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FDA
The FDA greenlit 26 novel therapies in the first half of 2026, including four for cancer and six for orphan indications. Meanwhile, AstraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson took home a combined 11 of the agency’s 79 total approvals, including supplemental nods.
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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.
Early-stage financing rounds are on track to hit their lowest dollar value in years as funders continue to eschew risky investments, experts told BioSpace.
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.
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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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In the first head-to-head trial of CGRP antagonists, Lilly’s Emgality failed to demonstrate that it was significantly better than Pfizer’s Nurtec ODT at easing migraine headaches.
On the heels of a legal challenge to the Inflation Reduction Act by Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb on Friday filed its own lawsuit claiming that the law’s drug price negotiation provision is unconstitutional.
The company reported results Friday from the KEYNOTE-811 trial in which the anti-PD-1 therapy took an important step toward FDA approval for rare esophageal tumors.
The data for Reproxalap, Aldeyra Therapeutics’ drug for treating allergic conjunctivitis and dry-eye disease, could potentially pave the way for an alternative to over-the-counter eye drops.
The stock deal aims to strengthen Coherus Biosciences’ position in the field of cancer therapeutics and expand its product portfolio.
The Bespoke Gene Therapy Consortium intends to bring AAV-based gene therapies to patients whose diseases are often ignored by commercial interests.
FDA
With Roche’s FDA approval on Thursday, both companies’ bispecific antibodies will hit the market this summer for relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
In the latest HEALEY trial readout, Clene’s CNM-Au8 significantly reduced plasma neurofilament light chain levels in ALS patients, which could be a strong and reliable signal of its clinical benefit.
In a unanimous 21-0 vote, an FDA advisory committee recommended an updated monovalent formulation of the COVID-19 vaccine targeting the now-dominant XBB.1.5 subvariant.
After an FDA advisory committee unanimously recommended Leqembi’s full approval, questions linger around amyloid-related imaging abnormalities and a potentially cumbersome patient registry.