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With the latest round, Roche’s Genentech will have racked up nearly 450 layoffs in California over the last year amid ongoing restructuring. At the same time, the biotech is joining forces with Astex Pharmaceuticals in a deal that could surpass $490 million.
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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.
The total of 52 mergers and acquisitions for the first half of 2026 reflects what analysts, industry watchers and executives are saying over and over: M&A is back.
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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.
THE LATEST
Citing a pipeline review and “evolving” external factors, Roche has returned the potentially best-in-class camonsertib to Repare Therapeutics, which will continue to evaluate the asset in various tumor types.
Following Biogen’s $7.3 billion acquisition of Reata Pharmaceuticals in July 2023, the drug on Monday was approved in the European Union for treating the rare genetic disorder that causes progressive damage to the nervous system.
AVP-786 was unable to significantly reduce total scores in the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory versus placebo, Otsuka Pharmaceuticals reported Monday. The company is evaluating the next steps for the drug combination.
On Monday, the Biden administration got an early victory in pharma’s legal challenge to the Inflation Reduction Act, with a Texas judge dismissing a complaint from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
On Friday, the regulator greenlit Iovance’s lifileucel to treat advanced melanoma. Prior to the approval, experts told BioSpace that tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes therapies also hold the potential to treat several other solid tumors.
Gilead Sciences announced Monday it will purchase CymaBay Therapeutics and its investigational treatment seladelpar for primary biliary cholangitis, a type of liver disease that causes bile-duct damage.
CSL’s investigational cholesterol efflux enhancer CSL112 failed to reduce major adverse cardiovascular events within 90 days in patients who had just suffered a heart attack.
Shares of preclinical genetic medicines company Metagenomi tanked more than 30% on Friday afternoon in a disappointing debut for its initial public offering, bucking the trend of positive IPOs so far this year.
Merging six of its portfolio biotechs, Medicxi on Monday unveiled Alys Pharmaceuticals, an immuno-dermatology focused company seeking to deliver up to 10 proof-of-concept readouts by the end of 2026.
Two Florida courts have sided with Novo Nordisk against Ekzotika and Effinger Health, agreeing that their compounded versions of semaglutide are against the law. The Danish pharma has reached confidential settlements with both companies.