News
M&A and IPOs got off to a quick start in 2025 only to crash into a wall of policy challenges. Upfront payment for licensing transactions, however, grew as pharmas looked for less-risky deals.
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2023 marked the most bankruptcies in biopharma in more than a decade, with 14 companies filing for Chapter 11 protection. The number remained high in 2024.
A cautionary tale illustrates how forging a deal with a Big Pharma can have unexpected and far-reaching tax consequences.
Elisa Cascade, CPO at Advarra explains why addressing the challenges faced by clinical research sites is vital for improving patient trust and the overall viability of clinical trials.
Job Trends
Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, announced that the Phase 3 KEYNOTE-B21 trial evaluating KEYTRUDA, Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy, in combination with chemotherapy as adjuvant treatment, with or without radiotherapy, did not meet its primary endpoint of disease-free survival for the treatment of patients with newly diagnosed, high-risk endometrial cancer after surgery with curative intent.
FROM OUR EDITORS
Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
Vaccine skepticism is at an all-time high in the U.S., and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is making some drastic moves in the name of reversing that trend. But misinformation and inconsistencies within the country’s healthcare agencies highlight problems with his approach.
THE LATEST
Donald Trump takes biopharma on a tariff-themed rollercoaster ride; J&J kicks off the Q1 earnings season; experts express concern about the FDA’s future; Pfizer’s obesity setback could be Viking’s gain; and BioSpace reveals the highest paid pharma CEOs.
Analysts have had to throw out their assumptions for the biopharma industry’s recovery heading into the first quarter earnings period given the ongoing tariff drama.
Johnson & Johnson’s Joaquin Duato is no longer the highest paid CEO in pharma. Meanwhile, just two women make the top 10.
In this bonus episode, BioSpace’s vice president of marketing Chantal Dresner and careers editor Angela Gabriel take a look at Q1 job market performance, layoffs and administration decisions impacting the workforce.
In the company’s first-quarter earnings call Tuesday, J&J CEO Joaquin Duato said there’s a better way to encourage drug manufacturing in the U.S. than President Donald Trump’s threatened pharma tariffs.
Merck has not disclosed which of its peptide therapies it plans to develop oral formulations for.
J&J opened Q1 2025 pharma earnings Tuesday, reporting sales of $21.9 billion and diluted earnings per share of $4.54. The medicines unit provided $13.9 billion while the medtech unit generated the remaining $8 billion.
According to analysts at BMO Capital Markets, non-obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy would have meant a $1.3 billion label expansion opportunity for Camzyos.
At the heart of the licensing deal is CUE-501, a bispecific molecule that can selectively deplete B cells to address autoimmune and inflammatory conditions.
Trump could use the findings of the probe to impose certain trade restrictions on pharma products, including tariffs.