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The FDA is hoping to repurpose GSK’s Wellcovorin for cerebral folate deficiency; Pfizer acquired fast-moving weight-loss startup Metsera for nearly $5 billion after suffering a hat trick of R&D failures; psychedelics are primed for M&A action and Eli Lilly may be next in line; RFK Jr.’s revamped CDC advisory committee met last week with confounding results; and Stealth secured its Barth approval.
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Analysts said the deal with Novo was likely giving Hims “‘credibility’ or increased consumer traffic,” adding that the “litigation risk is back on the table” now that the Danish pharma has stepped away.
The industry sector focused on aging is only about 10 years old, but acting on what scientists already know, a new crop of biotechs, backed by investors, are taking a disease-centric approach to extending the human lifespan.
TIGIT-targeting therapies have largely disappointed in recent months, with failed studies, terminated partnerships and shuttered businesses. Here are five biopharma players staying alive with differentiated candidates against the once promising immuno-oncology target.
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Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leader in cellular metabolism and PK activation pioneering therapies for rare diseases, reported business highlights and financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024.
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Unpredictable communication and a lack of transparency are eroding the industry’s and the public’s trust. The FDA, experts agree, needs to take control of the narrative.
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Novartis has bet up to $772 million to gain access to BioArctic’s BrainTransporter platform, which was leveraged in a partnership with Eisai to produce Leqembi.
Regeneron’s cemdisiran, used alone or in combination with its complement inhibitor Veopoz, significantly improved activities of daily living in patients with generalized myasthenia gravis.  
The layoffs will affect employees at Pfizer’s Bothell, Washington site, which previously served as the headquarters for Seagen before being acquired by the pharma for $43 billion.
Eli Lilly drops a second Phase III readout for orforglipron; AbbVie committed to the psychedelic therapeutics space with the $1.2 billion acquisition of Gilgamesh’s depression asset; the CDC taps vaccine skeptic Retsef Levi to lead its COVID-19 immunization working group; and the FDA prioritizes overall survival in cancer drug development.
As the political winds shift on a whim and public distrust of the pharma industry reaches fever pitch over drug pricing, executives are being asked to navigate an impassible path.
Generate:Biomedicines’ Nicole Clouse is one of the key legal minds trying to understand who owns what AI creates. The answers are critical to the future of biotech.
If the trend holds, IQVIA expects 2025 deal volume between Chinese and multinational companies to easily eclipse the 100 agreements signed in 2024.
While Truist Securities analysts said the results from the ATTAIN-2 trial leave “room for competition,” they also pointed to a manufacturing advantage that could unlock a “double-digit billion dollar opportunity” for Eli Lilly.
The MIT professor of management, who already sits on the CDC’s revamped immunization advisory committee, is a known skeptic of vaccines, particularly mRNA technology.
Based on new data, argenx expects to file for the expansion of Vyvgart’s label into patients with generalized myasthenia gravis who are negative for antibodies against the AChR marker—an indication William Blair analysts called the broadest option in this disease space.