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Alastair Thomson, chief data officer at the HHS sub-agency, announced his resignation in opposition to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s “stupid” decision to cancel $500 million worth of contracts focused on mRNA technology.
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Against steep odds and well-established paradigms, these four companies have successfully been commercializing their products on their own.
Though nerves abound for funders and founders in the industry, money continues to flow into startups, sometimes in eye-popping numbers. BioSpace rounds up the biggest raises so far this year.
Acknowledging the limits of disease-modifying drugs like Leqembi and Kisunla, companies like Bristol Myers Squibb, Acadia, Otsuka and Lundbeck are renewing a decades-old search for symptomatic treatments, including in high-profile drugs like Cobenfy.
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While Houston isn’t yet on the same level as major life sciences hubs, it has plenty to offer and room to grow, according to CNS Pharmaceuticals, RadioMedix and Greater Houston Partnership executives.
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Not exactly known for its dealmaking, Sarepta Therapeutics has thrown down a massive wad of cash to work with Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals on RNAi-based medicines.
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The German giant has already trimmed more than 10,000 employees since initiating a massive restructuring initiative in July 2023. Bayer said even more cuts are coming as it weathers up-and-down sales across its portfolio.
Terns, once a rising star in obesity and the MASH space, will refocus on cancer and partner out a handful of obesity assets.
Maziar Mike Doustdar, who was named as Novo Nordisk’s new CEO last week, spoke on a second quarter earnings call of reallocating resources to the company’s “main core” of metabolic disease.
President Donald Trump plans to start with a “small tariff” on pharmaceutical imports before ramping duties up to 250% within a year and a half.
BioNTech also laid off 63 employees in June in conjunction with the discontinuation of its cell therapy manufacturing operations in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
The Department of Health and Human Services is terminating around $500 million in BARDA contracts associated with mRNA vaccine development, a move that will affect several pharma companies, including Moderna, Pfizer, Sanofi and AstraZeneca.
From tariffs to drug pricing to the FDA, biopharma CEOs find themselves pulled into policy discussions on this year’s second quarter earnings calls.
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.
The regulatory environment is placing extreme pricing pressure on pharmaceutical manufacturers. Their success in the market depends on mounting an agile response.
Out-licensing drugs to multinational corporations is a natural step for Chinese biotechs, but the recent rise in deals is only scratching at the surface of partnership-ready biotechs in the region.