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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.
Eli Lilly’s win in a head-to-head trial drove Novo Nordisk’s market cap to pre-Wegovy levels not long after the victor became the first pharma company to top a $1 trillion valuation. It seems one company can do no right, while the other can do no wrong.
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FDA
Following the FDA’s refusal to review Moderna’s investigational mRNA flu vaccine last week, Commissioner Marty Makary faced questions from the U.S. president about the agency’s handling of vaccines. It’s a clear signal that the tension long brewing at the drug regulator has now gone all the way to the top.
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Neurocrine Biosciences’ potential competitor to Bristol Myers Squibb’s KarXT improved symptoms of schizophrenia in a Phase II trial, but only at the low dose tested.
Congress, the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office are all targeting Big Pharma’s practice of filing multiple, overlapping patents that stifle generic and biosimilar competition.
Genentech’s latest layoffs are the second round of workforce reductions this year, following the company’s announcement in April that it was letting go around 3% of employees.
Quotient Therapeutics’ platform targets somatic mutations, which the startup contends can help identify a broader scope of genes potentially associated with disease phenotypes. Wednesday’s agreement is part of an existing partnership between Pfizer and Flagship Pioneering.
Navigator Medicine is looking to push its lead asset NAV-240 targeting immune-mediated diseases through to clinical studies “in the coming months,” which the startup in-licensed from a South Korean biotech for $20 million upfront.
For reasons including downsizing, avoiding retirement and a tight labor market, senior-level biopharma professionals are increasingly turning to fractional roles, according to two recruitment experts.
The regulator’s restrictions come as the U.S. is experiencing a surge in cases. Invivyd also announced updated Phase III data for Pemgarda, touting an 84% relative reduction in symptomatic COVID-19.
The company joins Eli Lilly in offering its own digital platform to more directly connect to patients, allowing them easier access to healthcare providers and prescription drugs.
Well-financed startup Tome is winding down operations just as two new companies, Borealis Biosciences and GondolaBio, are launching. Meanwhile, in the midst of already tense relations with China, House lawmakers raise the alarm about U.S. companies working with the country’s military on trials.
The vaccine maker is competing with well-established rivals in markets that have a mix of demand issues as well as commercial and structural headwinds, as the biotech looks to establish new growth drivers.