News
After its next-generation obesity asset CagriSema lost a head-to-head matchup with Eli Lilly’s Zepbound, Novo Nordisk is throwing more money into the obesity space, striking a deal with Vivtex to advance novel weight loss pills.
FEATURED STORIES
LB Pharma needed $350 million to advance a promising schizophrenia candidate at a time when the biotech markets were locked up tight. Fortunately, it wasn’t CEO Heather Turner’s first rodeo.
Rare disease drug developers struggle to survive in a biopharma investment market that prioritizes large patient populations. Initiatives like the Orphan Therapeutics Accelerator are attempting to solve what CEO Craig Martin says is not a science problem, but a math problem.
Eli Lilly’s win in a head-to-head trial drove Novo Nordisk’s market cap to pre-Wegovy levels not long after the victor became the first pharma company to top a $1 trillion valuation. It seems one company can do no right, while the other can do no wrong.
FROM OUR EDITORS
Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
Following the FDA’s refusal to review Moderna’s investigational mRNA flu vaccine last week, Commissioner Marty Makary faced questions from the U.S. president about the agency’s handling of vaccines. It’s a clear signal that the tension long brewing at the drug regulator has now gone all the way to the top.
THE LATEST
Last year, the FDA declined to approve a drug that appears to reverse a rare and debilitating enzyme deficiency. Some experts say it’s emblematic of a need for more flexibility around therapeutics targeting rare diseases.
The biotech will pause its lirafugratinib program for a rare bile duct cancer to target a larger FGFR2-altered solid tumors population, citing the Inflation Reduction Act as a driving decision factor.
The biopharma’s data manipulation controversy continues with a recently leaked City University of New York report, which found signs of “egregious” and “deliberate” misconduct by a company advisor.
The German biotechnology company has teamed with Suzhou-based biotech MediLink Therapeutics to develop next-generation antibody-drug conjugates for cancer.
The FDA is gearing up for six decisions in the next two weeks, two of which involve highly anticipated medicines for rare diseases.
Shares of Akero Therapeutics took a hit after the company missed the primary endpoint in a Phase IIb study of efruxifermin in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.
More than 54% of patients treated with mirikizumab achieved clinical remission at 52 weeks versus 19.6% of those on placebo. Eli Lilly will submit a marketing application in Crohn’s disease to the FDA in 2024.
The regulator issued a Complete Response Letter citing “deficiencies” at the company’s Reykjavik plant, this time for its Stelara biosimilar AVT04. It’s the fourth FDA rejection for Alvotech since last year.
In a Phase Ib/II study, Tempest Therapeutics’ investigational PPAR⍺ antagonist—combined with Roche’s Avastin and Tecentriq—showed strong signs of survival benefits in liver cancer patients.
The layoffs, set to take effect in late November, will impact about a third of Reata’s headcount. The workforce reduction comes just weeks after Biogen completed its $7.3 billion Reata buy.