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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.

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With a flurry of recent Big Pharma investment in radiopharmaceutical therapeutics, the FDA issued draft guidance last month in a move former FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn sees as the regulator “trying to get ahead on a new set of therapy that they see becoming very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
Accumulated problems, contradictions. Dead end, we need to go back. You cannot continue further. Complete impossibility to continue. Rejection of an idea. Hard sanctions. Fatal error.
Rare diseases
FDA Rejects PTC Therapeutics’ Friedreich’s Ataxia Drug
The small molecule, vatiquinone, had already flunked a Phase III trial, but the company pushed ahead with an approval bid anyway.
August 19, 2025
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1 min read
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Dan Samorodnitsky
Dirty vote collage concept. Voting hand gesture, putting money on ballot box. Dishonest election campaign. black and white illustration Isolated on blue background
Regulatory
Conflicts of Interest in Vaccine Committees Have Been Plunging for Decades
A new study in JAMA contradicts a series of statements made by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that paint vaccine advisory committees at the CDC and FDA as hopelessly corrupt.
August 19, 2025
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4 min read
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Dan Samorodnitsky
Darmstadt, Germany - November 10, 2021: A building at the headquarters of science and technology company Merck KGaA.
Neuroscience
Merck KGaA Drops up to $2B in Skyhawk Collab for RNA-Targeting Tech
Waltham, Massachusetts–based Skyhawk Therapeutics has been collecting collaborations with larger companies in spades since launching in 2018.
August 18, 2025
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1 min read
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Dan Samorodnitsky
Indianapolis, U.S. - April 16, 2016: Eli Lilly and Company World Headquarters. Lilly makes Medicines and Pharmaceuticals VII
Obesity
Eli Lilly Keeps Obesity Pipeline Fresh With $1.3B Superluminal Partnership
The Boston-based AI/ML startup focuses on endocrine and cardiometabolic diseases and will use that expertise to generate new small molecule obesity medications for Lilly.
August 14, 2025
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1 min read
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Dan Samorodnitsky
Businessman with megaphone head, creative abstract style, light blue background. Concept of advertising, communication, and promotion
Editorial
RFK Jr. Creates More Vaccine Misinformation With mRNA Cancellations
The HHS secretary recently canceled $500 million worth of BARDA contracts around mRNA vaccine research. But the U.S. government has already spent billions on this work, which has saved millions of lives.
August 14, 2025
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4 min read
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Dan Samorodnitsky
Podcast
Prasad Returns, Delany Departs, Lilly’s Weight Loss Pill Disappoints and Sarepta’s Fallout Continues
CBER Chief Vinay Prasad reclaimed his job less than two weeks after his mysterious exit; MAHA implementor Gray Delany is out after reportedly sparring with other agency officials over communications strategy; Eli Lilly’s first Phase III readout for oral obesity drug orforglipron missed analyst expectations; and Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals addresses the recent woes of its of partner Sarepta.
August 13, 2025
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2 min read
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Heather McKenzie
Dismissal of an incompetent employee. Refuse to participate, low morale. Nonconformist. Open for new possibilities and opportunities. Quit the job.
Government
Top ARPA-H Official Departs in Protest of BARDA mRNA Cuts
Alastair Thomson, chief data officer at the HHS sub-agency, announced his resignation in opposition to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s “stupid” decision to cancel $500 million worth of contracts focused on mRNA technology.
August 12, 2025
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1 min read
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Dan Samorodnitsky
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