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AstraZeneca has risen as one of pharma’s most prolific investors in China, including a $630 million pledge last week for full rights to AbelZeta’s cell therapy for cancer.
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With the biopharma industry performing better of late, analysts, executives and other industry watchers are “cautiously optimistic”—a term heard all over the streets of San Francisco at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference earlier this month.
Bristol Myers Squibb, GSK and Merck are contributing drug ingredients as part of their deals with the White House but are keeping many of the terms of their agreements private.
Some 200 rare disease therapies are at risk of losing eligibility for a pediatric priority review voucher, a recent analysis by the Rare Disease Company Coalition shows. That could mean $4 billion in missed revenue for already cash-strapped biotechs.
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Phacilitate’s annual event dawns as cell and gene therapies reach a new tipping point: the science has hit new heights just as regulatory and government policies spark momentum and frustration.
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To help keep pace with the demand for GLP-1 therapies, CordenPharma has announced a sizeable $980 million investment in its U.S. and European sites.
To improve its reviewers’ understanding of cell and gene therapy manufacturing, the agency has launched a program that will involve a tour of manufacturing facilities and daily workshops for its staffers.
After discontinuing its long-acting insulin product Levemir, Novo has again found itself under legislative scrutiny, with three Democratic senators seeking a sit-down with the pharma.
Vertex has filed a complaint against the Department of Health and Human Services, seeking to make its fertility preservation program available to federally insured patients needing Casgevy treatment.
Some analysts say so, and a recent study suggested Lilly’s tirzepatide beat Novo’s semaglutide at inducing weight loss, but there are other factors in the market race. 
Lexeo Therapeutics’ investigational gene therapy reduces left ventricular volume and wall thickness in patients with Friedreich’s ataxia, according to a small study.
IPO
Following a disappointing IPO and the loss of Moderna’s gene editing contract, Metagenomi’s Chief Scientific Officer Luis Borges is departing the biotech.
Despite recent concerns about suicidality and other neuropsychiatric issues, a recent study has found that Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic (semaglutide) is associated with lower risks of dementia, cognitive deficit and nicotine misuse.
After a busy first half of 2024, several companies are expecting key data readouts in the neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disease spaces during the next six months.
Why I advocated on Capitol Hill this month for the renewal of the FDA’s Priority Review Voucher program