News

Biogen’s new data, presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, supports a tau-focused approach to the intractable neurodegenerative disease; psychedelics are back in the news with more positive data from Compass Pathways and final guidance from the FDA; and the ATTR-CM space got a major shakeup with the late-stage failure of AstraZeneca and Ionis’ antisense therapeutic.
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Biopharma is entering its second-quarter earnings season riding high on a wave of massive deals and venture capital flow, plus a clearing of regulatory and policy overhangs. What can industry watchers expect to hear on the upcoming investor calls?
Biogen touted an “unprecedented” drop in tau in a Phase 2 trial, backing the company’s decision to take diranersen to Phase 3 despite a missed primary endpoint and seemingly supporting the anti-tau approach.
As antibody-drug conjugates advance and move into earlier lines of treatment, drug developers have to build gentler therapies that don’t just extend survival but improve it.
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Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
Congressional letters sent to the CEOs of Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Merck, BMS and AbbVie this week voicing concerns about the pharmas’ clinical trials in China highlight an ongoing discrepancy in how government and industry think about the rise of the Asian country’s biotech industry.
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With two earlier trials meeting their primary endpoints, Axsome claimed it has the data to support a filing for FDA approval in the second half of 2025.
As market values increase for computational biology and data science, biopharma companies are looking to hire R&D professionals in those areas. A biotech talent acquisition expert shares his insights on these in-demand roles.
Roche has once again returned to China to bolster its antibody-drug conjugate pipeline, this time striking a licensing deal with Innovent for $1 billion in biobucks.
FDA
Regulators squeezed in two final approvals before the calendar change with the UK approval of Merck’s Winrevair and the FDA’s greenlight for an injectable formulation of BMS’s cancer blockbuster.
In a highly anticipated readout for the kappa opioid receptor class in major depressive disorder, Neumora’s navacaprant failed to meet the primary and key secondary endpoint in the first of three identical Phase III studies.
Sangamo is on course to run out of money within months and has now lost access to up to $220 million in milestone payments from Pfizer.
While layoffs slowed in the second half of 2024, biopharmas including Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson cut hundreds or even thousands of employees over the course of the year.
Other notable greenlights this year include Bristol Myers Squibb’s Cobenfy, the first novel therapeutic for schizophrenia in 35 years, and Madrigal Pharmaceuticals’ Rezdiffra, the first-ever treatment for MASH.
The new combination, dubbed Alyftrek, is designed to improve on the Trikafta, a product that generated sales of $8.9 billion in 2023. It’s welcome good news for Vertex following last week’s subpar clinical results for its non-opioid analgesic.
The mega-blockbuster weight loss GLP-1 drug is now also approved to treat obstructive sleep apnea in adults with obesity, in combination with diet and exercise.