News

IPO
After debuting on the public markets with $256.3 million and raking in an additional $472 million, Veradermics has emerged as one of biotech’s biggest post-IPO standouts. CEO Reid Waldman credits the weight loss craze for establishing consumer-driven channels.
FEATURED STORIES
Last month, the FDA launched TrialBlazer, intended to streamline the IND path and bring early clinical trials and medical innovation home to the U.S. It’s a start, but new agency leadership must see it through.
FDA
Significant leadership instability at the FDA—compounded by continued workforce attrition—led to a slight slowdown in overall regulatory productivity in the first half of this year, but the agency has been catching up of late.
Congressional letters sent to the CEOs of Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Merck, BMS and AbbVie this week voicing concerns about the pharmas’ clinical trials in China highlight an ongoing discrepancy in how government and industry think about the rise of the Asian country’s biotech industry.
FROM OUR EDITORS
Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
If cell and gene therapy makers are going to achieve their mission to improve patients’ lives, the industry must come together to share information across stakeholders, from regulators to manufacturers to payers.
THE LATEST
Bayer on Thursday provided additional data on late-stage studies of its rival drug to Astellas’ Veozah, which met all primary endpoints.
A European Medicines Agency panel on Friday cited a possible but unconfirmed risk of cancer and recommended that hydroxyprogesterone caproate drugs be suspended from the European Union market.
FDA
Bolstered by promising response data from its Phase II study, Amgen announced Thursday it got the FDA’s green light for its first-in-class bi-specific T-cell engager Imdelltra for extensive-stage small lung cancer.
Disappointed with Phase I/II results for two Ionis-partnered programs, one for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and another for Angelman syndrome, Biogen has opted to not proceed with their development.
Since taking the helm in 2023, Anderson has embarked on a radical departure from the traditional structure of large pharma companies. Will getting rid of management layers fix Bayer?
A Senate health committee report published Wednesday forecasts spending on prescription drugs to hit $1 trillion a year in 2031, unless the prices of GLP-1 medicines such as Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy are cut.
Eli Lilly’s efsitora alfa, which is meant to be taken weekly instead of multiple times a day, demonstrated non-inferior A1C reduction in a Phase III trial compared to Novo Nordisk’s daily insulin.
Johnson & Johnson announced Thursday it is paying $850 million in cash, plus a potential milestone payment, for privately held biotech Proteologix and its atopic dermatitis-focused bispecific antibody candidates.
Roche’s $2.7 billion acquisition of Carmot Therapeutics in December 2023 appears to be paying off as its investigational GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist induced strong weight loss in a Phase Ib study.
Belgian biotech Galapagos is teaming with Blood Centers of America to help deploy its decentralized CAR-T therapy manufacturing platform closer to treatment centers across the U.S.