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A surprising deal from Vertex Pharmaceuticals adds to Big Pharma’s acquisitive streak as Crinetics folds into the cystic fibrosis drugmaker. Meanwhile, IPOs and venture capital raises trend upward, but mostly for derisked companies. Plus, FDA decisions slow only slightly as the hunt for a permanent leader drags on.
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IPO
After debuting on the public markets with $256.3 million and raking in an additional $472 million, Veradermics has emerged as one of biotech’s biggest post-IPO standouts. CEO Reid Waldman credits the weight loss craze for establishing consumer-driven channels.
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.
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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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AviadoBio will have the option to exclusively license UGX-202, a vision-restoring gene therapy for the rare eye condition retinitis pigmentosa.
GoodRx, an online platform that offers drug discount coupons to patients, is in talks with the government to participate in the forthcoming TrumpRx program.
The British proposal to increase support for pharma is “clearly positive,” according to analysts at Leerink, who noted that the NHS’ move will improve patient access to treatments.
Novo will add Akero’s efruxifermin to its MASH portfolio, which includes Wegovy after the GLP-1 gained an FDA nod in the indication earlier this year.
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices was scheduled to convene Oct. 22 to 23, but this meeting has been postponed, with no new date specified. The delay comes as the VA published new research showing that COVID-19 shots prevented hospitalizations and death.
The layoffs are part of the company’s shift to a new structure enabling cost efficiency for its new model.
Looking for a job in oncology? Check out the BioSpace list of nine companies hiring life sciences professionals like you.
New analysis from Jefferies shows that rare disease and cancer drugs granted the status are especially likely to be approved.
Sanofi’s Orano Med-partnered radioligand therapy AlphaMedix achieved all primary efficacy endpoints, which included a measure of overall response rate, in the mid-stage ALPHAMEDIX-02 study.
The centerpiece of the deal is orelabrutinib, a BTK inhibitor in late-stage development for multiple sclerosis that Biogen once paid $125 million for but abandoned after less than two years of testing.