News
George Tidmarsh takes over temporarily at CBER following Vinay Prasad’s abrupt departure; Replimmune trial leaders protest rejection reportedly driven by FDA’s top cancer regulator Richard Pazdur; Merck’s $3 billion savings push claims 6,000 jobs; and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla addresses President Donald Trump’s new threats around Most Favored Nation drug pricing.
FEATURED STORIES
Only with the adoption of digital imaging and AI-powered analysis will next-generation precision oncology therapies reach their full potential and ensure no eligible patient is overlooked.
Armed with the latest biological knowledge and cutting-edge computational techniques—and, of course, investor dollars—these six biotechs are playing in the largely underappreciated longevity space, developing therapies that may improve the quality of aging.
The industry sector focused on aging is only about 10 years old, but acting on what scientists already know, a new crop of biotechs, backed by investors, are taking a disease-centric approach to extending the human lifespan.
Job Trends
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.
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Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
The HHS secretary recently canceled $500 million worth of BARDA contracts around mRNA vaccine research. But the U.S. government has already spent billions on this work, which has saved millions of lives.
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Under the Inflation Reduction Act, medications with the same active ingredient will be treated as the same drug for price negotiation purposes—even if approved by the FDA under a separate application—disincentivizing companies from investing time and money in gaining approval for new formulations and indications.
The FDA’s dramatic summer continues to unfold as news broke late Tuesday evening that Vinay Prasad will depart the agency, where he had been the head of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research for less than three months.
Pascal Soriot’s comments came during AstraZeneca’s Q2 earnings call in regard to President Donald Trump’s newly announced European pharma tariffs. The company also announced estimate-beating earnings, with its cancer portfolio driving earnings despite clinical roadblocks.
CEO Rob Davis referred to the cost reduction program as a ‘reallocation’ rather than a cut, with the savings to be reinvested to support up to 20 new product launches.
In a surprise double announcement Tuesday, Novo reduced sales guidance by 5%—attributing the change to slowed growth of its semaglutide franchise in the U.S.—and named current international operations head Maziar Mike Doustdar as its new president and CEO.
Six weeks after HHS Secretary RFK Jr. cited unexplained conflicts of interest in dismissing all 17 members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee, Democrats are asking for details.
While some analysts forecast the tariffs could mean billions in additional industry expenditure, others expect the overall impact to be “manageable.”
In a post on X, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. alleged that the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has “devolved into a morass of inefficiency, favoritism, and outright corruption.”
BMS is spinning out a new company with five immunology assets, including oral drugs being developed for systemic lupus erythematosus and plaque psoriasis, and $300 million in funds from Bain Capital.
The swift FDA action removes an overhang from Sarepta and allows Elevidys to return to the market without another safety study, as had been feared, Jefferies analysts said Monday.