News
During the first quarter, 22 rounds of biopharma layoffs in California affected about 995 employees total, while 17 rounds in Massachusetts impacted around 410 people, based on BioSpace estimates. Meanwhile, competition for jobs in those states increased year over year, according to BioSpace data.
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The drugmaker’s dominance of the obesity market is fueling predictions that years of growth lie ahead.
Novo Nordisk goes “on the offensive” following Trump deal that also included rival Eli Lilly, putting an exclamation point on rapidly declining GLP-1 drug prices. Experts say the unusual situation makes it hard to predict what’s next.
Drug candidates don’t usually move among Big Pharma, but these five biotechs helped facilitate such hand-offs, scooping up assets from one pharma on the cheap before being bought out for billions by another.
Job Trends
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Sanofi and AstraZeneca’s Beyfortus™ for the prevention of respiratory syncytial virus lower respiratory tract disease in newborns and infants born during or entering their first RSV season, and for children up to 24 months of age who remain vulnerable to severe RSV disease through their second RSV season.
FROM OUR EDITORS
Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
Unpredictable communication and a lack of transparency are eroding the industry’s and the public’s trust. The FDA, experts agree, needs to take control of the narrative.
THE LATEST
The FDA accepted Biogen and Eisai’s BLA for a subcutaneous administration of the anti-amyloid antibody Monday as the partners await the regulator’s decision on a new intravenous regimen following an underwhelming launch riddled with coverage and accessibility barriers.
In exchange for its investigational gene therapies, Regenxbio will receive $110 million upfront and up to $700 million in milestones. After hitting an all-time low of $6.95 at close of business yesterday, the stock surged on the news by nearly 20% before markets opened Tuesday.
The positive trial results could help Regeneron cushion the blow of its disappointing fourth-quarter sales for Eylea, which exceeded the consensus by a modest 1% and are bogged down by the slow conversion of patients to the high-dose formulation.
Obesity continues to grab attention at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, with both Pfizer and Kailera Therapeutics outlining their plans in the space moving forward.
Sarepta Therapeutics’ Duchenne muscular dystrophy therapy Elevidys handily beat analysts’ expectations in the fourth quarter of 2024, reflecting the biotech’s “world-class” execution, according to BMO Capital Markets analysts.
The multi-billion deal, in which Eli Lilly will acquire Scorpion Therapeutics’ STX-478 program, is a shot in the arm for PI3K treatments, which have had a mixed history over the past few years.
Passage Bio’s workforce reduction could affect about 32 people, leaving the company with 26 employees as it continues evaluating a treatment for frontotemporal dementia with granulin mutations.
On the heels of an FDA approval for its monoclonal antibody Bizengri, Merus will generate three novel cancer-targeting antibodies that it will pass over to Biohaven to link into antibody drug-conjugates.
Biogen’s proposed acquisition comes after two difficult years of regulatory and clinical challenges, during which shares of Sage Therapeutics have fallen by more than 90%.
Among Intra-Cellular’s neuropsychiatric assets is Caplyta, a pill approved for schizophrenia and bipolar depression and proposed for major depressive disorder.