted Commissioner Marty Makary gave his first two big press interviews last week, making statements that both jibed with and contradicted recent reporting. And in the midst of the ongoing Novavax vaccine saga, many have raised concerns that the FDA could become politicized under the watch of HHS Secretary RFK Jr.

Finally, check out this week’s BioPharm Executive stories, including a deep dive into the trend toward mining innovative therapies from China and BioSpace’s annual report on pharma CEO-to-employee pay ratios.

Heather McKenzie is senior editor at BioSpace and curator of the ClinicaSpace newsletter. She is an award-winning journalist specializing in rare disease and neuroscience, in addition to her extensive coverage of the FDA and regulatory science. You can reach her at heather.mckenzie@biospace.com. Also follow her on LinkedIn.
Jef Akst is managing editor of BioSpace. She is an award-winning journalist and editor specializing in the life sciences and biopharma. In 2026, she was awarded the Marianne Dekker Mattera Mentor Award for exceptional mentorship in B2B journalism. You can reach her at jef.akst@biospace.com. Follow her on LinkedIn and Twitter @JefAkst.
Annalee Armstrong is an award-winning biopharma journalist covering the business of drug development. She has been a journalist for more than 18 years, covering the pharmaceutical and biotech industry for the last eight. She is senior editor at BioSpace and curates the Biopharm Executive newsletter every Wednesday. You can reach her at  annalee.armstrong@biospace.com. Follow her on LinkedIn.
Dan Samorodnitsky is the news editor at BioSpace. You can reach him at dan.samorodnitsky@biospace.com.
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