News

IPO
After debuting on the public markets with $256.3 million and raking in an additional $472 million, Veradermics has emerged as one of biotech’s biggest post-IPO standouts. CEO Reid Waldman credits the weight loss craze for establishing consumer-driven channels.
FEATURED STORIES
Last month, the FDA launched TrialBlazer, intended to streamline the IND path and bring early clinical trials and medical innovation home to the U.S. It’s a start, but new agency leadership must see it through.
FDA
Significant leadership instability at the FDA—compounded by continued workforce attrition—led to a slight slowdown in overall regulatory productivity in the first half of this year, but the agency has been catching up of late.
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.
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
Viridian Therapeutics’ elegrobart normalized the degree of eye protrusion and improved double vision in a Phase 3 study. The company plans to file for approval in the first quarter of 2027.
Johnson & Johnson plans to advance the co-antibody therapy, which combines its IL-23 blocker Tremfya and the TNF-alpha inhibitor Simponi, into late-stage testing for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
Facing increasing pressure from both industry and the White House, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said the strong bad press against him is “corporate spin” and that the agency has “followed the science.”
First quarter earnings continue to arrive, with analysts demanding more from cautious Pfizer and Eli Lilly expecting more revenue; the FDA taps Katherine Szarama as Vinay Prasad’s controversial FDA tenure ends; oncology veterans miss Richard Pazdur at the agency’s first adcomm in nine months; and QurAlis and Corcept Therapeutics spark renewed hope in ALS.
In Salt Lake City, biotech founders new and seasoned reflect on ways to ride out the industry’s challenges, such as sending cold emails to investors and learning to address leadership weaknesses.
A legal settlement has put wind behind Pfizer’s sales into 2029—at which point key obesity moves will take the helm.
The action affects BioNTech sites in Germany and Singapore, where the company expects to have excess capacity.
ALS
Biogen’s Qalsody won FDA approval in 2023 to treat a rare, genetic form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. On Tuesday, QurAlis presented interim Phase 2 data showing the potential of a similar drug to more broadly treat the neurodegenerative disease.
Despite the continued decline of Pfizer’s COVID-19 products, shares stayed stable on Tuesday morning after the New York pharma reported a first quarter beat, which was led by Eliquis and Ibrance.
Madrigal Pharmaceuticals has licensed from Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals an RNA interference candidate that targets a genetic mutation present in around 30% of patients with MASH.