News
        Aside from lowering triglyceride levels, Ionis’ olezarsen reduced acute pancreatitis events, an outcome that BMO Capital Markets said could help the asset deliver a “significant first-in-class commercial launch.”
    
        
    
        
    
        
    FEATURED STORIES
        
        
        
    
        Looking at licensing deals struck in the past 10 years, Jefferies found that many Big Pharmas do not ultimately follow through with M&A after earning a right of first negotiation. Sanofi, on the other hand, almost always does, as it did with Vigil recently.
    
        
    
        
    
        
    
        Gene therapies have ridden investor mania to huge valuations but commercialization challenges have pushed market caps to the floor. At a roundtable last week, FDA leaders promised faster approvals and broad support to the industry.
    
        
    
        
    
        
    
        As multiple companies vie to expand on Alnylam’s success in commercializing RNAi therapeutics, the pioneering company has set a goal of targeting small interfering RNA to any tissue by 2030.
    
        
    
        
    
        
    Job Trends
        
        
        
    
        Medison Pharma and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced a further expansion of their existing partnership in Central & Eastern Europe and Israel, to also include selected markets in LATAM and APAC and additional international markets.
    
        
    
        
    
        
    FROM OUR EDITORS
        
        
            Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
        
        
    
        Novo Nordisk, under new CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar, has a new attitude. It’s making Pfizer livid.
    
        
    
        
    
        
    THE LATEST
    
    
        Out-licensing drugs to multinational corporations is a natural step for Chinese biotechs, but the recent rise in deals is only scratching at the surface of partnership-ready biotechs in the region.
    
        
    
        
    
        
    
        While a substantial portion of pipeline assets are externally sourced, many Big Pharmas are tapping into incubators and venture funds to uncover cutting-edge scientific trends, determine their future focus points and even carve out a niche in an emerging geographical hotspot. 
    
        
    
        
    
        
    
        Albert Bourla confirmed that he called President Donald Trump after receiving a letter asking Pfizer and a clutch of other pharmaceutical companies to lower drug prices or face consequences.
    
        
    
        
    
        
    
        BMN 390 fell short of an immunogenicity threshold that BioMarin was looking for to support its further development. Employees working on the program have been redeployed within the company.
    
        
    
        
    
        
    
        The number of biopharma professionals let go has increased year over year for three straight months. In July, as many as 8,000 people lost or were projected to lose their jobs, due largely to news that Merck projects to cut roughly 6,000 employees as part of a multiyear process.
    
        
    
        
    
        
    
        Vertex reported healthy revenue in its second quarter earnings report, though news of VX-993’s mid-stage trial results and lack of alignment with the FDA regarding an expanded label for Journavx tempered analyst reactions, sending the stock down 13%.
    
        
    
        
    
        
    
        Praxis’ vormatrigine reduced seizures by 56.3%, an effect size that, according to analysts at Truist Securities, exceeds that of its closest competitors.
    
        
    
        
    
        
    
        While the deaths occurred in patients who had been treated with Agios’ anemia treatment Pyrukynd, the biotech insisted in an SEC filing midday Monday that the drug’s risk-benefit profile remains unchanged.
    
        
    
        
    
        
    
        In an open letter, 22 experts who designed and ran Replimune’s Phase III IGNYTE trial answered the FDA’s issues, as outlined in the complete response letter for the melanoma candidate RP1.
    
        
    
        
    
        
    
        From innovation in manufacturing to more-flexible regulation and better communication with payers, much needs to happen to make CGTs commercially viable. But it is possible, experts agreed at a recent panel.
    
        
    
        
    
        
     
         
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
