News

Even as FDA approvals for biologic therapies fell in the first half of 2026, regulatory experts are optimistic about a turnaround in the rare disease space after the departure of key leaders at the agency. Still, there will continue to be tension between science and politics.
FEATURED STORIES
A mostly black box since emerging with more than a billion dollars in hand, Xaira Therapeutics is slowly pulling back the curtain, revealing plans to find partners and validate its pipeline.
IPO
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.
FROM OUR EDITORS
Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
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.
THE LATEST
The FDA has gained a reputation during the past year for being inconsistently flexible, particularly when it comes to rare diseases. Executives at Rezolute and CERo Therapeutics recently had positive interactions with the agency, in which they told BioSpace reviewers have been “collaborative” and “curious.
FDA
Since the FDA began publishing its rejections of drug approval filings in July last year, companies have become more forthcoming about the details of agency decisions in their own disclosures, according to biopharma and regulatory analysts.
Principal Scientist Anders Cai Holm Hansen explains how CDMO AGC Biologics uses its global, single-use network and a strategy emphasizing “scale-out” manufacturing, to derisk demand uncertainty, speed timelines and conserve cash for emerging drug developers.
The FDA in a complete response letter to Replimune maintained its original objection to the single-arm trial the biotech used to support the application for RP1.
Novo Nordisk’s oral Wegovy has a few months’ head start on Eli Lilly’s newly approved pill. While the Indianapolis pharma has come from behind the Danish rival in the weight loss space before, last time it clearly had the better drug.
In the future of AI-driven biopharma, reusable data is the most undervalued asset.
GSK discontinued Wellcovorin in 1999, but the FDA in September last year asked the pharma to refile an application, pointing to its potential to treat cerebral folate deficiency with “autistic features.”
A Louisiana court on April 7 asked the FDA to complete its internal review of mifepristone’s safety and gave the agency six months to provide the court with an update on the investigation.
The license, which Innovent’s Altruist business said is the first of its kind, positions the CDMO to support commercial clients as it works to expand the plant’s capacity to 172,000 liters.
Roche is jumping into degrader-antibody conjugates, a modality that in recent years has attracted investments from Merck KGaA and Bristol Myers Squibb.