News
President Donald Trump continues to warn of tariffs on the pharmaceutical industry; Susan Monarez replaces Dave Weldon as CDC director nominee; Novo Nordisk joins the triple-G race; Alnylam wins approval for Amvuttra in ATTR-CM; and Cassava Sciences ends development of simufilam in Alzheimer’s.
FEATURED STORIES
Mixed headlines have plagued the cell and gene therapy space of late. We believe that a renewed case of optimism is not only warranted but essential if these therapies are to reach their full potential.
Since July, several biotechs have been forced to pivot as previous agreements with the FDA around evidence required for approval were reversed, a phenomenon that, according to experts, could portend a more restrictive regulator.
The drugmaker’s dominance of the obesity market is fueling predictions that years of growth lie ahead.
Job Trends
Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, announced positive results from the pivotal Phase 3 KEYNOTE-671 trial evaluating KEYTRUDA, Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy, as a perioperative treatment regimen, which includes treatment before surgery and after surgery, for patients with resectable stage II, IIIA or IIIB non-small cell lung cancer.
FROM OUR EDITORS
Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
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.
THE LATEST
Monday’s agreement comes days after PTC discontinued the development of another asset, utreloxastat, due to disappointing Phase II data in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
The cancers were diagnosed 19 to 92 months after Skysona treatment.
After extending its review period to evaluate additional submissions, the FDA ultimately denied Applied Therapeutics’ govorestat for galactosemia, citing “deficiencies” with the application. The biotech plans to meet with the regulator to discuss the best way forward for the drug.
At the conference, AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo will present their case for Dato-DXd in NSCLC, while BioNTech and Merus will reveal promising mid-stage data for their respective cancer candidates.
Despite hotly debated biomarkers and failed or delayed confirmatory trials, the accelerated approval program has a track record of propelling R&D for some of medicine’s most challenging illnesses.
Projected to be worth over $38 billion in the global healthcare market by 2032, AI simulations have the potential to streamline clinical trials and help address inequities in underserved patient populations.
Emboldened by technological advances and a deeper knowledge of glioblastoma, Merck, Kazia Therapeutics, CorriXR Therapeutics and others are targeting the often-fatal brain tumor.
Eli Lilly topped the list of the 20 biggest pharmas by market cap with a more than 39% improvement year-to-date in its share price. Other companies have not been so lucky.
Despite the “unfortunate” failure, William Blair analysts do not believe that the utreloxastat readout will heavily affect PTC, instead postulating that the upcoming FDA decision on its phenylketonuria candidate sepiapterin will be a stronger driver of the biotech’s stock.
Trump is rounding out his health cabinet with another controversial figure: one of the authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, which advocated for herd immunity through infection during the COVID-19 pandemic.