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Alternatives to opioids are desperately needed to better treat moderate to severe acute pain, but to date, we’ve seen few novel analgesics hit the market.
FEATURED STORIES
IPO
LB Pharma needed $350 million to advance a promising schizophrenia candidate at a time when the biotech markets were locked up tight. Fortunately, it wasn’t CEO Heather Turner’s first rodeo.
Rare disease drug developers struggle to survive in a biopharma investment market that prioritizes large patient populations. Initiatives like the Orphan Therapeutics Accelerator are attempting to solve what CEO Craig Martin says is not a science problem, but a math problem.
Eli Lilly’s win in a head-to-head trial drove Novo Nordisk’s market cap to pre-Wegovy levels not long after the victor became the first pharma company to top a $1 trillion valuation. It seems one company can do no right, while the other can do no wrong.
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FROM OUR EDITORS
Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
FDA
Following the FDA’s refusal to review Moderna’s investigational mRNA flu vaccine last week, Commissioner Marty Makary faced questions from the U.S. president about the agency’s handling of vaccines. It’s a clear signal that the tension long brewing at the drug regulator has now gone all the way to the top.
THE LATEST
The allogeneic T-cell immunotherapy company is now approaching penny stock territory after its multiple sclerosis drug failed to reach the primary endpoint in a mid-stage study.
FDA
The FDA’s approval of Eli Lilly’s obesity drug Zepbound intensifies an already heated battle with Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy in the lucrative weight-loss drug market, as other drugmakers hope to get a piece of the action.
To protect the central nervous system, the blood-brain barrier bars entry to around 98% of molecules—but approaches like Roche’s trontinemab could spell new hope in Alzheimer’s and beyond.
The company’s immunotherapy, in combination with chemotherapy Avastin, showed favorable progression-free survival in a late-stage hepatocellular carcinoma study.
FDA
Following a more than two-month delay to its PDUFA action date, Valneva’s chikungunya vaccine Ixchiq has won the regulatory race beating biotech Bavarian Nordic.
The two mid-stage flops—one in major depressive disorder and another in focal onset seizures—involve drug candidates from partnerships with Xenon Pharmaceuticals and Takeda, respectively.
FDA
The biopharma’s Adzynma, a human recombinant ADAMST13 therapeutic, is the first approved therapy for the ultra-rare clotting disorder congenital thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura.
Over the next two weeks, the FDA is set to decide on New Drug Applications from Pacira, CorMedix and Aldeyra and hold an advisory committee meeting for two overdue confirmatory trials from Acrotech.
The Federal Trade Commission is challenging over 100 pharmaceutical patents held by prominent drugmakers, including AbbVie, AstraZeneca and Boehringer Ingelheim, for their listings.
As Vertex and CRISPR Therapeutics await the monumental potential approval of exa-cel, bluebird bio, Iovance and Rocket Pharmaceuticals wait patiently in the wings.