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If ultimately confirmed, Makary’s planned departure, broken by The Wall Street Journal Friday afternoon, would follow a controversial tenure in which his deputy and constant co-author Vinay Prasad riled biopharma feathers with myriad unexpected drug rejections. Prasad stepped down as biologics chief last week.
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The Department of Health and Human Services is spinning its wheels, unable to establish steady leadership at three major divisions—the CDC and the FDA’s two primary review units.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s health department has consistently touted radical transparency as being key to its mission. Recent instances—the FDA’s decision not to disclose the recipients of three Commissioner’s National Priority Vouchers and FDA and CDC choices not to publish vaccine-related papers—call this intent into question.
In Salt Lake City, biotech founders new and seasoned reflect on ways to ride out the industry’s challenges, such as sending cold emails to investors and learning to address leadership weaknesses.
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President-elect Donald Trump and his incoming administration are unlikely to attempt a wholesale restructuring of U.S. healthcare and could promote M&A activity, but controversial picks like Robert F. Kennedy could impact vaccine sales, experts say.
SURMOUNT-5’s results reflect those of multiple real-world studies, which have found that tirzepatide treatment results in stronger weight loss than semaglutide.
The agency’s warning letter outlines Applied Therapeutics’ failure to provide adequate information regarding the clinical trial—including a dosing error for govorestat—claims that the company said it had already addressed.
Amylin analogs present a strong alternative or complement to GLP-1 receptor agonists, potentially eliciting higher-quality weight loss with a cleaner tolerability profile.
Novartis, Gilead, Roche and Takeda commit to new partners in a spate of mid-sized collaborations this week. Meanwhile, Applied Therapeutics’ stock tanks 80% after govorestat is denied approval, Intra-Cellular Therapies seeks to expand Caplyta into major depressive disorder and the FDA investigates the safety of bluebird bio’s Skysona.
Not exactly known for its dealmaking, Sarepta Therapeutics has thrown down a massive wad of cash to work with Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals on RNAi-based medicines.
Intra-Cellular submitted its application to the FDA for Caplyta’s approval in major depressive disorder, potentially opening up an additional $1 billion in sales. Still, the stock remains “cheap,” according to Jefferies analysts.
Keros’ elritercept has shown promising efficacy signals in myelofibrosis and myelodysplastic syndromes and could pose a formidable challenge to Bristol Myers Squibb’s Reblozyl.
The collaboration will see COUR and Roche’s Genentech leverage the biotech’s antigen-specific immune tolerance platform to develop and commercialize therapies for an undisclosed autoimmune disease.
The deal with Tubulis will help Gilead regain its footing in the ADC space following the withdrawal of Trodelvy in bladder cancer and its late-stage fail in NSCLC.