News
With Versant Ventures as a founding investor, Santa Ana Bio emerged from stealth Thursday with $168 million in combined Series A and B funding to support plans to have two programs in the clinic by next year.
FEATURED STORIES
After covering the Alzheimer’s space through every high and low, BioSpace’s Annalee Armstrong welcomes back Roche for the 2026 Alzheimer’s Renaissance.
Following FDA rejections, Regeneron and Scholar Rock are turning to other facilities to clear regulatory logjams created by quality problems at an ex-Catalent facility in Indiana. Novo Nordisk, meanwhile, has been tight-lipped about whether its own FDA applications have been affected.
As big pharmas including Takeda and Novo Nordisk flee the cell therapy space and smaller biotechs shutter their operations, these players are sticking around to take the modality as far as it can go.
Job Trends
Bristol Myers Squibb announced that the European Commission (EC) has approved Opdivo (nivolumab) in combination with Yervoy (ipilimumab) for the first-line treatment of adult patients with unresectable advanced, recurrent or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) with tumor cell PD-L1 expression ≥ 1%.
FROM OUR EDITORS
Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
Unpredictable communication and a lack of transparency are eroding the industry’s and the public’s trust. The FDA, experts agree, needs to take control of the narrative.
THE LATEST
The layoffs, set to take effect in late November, will impact about a third of Reata’s headcount. The workforce reduction comes just weeks after Biogen completed its $7.3 billion Reata buy.
An increase in funding share and available lab space helps to keep the Bay State’s biotech and pharma sectors strong.
The MeiraGTx founder and CEO, now on her third career, didn’t take a typical path.
The subcutaneous version of its blockbuster multiple sclerosis drug notched a victory in a key late-stage study. Roche will submit the OCARINA II data to global health authorities in the coming months.
The next frontier in RNA therapies, RNA editing has the potential to treat both genetic and common disorders, and the technology is rapidly expanding beyond the liver.
The biotech is laying off about 29% of its employees and will focus its resources on the company’s hypoimmune platform. The latest downsizing follows a previous round of layoffs in August 2023.
The European Commission on Thursday ordered Illumina to divest Grail, opening the next chapter in the years-long regulatory saga. Illumina is reviewing the order, Reuters reported.
Following the recommendations of an independent Data Monitoring Committee, Novo Nordisk has halted a Phase III kidney outcomes study of semaglutide ahead of schedule due to strong efficacy signals.
Google and Microsoft are already making inroads into drug development, but smaller biotechs focused on AI may end up leading the charge.
The pharma giant’s anti-PD-1 therapy met its dual primary endpoint of overall survival as a treatment regimen for non-small cell lung cancer patients, as the FDA’s Oct. 16 PDUFA date looms.