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Last month, “historic positive results” from uniQure’s gene therapy snapped the Huntington’s community out of years of failure. As the biotech prepares to submit for FDA approval, BioSpace looks at four more candidates on the near horizon.
Pivotal results from uniQure’s gene therapy for Huntington’s disease have brought new light to patients who have known only disappointment in recent years—but one expert worries that communication of the results is creating “false expectations.”
M&A is back, the S&P XBI is rising again, a biotech pulled off an IPO and positive data is pulling in investors again. This may just be the industry’s new normal.
Job Trends
Nine states in the Southeast showed growth in bioscience employment and establishments from 2019 to 2023, according to 2024 data from BIO and TEConomy Partners. NCBiotech and Bexion executives discuss the area and the pros and cons of setting up shop far from major hubs.
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Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
Less than a day into his second term, President Donald Trump ordered a freeze on communications at major public health agencies, among other moves that have sent waves through the biopharma industry.
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Investors got to hear Novo Nordisk’s side of the Metsera bidding war drama for the first time on Wednesday, as the company reported third-quarter earnings. A rough quarter underscored the stakes for the Danish pharma.
Pfizer and Novo Nordisk continue to fight for ownership of obesity startup Metsera; CDER Director George Tidmarsh leaves his position amid an ongoing probe into his “personal conduct”; FDA reverses course on approval requirements for uniQure’s Huntington’s gene therapy; Sarepta’s exon-skipping Duchenne muscular dystrophy drugs fail confirmatory study.
Biohaven is proposing troriluzole for the treatment of spinocerebellar ataxia, a group of rare, genetic diseases that lead to the progressive loss of control over movement.
Arena launched with $500 million in early 2024 to fund basic biological research, from which it planned to spin out dedicated companies to focus on drug development.
Harmony Biosciences has paused a mid-stage trial of ZYN002 in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome after the THC-free cannabinoid drug failed to significantly improve social avoidance in a late-stage study in fragile X Syndrome.
Amgen remains confident in its obesity asset MariTide, for which it has launched a broad Phase III program.
Due to the litigation Pfizer filed Friday and Monday against Metsera, Novo Nordisk and the biotech’s lead shareholder, CEO Albert Bourla was limited in what he could say. But he said Pfizer was the best fit for Metsera.
Both companies have submitted revised bids, with Novo’s coming in $1.9 billion higher than Pfizer’s.
The potential approval of Vertex’s IgAN therapy povetacicept in 2026 comes amid launch headwinds for the company’s non-opioid pain medicine Journavx and gene therapy Casgevy.
Sarepta nevertheless plans to push for full FDA approval of Vyondys 53 and Amondys 45 based on what it said are “encouraging trends” in efficacy.