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Due largely to CSL, Merck and Novo Nordisk’s reorganizations that could total about 19,350 people, Q3 cuts rose significantly year over year and quarter over quarter, based on BioSpace tallies.
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FDA
Arguably the FDA’s most anticipated decision this month is for a subcutaneous induction formulation of Biogen and Eisai’s Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi, which, according to Eisai, could “help reduce the burden on healthcare professionals and patients.”
Out-licensing drugs to multinational corporations is a natural step for Chinese biotechs, but the recent rise in deals is only scratching at the surface of partnership-ready biotechs in the region.
While a substantial portion of pipeline assets are externally sourced, many Big Pharmas are tapping into incubators and venture funds to uncover cutting-edge scientific trends, determine their future focus points and even carve out a niche in an emerging geographical hotspot.
Job Trends
Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, announced that the Phase 3 KEYNOTE-811 trial evaluating KEYTRUDA®, Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy, in combination with trastuzumab and fluoropyrimidine- and platinum-containing chemotherapy met its dual primary endpoint of overall survival for the first-line treatment of patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 -positive locally advanced unresectable or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma.
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With five CDER leaders in one year and regulatory proposals coming “by fiat,” the FDA is only making it more difficult to bring therapies to patients.
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In this deep dive, BioSpace explores the next big thing in obesity.
CDC
During a hearing in front of the Senate’s HELP committee, Susan Monarez addressed her controversial firing and recalled a conversation where Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. allegedly said that “CDC employees were killing children and they don’t care.”
Moving forward, Innate will focus on the clinical development of its antibody-drug conjugate IPH4502, the lymphoma candidate lacutamab and the AstraZeneca-partnered monalizumab.
FDA
In letters to Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, the FDA accused the companies of downplaying the risks of their GLP-1 weight loss drugs during a prime time special with Oprah Winfrey.
FDA
A complex state vs. federal regulatory scheme allows drug compounders to advertise drugs without disclosing risks like a pharma company must do. Experts say it’s time for the FDA to crack down.
The multi-billion, multi-year investment comes as many of GSK’s pharma peers pull away from the U.K., either suspending or completely canceling previous commitments.
The White House is clamping down on pharma’s ability to buy new molecules from Chinese biotechs; Sanofi, Merck and others abandon the U.K. after the introduction of a sizeable levy; Novo CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar lays off 9,000 while the company presents new data at EASD; Capsida loses a patient in a gene therapy trial; and CDER Director George Tidmarsh walks back comments on FDA adcomms.
This manufacturing site in Richmond, Virginia, is the first of four projects that Eli Lilly plans to reveal this year as part of a $27 billion U.S. investment announced earlier this year.
The over-representation of males and Hispanic patients in Eli Lilly’s Phase III ATTAIN-1 study could explain why orforglipron “underperformed” expectations in a previous readout, according to analysts at BMO Capital Markets.
OLN324 targets both VEGF and Ang2, the same mechanism of action as Roche’s Vabysmo, the Swiss giant’s multi-blockbuster treatment for wet macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema.