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In an investor call Thursday, AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot outlined his company’s approach to obesity drug development based on “the medical aspect” of weight loss, including driving down visceral fat.
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Had Pfizer’s Freda Lewis-Hall not stepped in, SpringWorks’ rare disease treatment may never have reached patients. Pharmas can act now to help find the next Gomekli.
Having seen Congress spend money to onshore semiconductor production, pharma groups are pushing for similar incentives for domestic drug manufacturing.
Ensho Therapeutics CEO Neena Bitritto-Garg, recently named to BioSpace’s 40 Under 40, proved her mettle managing one of the toughest partnerships out there: the one between Eisai and Biogen that led to new Alzheimer’s drugs Aduhelm and Leqembi.
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Pfizer and Novo Nordisk seem to want Metsera bad. Analysts are wondering, though: is the obesity biotech really worth this much effort?
According to reporting from Reuters, reviewers at the agency pointed to an inability to differentiate from placebo to justify rejecting the drug, but an FDA office director approved the drug anyway.
Investors got to hear Novo Nordisk’s side of the Metsera bidding war drama for the first time on Wednesday, as the company reported third-quarter earnings. A rough quarter underscored the stakes for the Danish pharma.
Pfizer and Novo Nordisk continue to fight for ownership of obesity startup Metsera; CDER Director George Tidmarsh leaves his position amid an ongoing probe into his “personal conduct”; FDA reverses course on approval requirements for uniQure’s Huntington’s gene therapy; Sarepta’s exon-skipping Duchenne muscular dystrophy drugs fail confirmatory study.
Biohaven is proposing troriluzole for the treatment of spinocerebellar ataxia, a group of rare, genetic diseases that lead to the progressive loss of control over movement.
Arena launched with $500 million in early 2024 to fund basic biological research, from which it planned to spin out dedicated companies to focus on drug development.
Harmony Biosciences has paused a mid-stage trial of ZYN002 in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome after the THC-free cannabinoid drug failed to significantly improve social avoidance in a late-stage study in fragile X Syndrome.
Amgen remains confident in its obesity asset MariTide, for which it has launched a broad Phase III program.
Due to the litigation Pfizer filed Friday and Monday against Metsera, Novo Nordisk and the biotech’s lead shareholder, CEO Albert Bourla was limited in what he could say. But he said Pfizer was the best fit for Metsera.
Both companies have submitted revised bids, with Novo’s coming in $1.9 billion higher than Pfizer’s.