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Viatris, which Pfizer created in 2020, voluntarily withdrew extended-release products made at a plant in Ireland after an analysis revealed an issue that could affect bioavailability.
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FDA
After Replimune’s advanced melanoma drug was rejected for a second time, CEO Sushil Patel slammed the FDA for failing to exercise regulatory flexibility, while other experts bemoaned the agency’s lack of consistency. With new safety guidelines for gene editing therapies, the FDA has taken a first step toward fixing both problems.
The Merck update, which will shed light on a $588 million bet to succeed Keytruda, is part of a roster of presentations that could shape the future of ADCs, protein degraders and KRAS-targeted therapies.
Gilead, AstraZeneca and Vertex have acquired more than just a therapeutic asset in recent deals. BioSpace takes a look at five recent transactions where the staff was the real centerpiece.
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Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
Novo Nordisk’s oral Wegovy has a few months’ head start on Eli Lilly’s newly approved pill. While the Indianapolis pharma has come from behind the Danish rival in the weight loss space before, last time it clearly had the better drug.
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After its next-generation obesity asset CagriSema lost a head-to-head matchup with Eli Lilly’s Zepbound, Novo Nordisk is throwing more money into the obesity space, striking a deal with Vivtex to advance novel weight loss pills.
In his State of the Union address on Tuesday evening, President Donald Trump urged Republican leaders to pass legislation cementing his new drug pricing initiatives as he touted his efforts to lower healthcare costs for Americans.
The rescheduling of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices comes amid fresh leadership upheaval at the CDC as NIH director Jay Bhattacharya replaces Jim O’Neill as acting head of the agency.
Solstice Oncology will gain an exclusive worldwide license to Harbour BioMed’s porustobrt, an anti-CTLA-4 antibody currently being studied for melanoma, colorectal cancer and other malignancies in China.
A trial of a MacroGenics’ drug temporarily paused enrollment after several safety events, including a fatality. The deceased patient had developed a severe case of neutropenia and concurrent septic shock.
Slate Medicines will move forward with a migraine drug from a Chinese biotech, while Alveus Therapeutics will advance a dual GLP-1/GIPR fusion protein for weight loss.
Eli Lilly notches another win over Novo Nordisk, as Zepbound bests CagriSema in a head-to-head trial sponsored by Novo; The FDA kicked off Rare Disease Week, providing draft guidance on its new plausible mechanism pathway, while a bipartisan senate hearing on Thursday will focus on the authorization process for rare conditions; Another leadership change shakes up CDC; and Gilead acquires CAR T partner Arcellx for nearly $8 billion.
Regulators overseeing rare disease treatments need better tools to weigh competing risks in real time. Sarepta Therapeutics’ Elevidys is a prime example of why.
IPO
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.