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The Senate failed to pass a massive spending bill on Thursday—which includes the rare pediatric PRV program but also funding for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s large-scale crackdown in Minnesota and other states.
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JPM
With the biopharma industry performing better of late, analysts, executives and other industry watchers are “cautiously optimistic”—a term heard all over the streets of San Francisco at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference earlier this month.
Bristol Myers Squibb, GSK and Merck are contributing drug ingredients as part of their deals with the White House but are keeping many of the terms of their agreements private.
Some 200 rare disease therapies are at risk of losing eligibility for a pediatric priority review voucher, a recent analysis by the Rare Disease Company Coalition shows. That could mean $4 billion in missed revenue for already cash-strapped biotechs.
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Phacilitate’s annual event dawns as cell and gene therapies reach a new tipping point: the science has hit new heights just as regulatory and government policies spark momentum and frustration.
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Emraclidine was the centerpiece of AbbVie’s $8.7 billion acquisition of Cerevel in December 2023 but failed two mid-stage trials. Tavapadon, meanwhile, has been a more rewarding asset for the pharma, clearing three Phase III Parkinson’s studies in 2024.
IPO
Metsera will use its IPO proceeds to fund the Phase III development of its injectable, ultra-long-acting GLP-1 therapy MET-097i, which last week achieved 11.3% weight loss in a Phase IIa study.
The first major deal of JPM 2025 will give GSK a promising small molecule drug for gastrointestinal stromal tumors.
Benefiting from technological and conceptual groundwork and positive early data, gene therapies are advancing in the clinic for cardiovascular diseases including congestive heart failure, chronic refractory angina and cardiomyopathy.
An FDA committee’s September 2024 vote to limit the use of Merck’s Keytruda and BMS’ Opdivo in stomach and esophageal cancers based on PD-L1 expression levels reflects an emerging trend that leverages ever-maturing datasets.
FDA
Among the 55 novel drugs that crossed the regulatory finish line last year were notable new mechanisms of action, coming particularly in the oncology and neurosciences spaces.
In this short teaser, BioSpace’s Head of Insights Lori Ellis talks to CBER Director Peter Marks and Tom Whitehead, Co-Founder of the Emily Whitehead Foundation about anticipated discussions at the upcoming GenScript Biotech Forum.
Staff cuts will leave IGM Biosciences with 37 employees. The company is also halting development of two bispecific antibody T cell engagers for autoimmune diseases.
After the successful development of mavacamten and the sale of MyoKardia to BMS in 2020, former executives of the biotech are back together with a mission to make cardiovascular disease curable and preventable.
The Biotech Ecosystem Venture Fund will combine the sourcing capabilities of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) with Eli Lilly’s expertise in R&D—plus half a billion in capital from the Big Pharma.