News

Analysts are “cautiously optimistic” about Trump’s executive order, noting that changes to the IRA drug price negotiation program will still require Congressional action before being implemented.
FEATURED STORIES
Novo Nordisk goes “on the offensive” following Trump deal that also included rival Eli Lilly, putting an exclamation point on rapidly declining GLP-1 drug prices. Experts say the unusual situation makes it hard to predict what’s next.
Drug candidates don’t usually move among Big Pharma, but these five biotechs helped facilitate such hand-offs, scooping up assets from one pharma on the cheap before being bought out for billions by another.
FDA
A week into his tenure as head of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, experts agree that Rick Pazdur is the “ideal fit” to stabilize the agency. And, according to one ex-FDA official, if his CBER counterpart Vinay Prasad tries to supersede Pazdur’s authority, “there will be hell to pay.”
Job Trends
4D Molecular Therapeutics announced that it has completed enrollment of the Phase 2 Dose Expansion stage of the PRISM clinical trial for patients with wet age-related macular degeneration over approximately two quarters, and that no significant 4D-150 safety events or inflammation have been reported to date.
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
Passage Bio’s workforce reduction could affect about 32 people, leaving the company with 26 employees as it continues evaluating a treatment for frontotemporal dementia with granulin mutations.
On the heels of an FDA approval for its monoclonal antibody Bizengri, Merus will generate three novel cancer-targeting antibodies that it will pass over to Biohaven to link into antibody drug-conjugates.
Biogen’s proposed acquisition comes after two difficult years of regulatory and clinical challenges, during which shares of Sage Therapeutics have fallen by more than 90%.
Among Intra-Cellular’s neuropsychiatric assets is Caplyta, a pill approved for schizophrenia and bipolar depression and proposed for major depressive disorder.
Gilead’s investment will let it assess the therapeutic potential of targeting STAT6, a transcription factor involved in IL-4 and IL-13 signaling, which in turn are known inflammatory targets.
Emraclidine was the centerpiece of AbbVie’s $8.7 billion acquisition of Cerevel in December 2023 but failed two mid-stage trials. Tavapadon, meanwhile, has been a more rewarding asset for the pharma, clearing three Phase III Parkinson’s studies in 2024.
IPO
Metsera will use its IPO proceeds to fund the Phase III development of its injectable, ultra-long-acting GLP-1 therapy MET-097i, which last week achieved 11.3% weight loss in a Phase IIa study.
The first major deal of JPM 2025 will give GSK a promising small molecule drug for gastrointestinal stromal tumors.
Benefiting from technological and conceptual groundwork and positive early data, gene therapies are advancing in the clinic for cardiovascular diseases including congestive heart failure, chronic refractory angina and cardiomyopathy.
An FDA committee’s September 2024 vote to limit the use of Merck’s Keytruda and BMS’ Opdivo in stomach and esophageal cancers based on PD-L1 expression levels reflects an emerging trend that leverages ever-maturing datasets.