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Dan Samorodnitsky

Dan Samorodnitsky

News Editor

Dan Samorodnitsky is the news editor at BioSpace. He has a decade of experience covering biotech, genetics and medicine. Before coming to BioSpace he was an editor at Drug Discovery News and Massive Science, and his writing has appeared in outlets such as Quanta, STAT, GROW and many others. He is based in Minneapolis. You can reach him at dan.samorodnitsky@biospace.com.

U.S. and Chinese flags in concrete, broken in the middle
China
Trump Reportedly Preparing Order Restricting Chinese Drug Licensing Deals
A draft executive order obtained by The New York Times purports to clamp down on the pharmaceutical industry’s ability to buy new molecules from biotechs based in China, along with a number of other proposed reforms.
September 11, 2025
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2 min read
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Dan Samorodnitsky
Dollar boat swimming on paper waves
Funding
Odyssey Rebounds Off Failed IPO With $213M Series D
The autoimmune and inflammatory disease–focused company canceled plans to go public earlier this year as the IPO window slammed shut.
September 10, 2025
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1 min read
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Dan Samorodnitsky
Podcast
Unpacking the Latest MAHA Report, RFK’s Senate Appearance, FDA’s CRL Drop and More
This week’s release of the Make America Health Again report revealed continued emphasis on vaccine safety; Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s faceoff with senators last week amounted to political theater; the FDA promises complete response letters in real time and shares details on a new rare disease framework; and Summit disappoints at the World Conference on Lung Cancer in Barcelona.
September 10, 2025
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1 min read
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Jef Akst
Contemporary art collage of woman sitting in the lotus position, cloud, pillows against the background of the night sky. Concept of healthy lifestyle and sport. Good and relaxing sleep. Copy space.
Neuroscience
Alkermes One Ups Takeda in Narcolepsy, Clearing Cognitive Impairments in Mid-Stage Trial
Presenting at the World Sleep Congress 2025, the Dublin-based company’s Phase II study bested Takeda drug in both efficacy and safety.
September 8, 2025
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2 min read
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Dan Samorodnitsky
graphic pattern with the tablet. topic of drugs. pill with girl and space inside. relax
Psychedelics
With Lykos MDMA Rejection Letter Out, MAPS Founder Decries ‘Change of the Goal Posts’
Rick Doblin, the founder of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, which founded Lykos, bemoaned a “moving of the goal posts” in Lykos’ rejection but looked for positives in the newly released complete response letter.
September 5, 2025
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3 min read
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Dan Samorodnitsky
Robert F Kennedy Jr speaking in front of the Senate finance committee
Government
Senate Hearing Devolves Into Theater as Kennedy Accused of Breaking Vaccine Promises
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. repeated a series of anti-vaccine talking points during his appearance in front of the Senate finance committee on Thursday, as Democratic and Republican senators alike hammered the Health Secretary on recent COVID-19 vaccine restrictions and his views on Operation Warp Speed.
September 5, 2025
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4 min read
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Dan Samorodnitsky
2006 James Gathany Captured by James Gathany, Centers for Disease Control's biomedical photographer, this 2006 image depicted the exterior of the new "Tom Harkin Global Communications Center", otherwise known as Building 19, located on the organization's Roybal Campus in Atlanta, Georgia. The facility houses the CDC's Information Center/Library, auditoria and meeting halls, which are used to accommodate in-house staff meetings, and national/international conferences hosted by the CDC, and the National Center for Health Marketing's, Division of Creative Services, which includes a full service television broadcast facility. The exhibit area currently features the "Global Symphony", the first of several permanently installed exhibitions, and changing exhibitions that focus on a variety of public health topics. The exhibits in the Center are self-guided, and require no advance reservations. Additional curriculum-based exhibits and programming will be added in the future. Tom Harkin Global Communications Center Exhibit Area Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - 1600 Clifton Road, N.E., Atlanta, Georgia 30333 - Hours: Monday – Friday, 9 am – 5 pm, except for federal holidays Admission is free - Government-issue photo ID is required for entry. Please note that CDC is a working federal facility and as such does not provide public tours of its campus and laboratories. - For more information please call 404-639-0830.
