News

FDA
Losing the FDA’s senior negotiators would slow the renewal of the user fee programs “considerably,” according to policy and regulatory expert Steven Grossman.
FEATURED STORIES
Healthcare players are pointing fingers amid regulatory crackdowns on pharmacy benefit managers, but proposed reforms wouldn’t address a dearth of competition in the larger market.
A recent study estimated that Wegovy’s label expansion beyond obesity could push Medicare spending to $145 billion annually, but analysts remain dubious of the estimate.
Bispecific antibodies and anti-TIGIT therapies both appear to be writing comeback stories as cancer experts head to Barcelona for the 2024 European Society for Medical Oncology Congress. Radioligand therapies and synthetic lethality assets are also attracting attention.
Job Trends
Sana Biotechnology, Inc. and Uppsala University Hospital in Sweden today announced the Swedish Medical Products Agency has authorized Uppsala University’s Clinical Trial Application (CTA) to initiate an investigator-sponsored, first-in-human study of UP421, an allogeneic, primary islet cell therapy engineered with Sana’s hypoimmune (HIP) technology, in patients with type 1 diabetes.
FROM OUR EDITORS
Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—along with FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and CBER Director Vinay Prasad—argued against vaccine mandates, partly because they limited medical choice. This week, the FDA under their leadership approved updated COVID-19 vaccines with restrictions that do the same.
THE LATEST
In the first podcast in a special series focused on BioSpace’s NextGen Class of 2025, Senior Editor Annalee Armstrong speaks with Dannielle Appelhans, CEO of COUR.
Casdatifan’s progression-free survival benefits could help differentiate it from Merck’s Welireg in the kidney cancer arena, according to analysts at Truist Securities.
COUR Pharmaceuticals has been around a while, but not until last year did the company solidify behind its ultimate mission with a series A raise.
FDA
The hammer came down on an unspecified number of FDA employees this weekend, days after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed as HHS Secretary.
The approvals come as Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—who has been critical of vaccines—takes leadership of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Ono picked up Romvimza—previously known by its active ingredient vimseltinib—from its $2.4 billion acquisition of Deciphera Pharmaceuticals in April 2024.
Merilog’s approval comes as the insulin space has over the past year suffered several setbacks, including strong calls for price caps and, potentially, the rise of the mammoth GLP-1 market.
Continuing our SCOPE 2025 coverage, Rohit Nambisan, CEO at Lokavant addresses not only current challenges, but the life sciences industry’s responsibility to maintain scientific integrity.
With its recent data drop for an oligonucleotide candidate, Dyne Therapeutics signals it may become a frontrunner in this disease space alongside Avidity Biosciences, Lupin and AMO Pharma.
Biopharma doubles down on immunology and inflammation as companies target new pathways and seek to improve on current options in inflammatory bowel disease, atopic dermatitis, myasthenia gravis and more.