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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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Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
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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While it’s not unusual for certain positions to turn over with a new administration, the number of senior-level FDA staffers who have recently left the agency is unprecedented. The lack of communication, transparency and human decency is as well.
The FDA has asked for another well-controlled trial to establish the efficacy of reproxalap in dry eye disease.
The FDA derives just under half of its yearly funding from pharma user fees, which help support its operations and fund employee salaries. An analysis from AgencyIQ suggests that the agency is dangerously close to losing it all.
In the Phase III MITIGATE trial, Uplizna cut IgG4-related disease flares by 87% versus placebo.
Sangamo, which has been having cash problems, will receive $18 million upfront in licensing fees for its AAV capsid that in preclinical studies has shown the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier.
Bo Wang is a renowned AI scientist at the University of Toronto. He’s bringing his open-source culture and computational biology to Xaira Therapeutics in June.
An independent data monitoring board found that BeiGene’s ociperlimab was unlikely to significantly boost overall survival in patients with untreated NSCLC.
The FDA was scheduled to release its decision on Novavax’s updated, protein-based COVID-19 vaccine on April 1, but the agency’s principal deputy commissioner intervened.
Pharma’s reprieve from Donald Trump’s tariffs is expected to be temporary, with Leerink analysts anticipating possible sector-specific duties “in the next month or so.”
Although U.S. full-time employees worked an average of 42.9 hours weekly last year, according to Gallup, that wasn’t true for most BioSpace LinkedIn poll respondents. A Karius HR executive discusses a few potential reasons for the longer workweeks.