News

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.
FEATURED STORIES
Heightened diligence standards and longer decision timelines for early-stage startups slowed venture activity last year, J.P. Morgan found in a report published ahead of the bank’s annual healthcare conference in San Francisco.
The prevalence of serious inflammatory safety issues such as cytokine release syndrome and immune effector cell–associated neurotoxicity syndrome limits the reach of these transformative cancer therapies.
FDA
After greenlighting 56 novel therapeutics in 2025, four notable applications continue to await the agency’s action after being delayed from the fourth quarter last year.
Job Trends
Follow along as BioSpace tracks job cuts and restructuring initiatives.
FROM OUR EDITORS
Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
With five CDER leaders in one year and regulatory proposals coming “by fiat,” the FDA is only making it more difficult to bring therapies to patients.
THE LATEST
Biohaven will use the money to bankroll commercial preparations for the spinocerebellar ataxia drug candidate troriluzole, which is currently under FDA review with a decision expected in the third quarter.
The company’s $3 billion in earnings for the first quarter missed on both top and bottom line, according to BMO Capital Markets. Adding insult to injury, the FDA declined to approve a prefilled syringe of its ophthalmology cornerstone.
Pfizer’s R&D organization has been in flux for almost two years now, since the $43 billion acquisition of ADC specialist Seagen. The new cuts were revealed in the company’s Q1 earnings report.
Major pharmaceutical companies are committing billions to US manufacturing in an effort to avoid steep tariffs threatened by President Donald Trump.
FDA
In a recent interview, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said there “should be nothing political about the FDA.” Recent actions taken by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and others within the department appear to be at odds with this sentiment.
Spruce Biosciences is cutting over half of its employees as it looks to secure accelerated approval of a Sanfilippo syndrome therapy it recently acquired from BioMarin.
Pfizer’s sasanlimab, when used with standard of care, reduced the likelihood of disease recurrence or progression, death due to any cause or persistence of cancer cells by 32% in patients with high-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer.
The targeted drug release device TAR-200 shows promising response and disease-free survival rates in specific populations of patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer.
The FDA is currently reviewing Merck’s sBLA for Keytruda in head and neck cancer, with a target action date of June 23.
The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2025. With the deal, Merck KGaA is adding to its rare disease and oncology pipelines.