CDC
ACIP Revamp Continues as Kennedy Eyes Seven New CDC Vaccine Advisors
The new additions would bring ACIP membership to 14 total. Several of the proposed members have taken part in anti-vaccine activity or made anti-vaccine statements.
September 4, 2025
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2 min read
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Dan Samorodnitsky
HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr standing wearing a gray suit with his arms crossed
CDC
RFK Jr. Blames US COVID Deaths on Chronic Disease, Announcing CDC Reorganization
In an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he will roll chronic disease programs into a new Administration for a Healthy America.
September 3, 2025
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2 min read
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Dan Samorodnitsky
Podcast
CDC Faces Critical Meetings Amid COVID Vaccine Uncertainty, Plus Deals, FDA Approvals, More
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will appear before the Senate Finance Committee Thursday, ahead of a vaccine advisory committee meeting later in September. Meanwhile, deal-making appetite appears healthy, and the weight loss space continues generating clinical data and other news.
September 3, 2025
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1 min read
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Jef Akst
Exeternal view of the Servier's headquarters in France
Cancer
Servier Commits up to $530M Into Eye Cancer Deal With IDEAYA
The French giant is gaining access to darovasertib, a small molecule protein kinase C inhibitor already in Phase II/III trials, with rights for the whole world besides the U.S.
September 2, 2025
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2 min read
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Dan Samorodnitsky
Set Test tube and flask Equation solution Astronomical observatory Radiation warning document Planet earth radiation and icon. Vector.
Radiopharmaceuticals
FDA’s New Radiopharma Guidance a Greenlight for an Accelerating Space
With a flurry of recent Big Pharma investment in radiopharmaceutical therapeutics, the FDA issued draft guidance last month in a move former FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn sees as the regulator “trying to get ahead on a new set of therapy that they see becoming very important for cancer.”
September 2, 2025
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5 min read
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Dan Samorodnitsky
A pit crew working on a race car
Regulatory
The US Is Losing Its Biopharma Edge, Writes Former FDA Commissioner
Scott Gottlieb, who served as FDA commissioner during the first Trump administration, wrote in a JAMA editorial that China is speeding drugs to market and could potentially surpass the U.S. in the innovation game.
August 27, 2025
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3 min read
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Dan Samorodnitsky
Red rocket with clouds rising up as metaphor for business and financial growth, Success and financial developing, Business growth concept, paper cut style.
Gene therapy
Rocket Re-Ignites Phase II Trial After FDA Lifts Clinical Hold
In late May, a patient died after receiving Rocket Pharmaceuticals’ investigational gene therapy for Danon disease, spurring the hold. After lowering the dose and changing the regimen of immune modulators patients receive, the company has received FDA clearance for the trial to continue.
August 20, 2025
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2 min read
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Dan Samorodnitsky
Podcast
MAHA Report Emphasizes Vaccines, Safety Vexes Viking’s Obesity Win, Novo Gains Momentum
A draft copy of an upcoming MAHA report reveals a strategy in lockstep with recent HHS actions such as reviving the Task Force on Safer Childhood Vaccines; Viking Therapeutics reports robust efficacy from mid-stage oral obesity candidate but is tripped up by tolerability concerns; Novo Nordisk wins approval for Wegovy in MASH; and Lilly takes a pricing stand.
August 20, 2025
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2 min read
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Heather McKenzie
Donald Trump signing an executive order
Tariffs
Tariffs and MFN Policy Power a Broad, Confusing Pharma War
The Trump administration’s ever-changing tariffs and Most Favored Nation drug pricing are part of a blizzard of unclear, potentially illegal tactics that leave observers throwing their hands in the air.
August 20, 2025
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4 min read
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Dan Samorodnitsky
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