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A surprising deal from Vertex Pharmaceuticals adds to Big Pharma’s acquisitive streak as Crinetics folds into the cystic fibrosis drugmaker. Meanwhile, IPOs and venture capital raises trend upward, but mostly for derisked companies. Plus, FDA decisions slow only slightly as the hunt for a permanent leader drags on.
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After debuting on the public markets with $256.3 million and raking in an additional $472 million, Veradermics has emerged as one of biotech’s biggest post-IPO standouts. CEO Reid Waldman credits the weight loss craze for establishing consumer-driven channels.
Molecular glue degraders are gaining traction in the clinic as well as funding from Big Pharma, with their potential to treat previously “undruggable” cancers and immunological diseases. Here are five clinical programs worth keeping an eye on.
Last month, the FDA launched TrialBlazer, intended to streamline the IND path and bring early clinical trials and medical innovation home to the U.S. It’s a start, but new agency leadership must see it through.
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Congressional letters sent to the CEOs of Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Merck, BMS and AbbVie this week voicing concerns about the pharmas’ clinical trials in China highlight an ongoing discrepancy in how government and industry think about the rise of the Asian country’s biotech industry.
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Bayer cut its C-suite nearly in half amid a massive restructuring. Meanwhile, the U.S. government says it will pay for Wegovy for patients with heart disease.
With several recent approvals in the space and more on the horizon, BioSpace looks at some of the key decisions and their larger significance both for patients and science.
Merck’s Winrevair is the second PAH drug to get the FDA’s green light in the past week, following Johnson & Johnson’s Opsynvi, which won approval on Friday.
Health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) is a critical but sometimes overlooked part of drug development. Decentralized trials now make it easy.
Brazil’s Ministry of Health and nonprofit Caring Cross announced a collaboration Tuesday aimed at local manufacturing of CAR-T cell and stem cell gene therapies at a much lower cost than Europe and the U.S.
Stoke Therapeutics reported results for Dravet syndrome studies showing clinically meaningful effects, including reductions in convulsive seizure frequency, supporting the potential for disease modification.
The early-stage study showed that Viking Therapeutics’ oral obesity candidate VK2735, a dual agonist of the GLP-1 and GIP receptors, elicited a 3.3% reduction in mean body weight. The company plans to start a Phase II trial.
AstraZeneca’s Alexion on Monday secured the fourth indication for Ultomiris, which can now be used to treat the rare autoimmune condition neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder.
Axsome clinched a late-stage victory for its chronic sleep disorder candidate AXS-12, which demonstrated significant improvement in cataplexy—the sudden loss of muscle tone while a person is awake—after five weeks.
The National Institutes of Health claims BioNTech is in default regarding alleged royalty payments the agency contends it is owed in connection with the company’s COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty.