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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.
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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.
FDA
Significant leadership instability at the FDA—compounded by continued workforce attrition—led to a slight slowdown in overall regulatory productivity in the first half of this year, but the agency has been catching up of late.
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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If cell and gene therapy makers are going to achieve their mission to improve patients’ lives, the industry must come together to share information across stakeholders, from regulators to manufacturers to payers.
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In November, Pfizer was reportedly looking to divest its stake in BioNTech, though the German biotech at the time denied these rumors.
The arrangement will boost AstraZeneca’s cell therapy portfolio as the pharma targets $80 billion in revenue by 2030.
The star of the acquisition, anti-IgE antibody ozureprubart, is being tested as a prophylactic treatment for food allergies, potentially setting up a competition for GSK with Roche’s Xolair.
The companies have an expansive clinical program for the mRNA neoantigen therapy intismeran autogene in combination with immuno-oncology heavyweight Keytruda.
BioSpace has revealed its new 2026 Hotbed Maps, showcasing seven regional life sciences hot spots.
The initiative could tackle the first-mover disadvantage some CDMOs believe deters early customers, but leaders at companies including Novo Nordisk see hurdles to implementing the changes.
Henry Gosebruch, who has $3.5 billion in capital to deploy, is thinking broad as he steers the decades-old biotech out of years of turmoil. 
In this bonus episode, BioSpace’s Vice President of Marketing ⁠Chantal Dresner⁠ and Careers Editor ⁠Angela Gabriel⁠ take a look at Q4 job market performance and what it signals for 2026.
IPO
Two more biopharma companies—the hair-growth specialist Veradermics and cancer-focused Eikon Therapeutics—have announced their IPOs this year. Meanwhile, Aktis Oncology began trading publicly earlier this month.
Despite the late-stage miss, analysts maintained confidence in the Epkinly program, with Truist Securities saying the result “doesn’t waver our optimism” regarding the bispecific antibody’s ongoing frontline trial.