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The FDA greenlit 26 novel therapies in the first half of 2026, including four for cancer and six for orphan indications. Meanwhile, AstraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson took home a combined 11 of the agency’s 79 total approvals, including supplemental nods.
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Even as FDA approvals for biologic therapies fell in the first half of 2026, regulatory experts are optimistic about a turnaround in the rare disease space after the departure of key leaders at the agency. Still, there will continue to be tension between science and politics.
Early-stage financing rounds are on track to hit their lowest dollar value in years as funders continue to eschew risky investments, experts told BioSpace.
A mostly black box since emerging with more than a billion dollars in hand, Xaira Therapeutics is slowly pulling back the curtain, revealing plans to find partners and validate its pipeline.
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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.
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The arrangement will boost AstraZeneca’s cell therapy portfolio as the pharma targets $80 billion in revenue by 2030.
The star of the acquisition, anti-IgE antibody ozureprubart, is being tested as a prophylactic treatment for food allergies, potentially setting up a competition for GSK with Roche’s Xolair.
The companies have an expansive clinical program for the mRNA neoantigen therapy intismeran autogene in combination with immuno-oncology heavyweight Keytruda.
BioSpace has revealed its new 2026 Hotbed Maps, showcasing seven regional life sciences hot spots.
The initiative could tackle the first-mover disadvantage some CDMOs believe deters early customers, but leaders at companies including Novo Nordisk see hurdles to implementing the changes.
Henry Gosebruch, who has $3.5 billion in capital to deploy, is thinking broad as he steers the decades-old biotech out of years of turmoil.
In this bonus episode, BioSpace’s Vice President of Marketing Chantal Dresner and Careers Editor Angela Gabriel take a look at Q4 job market performance and what it signals for 2026.
Two more biopharma companies—the hair-growth specialist Veradermics and cancer-focused Eikon Therapeutics—have announced their IPOs this year. Meanwhile, Aktis Oncology began trading publicly earlier this month.
Despite the late-stage miss, analysts maintained confidence in the Epkinly program, with Truist Securities saying the result “doesn’t waver our optimism” regarding the bispecific antibody’s ongoing frontline trial.
Despite ushering in the current GLP-1 era, Novo Nordisk has fallen behind its chief rival Eli Lilly, which has exceeded the Danish pharma in terms of sales.