News
A surprising deal from Vertex Pharmaceuticals adds to Big Pharma’s acquisitive streak as Crinetics folds into the cystic fibrosis drugmaker. Meanwhile, IPOs and venture capital raises trend upward, but mostly for derisked companies. Plus, FDA decisions slow only slightly as the hunt for a permanent leader drags on.
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After debuting on the public markets with $256.3 million and raking in an additional $472 million, Veradermics has emerged as one of biotech’s biggest post-IPO standouts. CEO Reid Waldman credits the weight loss craze for establishing consumer-driven channels.
Molecular glue degraders are gaining traction in the clinic as well as funding from Big Pharma, with their potential to treat previously “undruggable” cancers and immunological diseases. Here are five clinical programs worth keeping an eye on.
Last month, the FDA launched TrialBlazer, intended to streamline the IND path and bring early clinical trials and medical innovation home to the U.S. It’s a start, but new agency leadership must see it through.
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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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While worthy advances have recently been made in sickle cell disease, companies such as Graphite Bio, bluebird bio, Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Editas Medicine have loftier ambitions.
Massachusetts-based PIC Therapeutics has closed a $35 million Series A financing round centered around the advancement of its lead asset, a novel therapeutic for advanced metastatic breast cancer.
A Phase II trial studying PTC Therapeutics’ PTC518 in Huntington’s disease has been paused in the United States following a request from the FDA for additional data.
Jazz and Zymeworks entered into a $50 million licensing agreement over zanidatamab, Zymeworks’ bispecific antibody targeting HER2.
Advaxis and Ayala Pharmaceuticals entered a reverse merger deal to focus on two clinical-stage cancer therapies: AL102 for desmoid tumors and ADXS-504 for prostate cancer.
Backed by Pfizer, Merck KGaA and J&J, Nucleome Therapeutics secured £37.5 million (about $42.16 million) in an oversubscribed Series A financing round.
Ambrx Biopharma Inc. announced it will lay off 15% of its workforce and suspend development of its lead candidate in a strategic realignment initiative.
Genetic engineering company Empyrean Neurosciences stepped into the CNS arena with $22 million and a small molecule platform derived from plants and fungi.
Salarius Pharmaceuticals voluntarily paused enrollment of its Phase I/II trial of seclidemstat for Ewing sarcoma and FET-rearranged sarcomas after a patient’s death.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced Tuesday morning it has struck a $70 million deal with Tempus in exchange for expanded access to Tempus’ AI-based patient data platform.