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Alternatives to opioids are desperately needed to better treat moderate to severe acute pain, but to date, we’ve seen few novel analgesics hit the market.
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IPO
LB Pharma needed $350 million to advance a promising schizophrenia candidate at a time when the biotech markets were locked up tight. Fortunately, it wasn’t CEO Heather Turner’s first rodeo.
Rare disease drug developers struggle to survive in a biopharma investment market that prioritizes large patient populations. Initiatives like the Orphan Therapeutics Accelerator are attempting to solve what CEO Craig Martin says is not a science problem, but a math problem.
Eli Lilly’s win in a head-to-head trial drove Novo Nordisk’s market cap to pre-Wegovy levels not long after the victor became the first pharma company to top a $1 trillion valuation. It seems one company can do no right, while the other can do no wrong.
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Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
FDA
Following the FDA’s refusal to review Moderna’s investigational mRNA flu vaccine last week, Commissioner Marty Makary faced questions from the U.S. president about the agency’s handling of vaccines. It’s a clear signal that the tension long brewing at the drug regulator has now gone all the way to the top.
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Already approved in schizophrenia and bipolar depression, Intra-Cellular Therapies reported strong late-stage data Tuesday for its antipsychotic Caplyta in major depressive disorder.
Despite the strong performance of its cancer portfolio, Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday reported Stelara sales of $2.45 billion in the first quarter of 2024, falling short of Wall Street expectations of $2.6 billion.
In a Phase I/II study, Ultragenyx’s antisense oligonucleotide GTX-102 led to significant cognitive, behavioral, sleep and gross motor improvements in patients with the rare genetic disorder Angelman syndrome.
A federal court in Massachusetts has granted Pfizer and BioNTech’s motion to put on hold Moderna’s lawsuit over alleged patent infringement related to their COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty.
Prescriptions for Sandoz’s Hyrimoz, a biosimilar version of AbbVie’s Humira, have shot up after CVS Caremark took the blockbuster arthritis treatment off its major national commercial formularies on April 1.
While Madrigal Pharmaceuticals secured the first FDA drug approval for metabolic dysfunction–associated steatohepatitis, Akero Therapeutics is developing what may serve as a viable alternative treatment for precirrhotic disease.
Roche said Monday that its bispecific T cell engager Columvi improved survival in a Phase III lymphoma trial, clearing the drugmaker to seek a full, expanded label that could drive sales growth.
Following cases of convulsions in rabbits in a preclinical study, the FDA has placed a clinical hold on Neumora Therapeutics’ Phase I schizophrenia drug candidate NMRA-266.
Roche’s Genentech subsidiary is terminating for undisclosed reasons its 2021 contract with Adaptimmune for the development of allogeneic T-cell therapeutics.
AbbVie’s small molecule drug Qulipta has durable benefits and can reduce migraine frequency through 48 weeks of follow-up, according to interim Phase III data released on Friday.