News
Novo Nordisk’s etavopivat elicited a 27% drop in vaso-occlusive crises and 48.7% hemoglobin response after 24 weeks, creating “separation amongst PK class candidates,” Truist analysts said on Monday. Novo plans to seek FDA approval in the back half of 2026.
FEATURED STORIES
After Replimune’s advanced melanoma drug was rejected for a second time, CEO Sushil Patel slammed the FDA for failing to exercise regulatory flexibility, while other experts bemoaned the agency’s lack of consistency. With new safety guidelines for gene editing therapies, the FDA has taken a first step toward fixing both problems.
The Merck update, which will shed light on a $588 million bet to succeed Keytruda, is part of a roster of presentations that could shape the future of ADCs, protein degraders and KRAS-targeted therapies.
Gilead, AstraZeneca and Vertex have acquired more than just a therapeutic asset in recent deals. BioSpace takes a look at five recent transactions where the staff was the real centerpiece.
FROM OUR EDITORS
Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
Novo Nordisk’s oral Wegovy has a few months’ head start on Eli Lilly’s newly approved pill. While the Indianapolis pharma has come from behind the Danish rival in the weight loss space before, last time it clearly had the better drug.
THE LATEST
Pivotal findings for the off-the-shelf cell therapy surpassed William Blair’s expectations and sent Allogene Therapeutics’ stock up more than 50% in pre-market trading Monday morning.
In a difficult disease, Revolution Medicines achieved what the pancreatic cancer community has long desired: a significant improvement in survival. The Phase 3 results will support global regulatory filings.
Darovasertib, in combination with crizotinib, more than doubled progression-free survival in a registrational trial, leading Truist analysts to declare a “best-in-class efficacy profile” for the PKC inhibitor.
The licensing deal marks AbbVie’s first foray into new pain medicines, a space where Vertex currently enjoys a lead thanks to the NaV1.8 inhibitor Journavx.
Telix is Regeneron’s entry ticket into the radiopharma game, helping to better round out the company’s cancer portfolio, according to Truist Securities.
Replimune’s CEO Sushil Patel has already warned that the biotech will need to cut staff and substantially scale back its U.S. manufacturing operations.
The FDA has gained a reputation during the past year for being inconsistently flexible, particularly when it comes to rare diseases. Executives at Rezolute and CERo Therapeutics recently had positive interactions with the agency, in which they told BioSpace reviewers have been “collaborative” and “curious.
Since the FDA began publishing its rejections of drug approval filings in July last year, companies have become more forthcoming about the details of agency decisions in their own disclosures, according to biopharma and regulatory analysts.
Principal Scientist Anders Cai Holm Hansen explains how CDMO AGC Biologics uses its global, single-use network and a strategy emphasizing “scale-out” manufacturing, to derisk demand uncertainty, speed timelines and conserve cash for emerging drug developers.
The FDA in a complete response letter to Replimune maintained its original objection to the single-arm trial the biotech used to support the application for RP1.