Massachusetts
About a month after reporting it’s had a tough time starting enough patients on its treatments, bluebird bio announced it will lay off about 25% of its employees, over half of whom work in R&D.
Clinical trial results shared by Boehringer Ingelheim and Insilico Medicine showed improvement in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an intractable lung disease for which current treatment options fail to stop progression, but the data were limited, leaving experts wanting.
Stifel analyst Paul Matteis called Tuesday’s readout a “positive surprise” that could reinvigorate some investor enthusiasm for Biogen as the company “has essentially become an out-of-favor value stock,” driven by the slow launch of its Alzheimer’s disease therapy Leqembi.
Launched in 2020 to more quickly bring to market an effective medicine for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the HEALEY Platform Trial has generated disappointing results for many but also continuing programs from Clene and Prilenia.
In an effort to build its commercial capacity, Moderna on Thursday announced it is lowering research and development spending, while pushing back its target for breaking even by two years to 2028.
Tuesday’s round brings Bain Capital Life Sciences’ fundraising total to around $6.7 billion since its founding in 2016. Many of its portfolio companies have resulted in high-value exits recently, including Cerevel Therapeutics, Aiolos Bio and Jnana Therapeutics.
Candid Therapeutics, which is repositioning two antibodies for autoimmune indications, will be led by Ken Song who was previously CEO of RayzeBio and oversaw its $4.1 billion acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb.
Set to start in 2025, Relay Therapeutics is moving toward a pivotal study of experimental treatment RLY-2608 in heavily pretreated locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer.
Astellas Pharma’s new life sciences center houses its first U.S.-based SakuLab, an incubator space for external partners, as well as its engineered small molecules unit.
The highly anticipated results come as the company makes significant changes to its C-suite. Despite the turnover, Dyne said it is looking toward expedited approval pathways for its DMD treatment.
PRESS RELEASES