Government
The deals keep rolling in, with Lilly penning a $7 billion pact for gene delivery biotech Kelonia Therapeutics and UCB taking over cell therapy-focused Neurona Therapeutics; President Trump signed a new executive order supporting the development of psychedelic therapies, sparking fanfare and concern alike; and the FDA’s recent Replimune decision has triggered broader debate about the agency’s flexibility.
Two of the biggest insurance providers have expressed reluctance to participate in the government’s BALANCE program that would have made GLP-1 drugs more affordable to patients.
A new executive order could usher in psychedelics as the “key next wave” of mental health therapies, according to analysts at RBC Capital Markets.
The pharma industry “own Congress, they own the media,” Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. told lawmakers by way of explaining the bad press against FDA Commissioner Marty Makary following the second rejection of Replimune’s advanced melanoma drug.
Erica Schwartz, a former deputy surgeon general and member of the U.S. military, will take over from what has amounted to a rapid succession of CDC leaders over the past year.
Johnson and Johnson kicked off first-quarter earnings season with a “modest” beat and an ambitious goal; Replimune failed again to gain approval for its advanced melanoma therapy, as analysts tout increased accountability brought by the FDA’s new policy of publicizing complete response letters; and Revolution Medicines’ pancreatic cancer candidate doubled survival in one of cancer’s most intractable foes.
BioSpace looks back at 2025 and where the FDA is going in 2026.
A Louisiana court on April 7 asked the FDA to complete its internal review of mifepristone’s safety and gave the agency six months to provide the court with an update on the investigation.
Industry leader Steve Ubl has served as PhRMA’s CEO for more than a decade, the longest tenure of any head of the trade group.
The approval of Eli Lilly’s oral obesity drug officially ignites an intense competition with Novo Nordisk’s oral Wegovy; Gilead Sciences and Neurocrine Biosciences keep the M&A train chugging; Trump hits pharma with his long promised tariffs, and the FDA proposes many changes with 2027 budget.
PRESS RELEASES