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LB Pharma needed $350 million to advance a promising schizophrenia candidate at a time when the biotech markets were locked up tight. Fortunately, it wasn’t CEO Heather Turner’s first rodeo.
Rare disease drug developers struggle to survive in a biopharma investment market that prioritizes large patient populations. Initiatives like the Orphan Therapeutics Accelerator are attempting to solve what CEO Craig Martin says is not a science problem, but a math problem.
Eli Lilly’s win in a head-to-head trial drove Novo Nordisk’s market cap to pre-Wegovy levels not long after the victor became the first pharma company to top a $1 trillion valuation. It seems one company can do no right, while the other can do no wrong.
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Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
Following the FDA’s refusal to review Moderna’s investigational mRNA flu vaccine last week, Commissioner Marty Makary faced questions from the U.S. president about the agency’s handling of vaccines. It’s a clear signal that the tension long brewing at the drug regulator has now gone all the way to the top.
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Despite the PDUFA date being extended by three months for Merus’ zenocutuzumab, Truist Securities analyst Asthika Goonewardene in a Tuesday note to investors said the delay is not a cause for concern with an approval expected.
A suit against Novartis and Vitaris by Henrietta Lacks’ estate hinges on questions about the morality and legality of using the line for biopharmaceutical research.
While expected and seen as largely incremental, Jefferies analyst Peter Welford in a Tuesday note to investors said the detailed data for three early-stage assets support moving them into Phase IIb studies and creates a “foothold” for AstraZeneca in the weight loss space.
Coming off of a strong third quarter, Vertex Pharmaceuticals is nearing several important milestones, including the potential approvals of vanzacaftor triple in cystic fibrosis and the non-opioid therapy suzetrigine in pain—both slated for January 2025.
In a deal worth up to $285 million initially for the lead program, Novo Nordisk will gain access to Ascendis’ TransCon technology platform in an effort to find novel GLP-1 candidates with reduced dosing frequency.
Driven by the early approval of its updated COVID-19 vaccine, BioNTech far exceeded analysts’ expectations in the third quarter and reported its first quarterly profit in 2024. However, the German biotech also cut its outlook for the year.
Multiple players are exploring whether modalities designed to combat B cell malignancies can be repurposed against lupus, myasthenia gravis and other conditions traced to misdirected immune response.
The Big Pharma companies made a last-ditch effort asking a U.S. appeals court to reconsider their lawsuits against the Inflation Reduction Act’s Medicare drug price negotiations, which they contend infringe on their constitutional rights.
Jefferies analyst Roger Song in an investor note said that Viking Therapeutics’ readout for its investigational therapy VK2735 exceeded expectations, with “class-leading” weight loss. Patients on 100-miligram doses of the pill lost 8.2% of their body weight after 28 days.
The FDA is set to decide on four promising therapies in the next two weeks, including a CAR T for acute lymphoblastic leukemia.