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Besting Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ kidney disease asset wasn’t enough to impress Wall Street, which appears to be “getting hung up” with the broad population data in Maze Therapeutics’ trial, according to Mizuho.
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Overall, the top 16 largest pharmaceutical companies spent $159 billion on research and development in 2025, compared to $165 billion the year prior. Here’s where all that cash went at companies like Johnson & Johnson, Amgen and Pfizer.
Trace Neuroscience, a member of BioSpace’s NextGen Class of 2026, has learned from the success of Biogen’s Qalsody and aims to bring more treatment options to the ALS community.
FDA
Draft guidance, issued by the FDA last week, could remove ambiguity and uncertainty that may have so far limited uptake of new approach methodologies, experts told BioSpace, particularly emphasizing the agency’s recommendations around defining NAMs’ regulatory purpose.
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While requests by government officials for anonymity when speaking to the media are nothing new, the practice attracts more scrutiny when the Department for Health and Human Services has pledged a commitment to “radical transparency.”
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FDA
In its complete response letter, the FDA said Aldeyra had failed to demonstrate reproxalap’s efficacy in adequate and well-controlled studies. The FDA previously turned the candidate away in November 2023 and April 2025.
FDA
Although FDA Commissioner Marty Makary promised “an exciting treatment” for autism, what the agency delivered was a label expansion for leucovorin to treat the ultrarare cerebral folate deficiency. The regulatory process, which relied on a literature review rather than new evidence, stands in contrast to recent rare disease rejections in which the FDA cited a need for more rigorous evidence.
Pfizer has a lofty goal for the CDK4 inhibitor atirmociclib, the New York pharma’s answer to Ibrance’s loss of patent protection next year. In 2025, Ibrance led Pfizer’s oncology portfolio with $1.04 billion in sales.
The Phase 3 EMANATE study is a basket trial looking at the efficacy of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals’ injectable obesity drug across four types of obesities driven by specific genetic mutations.
Astellas Pharma and CytomX Therapeutics first partnered up in March 2020. For $80 million upfront, the Japanese pharma gained access to the biotech’s Probody platform to generate masked antibody therapies for cancer.
A Massachusetts judge called Kennedy’s efforts to reform the CDC’s vaccines advisory panel a “procedural failure,” adding that the new committee members do not “comport with governing law.”
In a highly competitive space, AI platforms must now prove themselves through proprietary data, focused pipelines and clinical readouts in competitive diseases. Promises of faster, cheaper drug discovery are not enough to entice strong investor engagement.
With Ascendis Pharma entering the achondroplasia space last month and BridgeBio on deck, BioMarin faces competition. Adding to the pressure, the company suffered a setback Monday when it halted two studies of Voxzogo in other growth-related conditions following multiple cases of hip injuries in other trials of the drug.
Structure Therapeutics’ oral obesity drug elicited a placebo-adjusted weight loss of 16.3% at 44 weeks in a Phase 2 trial. The biotech is planning to launch a late-stage program for the drug later this year.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has become increasingly unpopular among several government officials, largely as a result of his antivaccine rhetoric and actions. Other contentious issues reportedly include the approval of an abortion pill and other controversial FDA decisions.