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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FDA
In this episode of Denatured, Jennifer C. Smith-Parker speaks to Stacey Adam, PhD, Vice President of Science Partnerships at the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health and Patrick Smith, Senior Vice President, Translational Science at Certara, to discuss the latest regulatory news and the future for new approach methologies (NAMs) development.
Six months after receiving a surprise rejection due to what the FDA called “lack of substantial evidence of effectiveness,” Capricor’s cell therapy deramiocel showed significant benefits in upper-limb function and slowed decline in cardiac function in a Phase III trial.
Analysts had noted “unease” from investors regarding the state of the Phase III ADEPT-2 trial, with BMS at one point telling Leerink Partners that the reopening of enrollment would be a “significant development.”
The Phase III, open-label extension study suggests EPX-100 has a “positive” risk/benefit profile for the treatment of Dravet syndrome, analysts at H.C. Wainwright & Co. said Tuesday.
Experts unpack the implications of CBER Director Vinay Prasad’s claim that COVID vaccines have caused 10+ child deaths; the 2025 Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease conference continues following two disappointing readouts; and Novo Nordisk’s amycretin yields promising weight loss results.
With new UK clinical trial rules landing in 2026, the EU Biotech Act on the horizon and China and Australia gaining ground, CROs are zeroing in on study timelines, AI/ML and data privacy as the industry’s next pressure points.
While Imvax’s autologous immunotherapy IGV-001 missed the primary endpoint of progression-free survival in a Phase IIb trial, the company will request a meeting with the FDA to discuss next steps for “synergistic” treatment.
After covering the Alzheimer’s space through every high and low, BioSpace’s Annalee Armstrong welcomes back Roche for the 2026 Alzheimer’s Renaissance.
Trontinemab lowered amyloid levels below the threshold of positivity in 92% of treated patients.
As bispecifics, ADCs, protein degraders, and AI-designed mini-proteins move into the clinic, discovery teams face a new bottleneck: engineering and producing molecules whose complexity challenges conventional workflows.