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Disc Medicine’s leadership tried to express optimism that its rare disease therapy bitopertin can be approved based on a Phase 3 trial set to begin shortly. However, analysts are worried that the protocol was developed with former FDA leaders.
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The FDA’s refusal to review Moderna’s mRNA-based flu vaccine is “part of a disturbing pattern” of moving regulatory goalposts, according to Clay Alspach, executive director of the Alliance for mRNA Medicines. Meanwhile, streamlined communications with regulators in other countries pave the way for rapid uptake of novel modalities.
The current state of political affairs in the U.S. does not bode well for the direction of that turn. The country is at real risk of losing its long-held lead in biotech innovation.
FDA
The FDA’s refusal to review Moderna’s mRNA-based flu vaccine is part of a larger communications crisis unfolding at the agency over the past nine months that has also ensnarled Sarepta, Capricor, uniQure and many more.
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The FDA issued a rare Refusal-to-File letter to Moderna over its mRNA-based influenza vaccine application, in an unusual move that sent the biotech’s shares tumbling.
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The 9% average salary increase from 2023 to 2024 was the largest for life sciences professionals since 2021. Several factors could be behind the spike, including companies providing higher pay because bonuses and stock compensation went down.
Led by alums from Takeda and Boston Pharmaceuticals, Hillstar Bio is working on treatments that remove harmful immune cells to relieve disease.
Merck joins a growing list of companies targeting lipoprotein(a), high levels of which are associated with an elevated risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes.
President Donald Trump’s tariffs on pharmaceuticals “to come at some point,” per CNBC, as companies promise to build infrastructure in the U.S.
The Eylea franchise was in need of a win after an appellate court last week denied the pharma’s bid to block Amgen’s biosimilar from the U.S.
If confirmed, Susan Monarez will have her work cut out for her, facing a measles outbreak that has already killed two people—the first measles-related deaths in the U.S. since 2015.
The company, launched with help from ex-Novartis executives, is targeting glutamate signaling in the brain to help treat alcohol- and cocaine-use disorders, among other indications.
Novo will license UTB251, a triple hormone receptor agonist that in mid-2023 achieved 24% weight reduction at 48 weeks in a mid-stage study.
The investments come amid an ongoing insurance fraud probe into AstraZeneca’s former China head Leon Wang—and despite mounting pressure from President Trump for pharma companies to re-shore their manufacturing operations.