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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.
IPO
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.
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Excalipoint Therapeutics will use its seed money to advance a pipeline of cancer therapies, including a tri-specific antibody for small cell lung cancer and neuroendocrine tumors.
Alongside R1 Therapeutics, Mestag Therapeutics and iDEL Therapeutics also brought in money on Tuesday, helping to push their respective cancer portfolios forward.
While Johnson & Johnson retains the top revenue rank across the major pharma companies, Eli Lilly last year established itself as the clear leader in the obesity market, in the process capturing investors’ attention and enthusiasm.
The major pharmas are loaded up with trillions in firepower—but are sticking to mid-cap deals. One expert says it might be time to think outside the box and shake up the industry with some consolidation.
Astellas Pharma and CytomX Therapeutics first partnered up in March 2020. For $80 million upfront, the Japanese pharma gained access to the biotech’s Probody platform to generate masked antibody therapies for cancer.
Dozens of biotechs reported earnings this week. BioSpace recaps key highlights from Capricor Therapeutics, Legend Biotech, Inovio and Allogene.
Small-molecule drugs account for nearly half of the most valuable investigational therapies for orphan diseases, according to analytics firm Evaluate.
Total assets under management for Novo Holdings, Novo Nordisk’s controlling shareholder, fell by more than one-third last year. The report caps off a tumultuous year for the Novo group of companies.
Combining tirzepatide with vitamin B12, a common additive in compounded versions of the drug, yields an impurity that could alter the drug’s toxicity profile and pose safety risks to patients, the company said in an open letter.
The chief executives of AbbVie and Johnson & Johnson are now among the highest-paid pharma leaders after pay bumps pushed their 2025 compensations past $30 million.