Business
Congressional letters sent to the CEOs of Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Merck, BMS and AbbVie this week voicing concerns about the pharmas’ clinical trials in China highlight an ongoing discrepancy in how government and industry think about the rise of the Asian country’s biotech industry.
FEATURED STORIES
At the BIO International Convention in San Diego, attendees marked the 50th anniversary of original biotech Genentech, reflecting on the immense challenges facing companies as China becomes a powerhouse innovator.
Dealmaking across biopharma is shifting dramatically as the SEC rolls out new regulations to ease burdens on newly public companies and antitrust review is replaced by drug pricing as the policy concern du jour.
Dual and even triple or quadruple track processes have come roaring back in 2026 thanks to a glut of M&A that has refilled investors’ wallets. Big Pharma is being put on notice that time is critical if they want to acquire.
Subscribe to BioPharm Executive
Market insights and trending stories for biopharma leaders, in your inbox every Wednesday
THE LATEST
Telix is Regeneron’s entry ticket into the radiopharma game, helping to better round out the company’s cancer portfolio, according to Truist Securities.
Replimune’s CEO Sushil Patel has already warned that the biotech will need to cut staff and substantially scale back its U.S. manufacturing operations.
Novo Nordisk’s oral Wegovy has a few months’ head start on Eli Lilly’s newly approved pill. While the Indianapolis pharma has come from behind the Danish rival in the weight loss space before, last time it clearly had the better drug.
GSK discontinued Wellcovorin in 1999, but the FDA in September last year asked the pharma to refile an application, pointing to its potential to treat cerebral folate deficiency with “autistic features.”
Sidewinder Therapeutics’ bispecific antibody-drug conjugates target pairs of receptors found on cancer cells, which the company claims improves their specificity and minimizes off-target effects.
Gilead Sciences has inked three deals this year so far totaling $14.77 billion, a marked escalation of the company’s usual M&A pace. Executives detailed the rationale for buying Arcellx, Ouro Medicine and Tubulis GmbH and whether they are interested in further deals.
“Your tenure has overseen a DESTRUCTION of shareholder value—a direct result of chronic operational shortcomings and failures on fiduciary duty,” Shah Capital wrote to Novavax’s leadership in an open letter published Wednesday.
Another bidder, which remains unidentified, dropped out of the bidding process. Analysts at William Blair now think it unlikely that another suitor could offer a counter-proposal to Merck’s outstanding $6.7 billion acquisition offer.
The approval of Eli Lilly’s oral obesity drug officially ignites an intense competition with Novo Nordisk’s oral Wegovy; Gilead Sciences and Neurocrine Biosciences keep the M&A train chugging; Trump hits pharma with his long promised tariffs, and the FDA proposes many changes with 2027 budget.
As Daré Biosciences approaches a pivotal year with a key product launch ahead, the company kicked off an open public offering, providing a chance for individuals to get involved for as little as $250.