News
AbbVie scooped up immunology player Apogee Therapeutics for nearly $11 billion in one of the year’s top deals to-date, while Sanofi made a big play to survive its upcoming Dupixent patent cliff; FDA uncertainty continues as the agency changes direction on gene therapies by uniQure and REGENXBIO; and Jef Akst and Annalee Armstrong report back from San Diego.
FEATURED STORIES
While merger and acquisition activity has been robust of late, frequent changes in guidance and leadership at the regulator add risk to any transaction.
With drug pricing now embedded in U.S. policy, business development teams in biotech and pharma are changing the way they strike deals, including acknowledging policy uncertainties with renegotiation clauses.
Former FDA, CDC and NIH leaders convene at the BIO International Convention to discuss the dismantling of the Department of Health and Human Services under the Trump administration—and where we go from here.
FROM OUR EDITORS
Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
If cell and gene therapy makers are going to achieve their mission to improve patients’ lives, the industry must come together to share information across stakeholders, from regulators to manufacturers to payers.
THE LATEST
While sales for most of GSK’s shots slumped as vaccine skepticism continues to climb in the U.S., Shingrix jumped 20% to almost $1.4 billion in the first quarter, emerging as the pharma’s top-selling product.
The settlements delay the entry of generic copies of Pfizer’s Vyndamax by almost three years, stabilizing sales of a drug that generated $3.8 billion in the U.S. last year.
In briefing documents released Wednesday, the FDA raises doubts about two AstraZeneca assets set to be discussed Friday at the agency’s first drug-related advisory committee meeting in nine months.
Analysts will be watching as a generic version of semaglutide—marketed by Novo Nordisk as Wegovy for weight loss—launches in Canada as a test case for future price erosion in the U.S.
The FDA’s real-time clinical trial mechanism allows drug sponsors to transmit data immediately to the regulator through the cloud—a system that could “compress drug development timelines,” Jefferies analysts said.
Phase 2 data from PTC Therapeutics showed that the Novartis-partnered Huntington’s disease asset slowed progression by more than 50%. Analysts say the decision to initiate a last-stage trial reflects a lack of confidence in an accelerated FDA nod.
Sanofi and Novartis kick off the heart of earnings season; Lilly strikes its fourth pact in as many weeks; Regeneron earns landmark approval for a gene therapy for a type of genetic deafness, and also strikes a White House deal; FDA asks Amgen to withdraw Tavneos and, separately, issues Commissioner’s National Priority Vouches to three unnamed psychedelics companies.
Angel investors are raising the bar with tighter criteria, backing strong teams, realistic markets and clear paths to exit while applying deeper, domain-specific diligence to early stage bets.
Altitude Labs, an offshoot of AI-focused techbio Recursion, is teaching scientists to build companies, one founder at a time.
With six acquisitions already this year, Eli Lilly’s business development shows no signs of stopping as executives make good on a promise to spend their GLP-1 gains.