News
        This week’s release of the Make America Health Again report revealed continued emphasis on vaccine safety; Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s faceoff with senators last week amounted to political theater; the FDA promises complete response letters in real time and shares details on a new rare disease framework; and Summit disappoints at the World Conference on Lung Cancer in Barcelona.
    
        
    
        
    
        
    FEATURED STORIES
        
        
        
    
        In the race to make the most tolerable obesity drug, there seems to be no clear winner—at least not according to analysts parsing the data presented at the American Diabetes Association annual meeting this week. 
    
        
    
        
    
        
    
        Writing in JAMA, four former government officials warn that the Trump administration’s involvement in delaying the approval of Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine could indicate a politicization of the drug approval processes that could ‘imperil public health.’
    
        
    
        
    
        
    
        Leading companies spent $1.4 billion upfront on licensing deals and embarked on vast R&D programs. Clinical setbacks mean many companies are unlikely to ever recoup their investments.
    
        
    
        
    
        
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        Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that the investigational gene therapy DB-OTO improved hearing to normal levels in one child within 24 weeks, and initial hearing improvements were observed in a second child at a 6-week assessment.
    
        
    
        
    
        
    FROM OUR EDITORS
        
        
            Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
        
        
    
        Novo Nordisk, under new CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar, has a new attitude. It’s making Pfizer livid.
    
        
    
        
    
        
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        The Boston-based AI/ML startup focuses on endocrine and cardiometabolic diseases and will use that expertise to generate new small molecule obesity medications for Lilly.
    
        
    
        
    
        
    
        WARN notices provide a heads up that staff will soon be unemployed, but the act that mandates them has some nuances. An attorney explains how the law works, common misconceptions about it and how it helps those about to lose their jobs.
    
        
    
        
    
        
    
        The HHS secretary recently canceled $500 million worth of BARDA contracts around mRNA vaccine research. But the U.S. government has already spent billions on this work, which has saved millions of lives.
    
        
    
        
    
        
    
        After two patients who received the investigational CDC7 blocker died, pushing forward with SGR-2921’s development would be “difficult,” according to Schrödinger, whose stock dropped 17.5% before the opening bell on Thursday.
    
        
    
        
    
        
    
        The death was linked to acute kidney injury in a patient who had a single kidney remaining and a “complex medical history,” according to CytomX.
    
        
    
        
    
        
    
        Vedanta is parting ways with 23 employees, or approximately 20% of its headcount, after Phase II data for microbiome therapy VE202 failed to demonstrate significant response rates in patients with ulcerative colitis.
    
        
    
        
    
        
    
        Citing other priorities—such as the upcoming U.S.-Russia summit—four anonymous sources claim that pharma tariffs could still be weeks away, according to Reuters.
    
        
    
        
    
        
    
        In this episode of Denatured, BioSpace’s head of insights Lori Ellis discusses the ‘enormous implications’ of patent policy changes with Aaron Cummings and Anne Li of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.
    
        
    
        
    
        
    
        Looking for a biopharma job in Texas? Check out the BioSpace list of six companies hiring life sciences professionals like you.
    
        
    
        
    
        
    
        The layoffs will not spare Generation’s R&D team, which will initially be retained while the biotech completes its strategic review but will eventually be let go.