Drug Development

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In the midst of regulatory and political upheaval, biopharma’s R&D engine kept running, churning out highs and lows in equal parts. Here are some of this year’s most glorious clinical trial victories.
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.
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.
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AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo’s investigational antibody-drug conjugate Dato-DXd failed to significantly improve overall survival in non-small cell lung cancer patients versus docetaxel.
While NK cell therapies can potentially avoid the serious side effects sometimes seen with CAR T cell therapies, experts say durability may stall their path to the market.
Recent M&A activity indicates a potential resurgence in the appetites of larger companies for psychiatric drug development, but experts say the space may not offer a sufficient risk-reward proposition for R&D.
Amid shortages of its Mounjaro and Zepbound blockbuster drugs, Eli Lilly on Friday said it is investing an additional $5.3 billion in its production site in Lebanon, Indiana, to boost output of their active ingredient.
Aiming to compete in the lucrative weight-loss drug market, Zealand Pharma on Thursday posted topline results showing its dapiglutide led to only a slight weight reduction in low doses.
Full data from the FLOW study show that Novo Nordisk’s top-selling GLP-1 receptor agonist semaglutide can significantly reduce the risk of death by 20% in diabetes patients with chronic kidney disease.
After selling off its oral TYK2 blocker to Takeda for $4 billion, Nimbus Therapeutics has posted strong early-stage data for its other clinical candidate, NDI-101150, in solid tumors.
Phase I/II data for Regeneron Pharmaceuticals’ costimulatory bispecific antibody were disappointing, with only one complete response when used as a combination treatment with Libtayo for solid tumors.
Johnson & Johnson’s radiopharma candidate JNJ-6420 returned mixed results in an early-stage study, demonstrating strong biochemical and radiographic response but also resulting in four patient deaths.
Tango Therapeutics reported Thursday that solid tumor patients who stayed in the Phase I study for more than eight weeks developed Grade 3 and 4 liver function abnormalities.