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European pharma companies splashed billions of dollars into the U.S. biopharma sector in a matter of days, but there are differing views on whether the activity represents the rise of a new buyer class or a quirk of timing.
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New guidelines from two leading medical associations suggest that efforts to reduce bad cholesterol should focus on maintaining low levels of two key lipoproteins. Big pharma is all in, looking to improve on the standard statins to help vanquish America’s number one killer: heart disease.
The FDA’s decision last year to make complete response letters public provides new insight into why therapies sometimes fail to get the regulatory greenlight. Analysts say the information could help sponsors refine their regulatory strategies.
The Department of Health and Human Services is spinning its wheels, unable to establish steady leadership at three major divisions—the CDC and the FDA’s two primary review units.
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FDA
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s health department has consistently touted radical transparency as being key to its mission. Recent instances—the FDA’s decision not to disclose the recipients of three Commissioner’s National Priority Vouchers and FDA and CDC choices not to publish vaccine-related papers—call this intent into question.
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Candel’s trial was conducted under the FDA’s Special Protocol Assessment program, meaning that its data could be used as a basis for a regulatory application.
Former president and CEO of CytoDyn Nader Pourhassan along with Kazem Kazempour, former CEO of the CRO running CytoDyn’s trials, are awaiting sentencing but could face up to 20 years in prison for each count of securities and wire fraud and insider trading.
The EPIC Act has been proposed with bipartisan and industry support to give small molecule drugs the same protection against price negotiation as biologics, but concerns over how to balance the federal budget could prevent a short-term fix to the IRA.
The discontinuation caps off a turbulent development path for izokibep, which in September 2023 produced disappointing results from Phase IIb/III study in hidradenitis suppurativa that was found to have had dosing errors.
IPO
Around 25 companies have gone public this year, most of them in the early months. Most have tumbled from their original offer price.
By far, the largest acquisition of 2024 was Novo Holdings’ yet-to-be-closed buyout of manufacturer Catalent at $16.5 billion. Outside of that, the leading pharmaceutical companies kept to less than $5 billion per deal.
Ending the diagnostic journey for patients, particularly those with rare diseases, improves patients’ quality of life while reducing costs to healthcare systems.
With nearly 90% of patients showing no detectable cancer cells after treatment, J&J and Legend’s Carvykti could stave off competition from emerging CAR T therapies such as Gilead and Arcellx’s anito-cel.
BNT327, now in early-phase trials, is part of a class of drugs that could one day challenge Keytruda’s dominance. BioNTech obtained the candidate when it bought Biotheus last month in an acquisition deal that could reach up to $950 million.