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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.
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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’s Kerendia, at the center of a $3 billion sales forecast, reduced the risk of cardiovascular death and heart failure in a Phase III trial.
The highly anticipated results come as the company makes significant changes to its C-suite. Despite the turnover, Dyne said it is looking toward expedited approval pathways for its DMD treatment.
The BTK inhibitor showed promise in non-relapsing secondary progressive multiple sclerosis but not relapsing MS. The company said it plans to apply for approval for the former “as soon as possible.”
Novo Nordisk’s continuing supply problems for semaglutide come as the pharma tries to expand the drug’s indication, opening it up to more patients—and potentially to heavier production pressures.
Unlike Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, Novavax does not use mRNA technology for its COVID-19 vaccine, instead opting for a recombinant version of the virus’ spike protein to elicit protection.
FDA
The agency’s inertia and bureaucratic roadblocks are throttling hope for millions of patients. A new center of excellence would provide a solution.
With promising early results, cell and gene therapies are making headway against both rare and common ocular and auditory diseases.
The FDA has three regulatory milestones in the next two weeks, including a decision on a subcutaneous formulation of an effective multiple sclerosis therapy.
With gene therapies by REGENXBIO and AbbVie, Adverum and others in mid- or late-stage trials, this therapeutic class could soon be an option for this common cause of blindness in the elderly.
NuCana’s chemotherapy replacement has failed to improve progression-free survival in a Phase II test, sending the biotech’s shares down by 50%.