Drug Development
Analysts said the outcome is disappointing because there are no approved treatments for dyskinetic cerebral palsy, but the setback had little impact on Neurocrine’s valuation.
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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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Kuro Oncology and partner Kyowa Kirin are on track for an NDA submission for ziftomenib in the second quarter of this year.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s HHS nomination moves to a full Senate vote; Donald Trump’s tariff war sparks China-related concerns for biopharma; Pfizer, Merck and more announce Q4 and 2024 earnings; and the non-opioid painkiller space heats up as FDA approves Vertex’s Jounavx.
The Phase IIa results continue a surge of momentum in a treatment space that last week saw the approval of Vertex’s Journavx as the first novel mechanism for acute pain in decades.
The Massachusetts-based biotech plans to use the funds to push its candidates into mid-stage clinical trials in a space dominated by Vertex.
In a Phase IIb trial, GH001 elicited significant drops in treatment-resistant depression. The news comes less than two weeks after J&J secured FDA monotherapy approval for its esketamine nasal spray Spravato in the same indication.
APAC offers stability in an increasing challenging global geopolitical environment for clinical stage drug development.
Topline data on a combo including Pfizer’s kinase inhibitor Braftovi point to improved progression-free survival and pave the way for its full approval for the treatment of certain colorectal cancers, according to the company.
Several companies—including JCR Pharmaceuticals, Denali Therapeutics and Regenxbio—have products in the pipeline that could improve treatment options for this rare disease.
After the Phase II failure of its lead asset from Cerevel, AbbVie is resetting expectations and narrowing the clinical program to an adjunct approach—for now.
The greenlight for Journavx (suzetrigine), which comes on the heels of a $7.4 billion opioid settlement, could spark momentum in the fledgling non-opioid pain space.