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With the latest layoffs, Novartis expects to let go of around 800 employees by the end of 2028. More than half of the cuts have been at the company’s East Hanover, New Jersey, location.
FEATURED STORIES
Molecular glue degraders are gaining traction in the clinic as well as funding from Big Pharma, with their potential to treat previously “undruggable” cancers and immunological diseases. Here are five clinical programs worth keeping an eye on.
Last month, the FDA launched TrialBlazer, intended to streamline the IND path and bring early clinical trials and medical innovation home to the U.S. It’s a start, but new agency leadership must see it through.
FDA
Significant leadership instability at the FDA—compounded by continued workforce attrition—led to a slight slowdown in overall regulatory productivity in the first half of this year, but the agency has been catching up of late.
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Congressional letters sent to the CEOs of Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Merck, BMS and AbbVie this week voicing concerns about the pharmas’ clinical trials in China highlight an ongoing discrepancy in how government and industry think about the rise of the Asian country’s biotech industry.
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Bayer has let go of about 13,500 employees, including around 5,000 managers, since implementing a new operating model in early 2024. CEO Bill Anderson said in a recent earnings call that he expects a slower rate of headcount reduction moving forward.
“As the future chair I will attend to the interests of not only the Novo Nordisk Foundation but all shareholders of the company,” incoming chair and former Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Rebien Sørensen said at the meeting held Friday.
A day after Pfizer closed its hotly contested Metsera deal, Lundbeck has made an unsolicited offer to steal Avadel Pharmaceuticals away from Alkermes.
At $9.2 billion, the Cidara acquisition lands among the top 5 largest deals of the year.
HIV
Gilead’s investigational drug combo bic/len could help lower the pill burden in patients with virologically suppressed HIV who are on complex treatment regimens, according to BMO Capital Markets.
A BioNTech spokesperson downplayed the news, insisting that the two companies remain “close” and have a “strong collaboration.”
Through substantial leadership turnover and workforce cuts, the FDA has continued to support the advanced therapy sector, actively working to remove obstacles to innovation.
Speaking at a conference this morning, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla suggested that Metsera’s therapies could begin hitting the market in 2028.
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.
Korro Bio is moving back to square one as a preclinical biotech after the failure of KRRO-110 in alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. The company’s stock is down 80% on all the news.