News
With Keytruda, the best-selling drug in the world, facing the end of exclusivity in 2028, BioSpace looks at five drugs that have taken the leap off the patent cliff.
FEATURED STORIES
RFK Jr. as HHS head is perhaps President-elect Donald Trump’s most controversial Cabinet pick now that Matt Gaetz has withdrawn as nominee for Attorney General. With Dr. Oz tapped to lead CMS and maybe Marty Makary at the FDA, it’s going to be quite the show.
A handful of billion-dollar deals in the rare disease space highlights the uptick in Big Pharma’s investment, but it’s still extremely low compared to the money flowing to more common indications.
While the full impact of the Supreme Court decision remains unknown, the new regulatory landscape could be a net positive for drug developers.
Job Trends
The Merck Foundation, a private charitable organization funded by Merck (NYSE:MRK), known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, has made an $11 million, six-year (2023 - 2028) commitment to University of New Mexico Health (UNM Health) in support of its new initiative to bring high-quality care to an estimated 11 million people living with cancer in underserved communities throughout India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.
FROM OUR EDITORS
Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
In a recent BioSpace LinkedIn poll, nearly half of respondents predicted the job market won’t turn around until 2027 or later. It’s easy to see why people are skeptical, especially when you consider recent hiring activity and layoffs.
THE LATEST
The partnership splits the rights to Stoke’s epilepsy antisense oligonucleotide, with up to $385 million in potential payments due to Stoke.
Back in 2023, Novo Nordisk committed up to $1.3 billion for a hypertension and kidney disease drug from KBP Biosciences. Now, the pharma giant claims to have been misled by the biotech’s founder—and a judge seems to agree.
AlgoTherapeutix blames a “strong placebo effect” for the mid-stage failure for its pain gel ATX01, but the company still believes in the promise of its candidate as Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ first-in-class drug Journavx opens up the non-opioid space.
In the first podcast in a special series focused on BioSpace’s NextGen Class of 2025, Senior Editor Annalee Armstrong speaks with Dannielle Appelhans, CEO of COUR.
Casdatifan’s progression-free survival benefits could help differentiate it from Merck’s Welireg in the kidney cancer arena, according to analysts at Truist Securities.
COUR Pharmaceuticals has been around a while, but not until last year did the company solidify behind its ultimate mission with a series A raise.
The hammer came down on an unspecified number of FDA employees this weekend, days after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed as HHS Secretary.
The approvals come as Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—who has been critical of vaccines—takes leadership of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Ono picked up Romvimza—previously known by its active ingredient vimseltinib—from its $2.4 billion acquisition of Deciphera Pharmaceuticals in April 2024.
Merilog’s approval comes as the insulin space has over the past year suffered several setbacks, including strong calls for price caps and, potentially, the rise of the mammoth GLP-1 market.