News
The FDA greenlit 26 novel therapies in the first half of 2026, including four for cancer and six for orphan indications. Meanwhile, AstraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson took home a combined 11 of the agency’s 79 total approvals, including supplemental nods.
FEATURED STORIES
Even as FDA approvals for biologic therapies fell in the first half of 2026, regulatory experts are optimistic about a turnaround in the rare disease space after the departure of key leaders at the agency. Still, there will continue to be tension between science and politics.
Early-stage financing rounds are on track to hit their lowest dollar value in years as funders continue to eschew risky investments, experts told BioSpace.
A mostly black box since emerging with more than a billion dollars in hand, Xaira Therapeutics is slowly pulling back the curtain, revealing plans to find partners and validate its pipeline.
FROM OUR EDITORS
Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
Congressional letters sent to the CEOs of Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Merck, BMS and AbbVie this week voicing concerns about the pharmas’ clinical trials in China highlight an ongoing discrepancy in how government and industry think about the rise of the Asian country’s biotech industry.
THE LATEST
For those looking to transition out of academia, moving into a government role could be one of the most rewarding pathways available.
Govorestat failed its primary composite measure but showed signals of efficacy, leading the company to push forward with an NDA.
The partial clinical hold follows Foghorn’s voluntary pause of the study and is due to one patient developing irregular heartbeat following treatment with FHD-609.
Eplontersen halted ATTRv-PN disease progression and improved quality of life through 66 weeks. The drug has a PDUFA date of Dec. 22, 2023.
To give the FDA more time to evaluate updates to quizartinib’s proposed REMS program, the regulator is pushing the target action date to July 24.
Friday, the Supreme Court granted the FDA’s application for a stay, effectively maintaining access to the abortion pill mifepristone as its case goes through the appeals process.
The FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research is aiming to recreate the success achieved with the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines under a program of the same name.
This week, the FDA will release its verdict on Biogen and Ionis’ ALS candidate tofersen and three other investigational medicines for psychiatric disorders, hormonal insufficiency and gut infection.
AbbVie shared more positive results for its migraine prevention drug, Qulipta, just three days after FDA approval to expand its label.
The checkpoint inhibitor is approved for several cancers in China, but after an indefinite FDA delay last summer, BeiGene’s partner Novartis still awaits its first U.S. approval.