ClinicaSpace

Despite the definitive failure of Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide in Alzheimer’s, biotech executives, analysts and other industry experts see potential in more testing of GLP-1s for the neurodegenerative disease, particularly in a combination approach.

Policy initiatives have come fast and furious at the FDA this year. While guidances on rare diseases and vaccines have consumed most of the ink, policy shifts aimed at improving FDA efficiencies and reshoring U.S. manufacturing also got some attention. Here, BioSpace rounds up more than a dozen initiatives relevant to the biopharma industry.

With notable therapies from Biogen, Sarepta and MacroGenics failing to show efficacy in pivotal or confirmatory trials, experts question the use of biomarker evidence for approval while one former regulator insists that a “failed trial is not a failed drug.”

Every year in biopharma brings its share of grueling defeats, and 2025 was no different, especially for companies targeting neurological diseases. Some failures split up partners, and one particularly egregious case even led to the demise of an entire company.

As the FDA unveils a parade of initiatives aimed at accelerating drug development for rare diseases, experts appeal for a consistent approval process that will support and further catalyze momentum.

The R&D pipeline for depression therapies faced a demoralizing 2025 as five high-profile candidates, including KOR antagonists by Johnson & Johnson and Neumora Therapeutics, flunked late-stage clinical trials, underscoring the persistent challenges of CNS drug development.

Days after Johnson & Johnson’s posdinemab failed to slow clinical decline in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, Eisai Chief Clinical Officer Lynn Kramer expressed unwavering conviction in his company’s own anti-tau asset, while others suggest the Alzheimer’s field is heading in a completely different direction.

As big pharmas including Takeda and Novo Nordisk flee the cell therapy space and smaller biotechs shutter their operations, these players are sticking around to take the modality as far as it can go.

This year has seen the approval of several first-in-class therapies for HAE, but in a fragmented space, experts question whether they will be enough to net their developers a significant share of the entrenched market.

Mixed headlines have plagued the cell and gene therapy space of late. We believe that a renewed case of optimism is not only warranted but essential if these therapies are to reach their full potential.