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Takeda’s layoffs include cutting 247 people in Massachusetts. The workforce reduction is meant to help offset investments in areas including a product launch for oral drug candidate zasocitinib, for which the pharma today announced positive Phase 3 data.
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The FDA has some big verdicts lined up in the second quarter, including one for a closely watched obesity drug that many anticipate will further intensify competition in weight loss.
Accumulating scientific evidence and industry interest from Eli Lilly, Altimmune and startup Baseline Therapeutics is driving further research on the therapeutic potential of GLP-1 receptor agonists in treating substance use disorders.
At the AD/PD annual meeting, Eisai presented real-world data suggesting Leqembi’s long-term safety and efficacy in people homozygous for APOE4, who were identified in trials as being at higher risk of brain bleeds while on the treatment. Alzheon, meanwhile, added further detail to trial results of its candidate in patients with the same genetic profile.
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While requests by government officials for anonymity when speaking to the media are nothing new, the practice attracts more scrutiny when the Department for Health and Human Services has pledged a commitment to “radical transparency.”
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The FDA initially placed the Phase III IDeate-Lung02 study on hold due to a “higher than expected” number of deaths in patients treated with ifinatamab deruxtecan.
AbbVie has also pledged to participate in TrumpRx and offer many of its products, including Humira, on a direct-to-patient basis. In exchange, the pharma secured exemptions from tariffs and other future pricing directives.
Drugmakers told the FDA that inflexible post-approval change requirements are among the top regulatory barriers to the reshoring of pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Former European Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan and former U.S. Senator Richard Burr, speaking on a panel at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, pushed to see a larger picture beyond the Trump administration’s year of chaos and confusion.
Mature biopharma deals are stealing all the headlines, but Bristol Myers Squibb’s Robert Plenge says the company’s deals with insitro, Orbital and more are building the future.
The deal, which sees AbbVie paying RemeGen $650 million upfront, gives the pharma ex-China rights to the biotech’s PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody—a modality being targeted by companies including BMS, Merck and Pfizer.
While Moderna’s full-year sales landed in the upper end of its target range, Jefferies analysts said further reductions are needed if the biotech hopes to hit its 2028 break-even target.
The deal will see Novartis gain global rights over SciNeuro’s potentially disease-modifying anti-amyloid antibody, which leverages the latter’s proprietary shuttle platform to allow delivery into the brain.
FDA Commissioner Marty Makary called these changes “common-sense reforms” that could expedite the development of cell and gene therapies.
Aurora joins the clutch of companies linked to Nobel Prize winner and CRISPR trailblazer Jennifer Doudna.