News
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.
FEATURED STORIES
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.
FROM OUR EDITORS
Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
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 LATEST
With thousands of companies and a $102 billion impact on the state’s economy, Indiana’s life sciences industry is making its mark. The president and CEO of the Indiana Life Sciences Association discusses the sector’s upside, challenges and where it’s headed in the future.
Besting Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ kidney disease asset wasn’t enough to impress Wall Street, which appears to be “getting hung up” with the broad population data in Maze Therapeutics’ trial, according to Mizuho.
This year’s catalysts in the space include a near-term FDA decision on Eli Lilly’s oral challenger to the new Wegovy pill. Looking further ahead, Novo Nordisk is expecting more clinical data for next-gen weight loss asset CagriSema, which recently lost a head-to-head battle with Lilly’s Zepbound.
The Belgian drugmaker plans to hire about 330 people at a facility that will use advanced manufacturing technologies including AI, robotics and automation to meet rising demand for key products. This will be UCB’s first biologics manufacturing facility in the U.S.
Looking for a biopharma job in New York? Check out the BioSpace list of 11 companies hiring life sciences professionals like you.
Merck’s acquisition of Terns Pharmaceuticals follows other big-ticket purchases, including of Verona Pharma and Cidara Therapeutics, as the pharma prepares for the impending expiration of its blockbuster’s patents.
Missing one of its co-primary endpoints could make it difficult for Karyopharm Therapeutics to score conventional approval for Xpovio in myelofibrosis, according to Jefferies analysts.
While RA Capital Management has yet to commit to a merger plan, it noted that its new blank-check company, Research Alliance III, could target companies abroad, including those from China.
Gilead continues its dealmaking spree in the sizzling hot space of I&I as Johnson & Johnson, along with partner Protagonist, notched an FDA approval for a new psoriasis drug. Plus, Aurinia Pharmaceuticals gets a new C-suite, FDA releases draft guidance on non-animal models and the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee is not being disbanded after all.
Overall, the top 16 largest pharmaceutical companies spent $159 billion on research and development in 2025, compared to $165 billion the year prior. Here’s where all that cash went at companies like Johnson & Johnson, Amgen and Pfizer.