News

Among biopharma professionals surveyed by BioSpace, respect remains higher for managers than for CEOs, and unhappiness with company leadership had nearly 1 in 7 people looking to walk away from their employer.
FEATURED STORIES
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Draft guidance, issued by the FDA last week, could remove ambiguity and uncertainty that may have so far limited uptake of new approach methodologies, experts told BioSpace,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.
Job Trends
FROM OUR EDITORS
Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
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.”
THE LATEST
A more detailed review of data by the FDA showed that GLP-1 drugs do not increase the risk of suicidal ideation or behavior.
AbbVie and Novartis strike billion-dollar pacts while attendees at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference await that one big M&A deal and Merck teases limitless buying capacity; Eli Lilly readies for potential orforglipron launch while Novo Nordisk laments compounders; the IPO window cracks open; and the FDA concludes that GLP-1s do not pose a suicide risk.
Speaking to BioSpace at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, Novartis’ chief dealmaker Ronny Gal explains why the Swiss pharma hasn’t acquired a GLP-1, and why it probably won’t.
There hasn’t been a headline-stealing deal at J.P. Morgan yet. Nevertheless, the mood is positive amid green shoots and a flurry of dealmaking to end 2025.
Merck CEO Rob Davis expressed high confidence during the company’s J.P. Morgan presentation on Monday, revealing that the company is open to deals in the range of “multi tens of billions of dollars.”
Acadia Pharma’s Catherine Owen Adams is one of the founders of a group of small- to mid-cap biotechs advocating against a ‘peanut butter blanket’ approach to drug pricing for small companies.
Johnson & Johnson’s second facility in Wilson, North Carolina, is part of a $55 billion push to make all advanced medicines used in the U.S. domestically.
The FDA previously rejected Zycubo for Menkes disease in October last year, citing issues with the drug’s manufacturing facility.
Jefferies analysts forecast a $1 billion market opportunity for each of Sarepta’s siRNA programs for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy and myotonic dystrophy type 1.
Facing the loss of exclusivity on key products, Pfizer has pulled forward its lead obesity asset into Phase III and targeted a 2028 launch. CEO Albert Bourla explained the pharma’s strategy at J.P. Morgan on Monday.