News
In an interview with German-language outlet Neue Zuercher Zeitung, Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan said the company is exploring ways to remove or minimize the drug price gap between the U.S. and its other markets in similarly developed countries.
FEATURED STORIES
Amid an unprecedented turnover in leadership at the FDA and mass layoffs of staff, communication has crumbled and uncertainty runs rampant, leaving small and medium biopharma companies without a clear path forward for their therapies.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. repeated a series of anti-vaccine talking points during his appearance in front of the Senate finance committee on Thursday, as Democratic and Republican senators alike hammered the Health Secretary on recent COVID-19 vaccine restrictions and his views on Operation Warp Speed.
As AAV9 and CRISPR programs navigate safety, delivery and scalability hurdles, small molecules offer a deployable, scalable bridge, complementing genetic approaches and accelerating meaningful impact for patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Job Trends
Most employers are expecting to hire this year, according to BioSpace data and Recruitment Manager Greg Clouse, who noted that companies are looking to do more than just replace people lost to turnover.
FROM OUR EDITORS
Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
The group of like-named companies that include Novo Holdings and Novo Nordisk—the two tied to a multibillion-dollar buyout of Catalent currently under FTC review—ultimately send proceeds to the Novo Nordisk Foundation, one of the world’s largest charitable foundations.
THE LATEST
Both Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are eyeing regulatory advancements for their obesity blockbusters as the European Association for the Study of Diabetes’ annual conference continues this week.
Merck, Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca have similarly suspended or outright canceled investments in the U.K. in the past week after a sizeable increase in a mandatory levy in the region.
Like the first batch of appointees to the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee, several of the new panelists have documented histories of vaccine and COVID-19 skepticism.
The patient-specific nature of autologous cell therapies presents unique challenges that can best be addressed by a middle path between on-site and centralized manufacturing.
Some observers see risks to becoming over-reliant on local facilities, noting the potential need for trade partners if domestic production is disrupted.
Novartis and Monte Rosa first partnered in October 2024 for a molecular glue asset for immune-mediated and autoimmune diseases. This time, the pharma is putting $120 million down upfront for more of the biotech’s AI-discovered degraders.
CDER Director George Tidmarsh said on two separate events last week that he thought advisory committee meetings for specific drug applications were redundant, but then denied having said the agency would abandon them.
AstraZeneca in January also stopped its $610 million plans to construct a vaccine R&D and manufacturing site in the U.K.
While Eli Lilly’s orforglipron is top of mind heading into the European Association for the Study of Diabetes meeting this week, experts told BioSpace the conference will also provide important insights into the therapeutic benefits of incretin therapies beyond weight loss.
After decades without much movement, a handful of new treatments for this rare autoimmune disease are now approved, and several companies, including argenx and Regeneron, have recently released promising late-stage trial results.