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LB Pharma needed $350 million to advance a promising schizophrenia candidate at a time when the biotech markets were locked up tight. Fortunately, it wasn’t CEO Heather Turner’s first rodeo.
Rare disease drug developers struggle to survive in a biopharma investment market that prioritizes large patient populations. Initiatives like the Orphan Therapeutics Accelerator are attempting to solve what CEO Craig Martin says is not a science problem, but a math problem.
Eli Lilly’s win in a head-to-head trial drove Novo Nordisk’s market cap to pre-Wegovy levels not long after the victor became the first pharma company to top a $1 trillion valuation. It seems one company can do no right, while the other can do no wrong.
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Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
FDA
Following the FDA’s refusal to review Moderna’s investigational mRNA flu vaccine last week, Commissioner Marty Makary faced questions from the U.S. president about the agency’s handling of vaccines. It’s a clear signal that the tension long brewing at the drug regulator has now gone all the way to the top.
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Merck follows in the footsteps of Bristol Myers Squibb, which in December 2023 also failed to secure a late-stage victory for its combo regimen of a PD-1 blocker and an anti-LAG-3 antibody.
Jefferies analyst Michael Yee in a note to investors called rocatinlimab’s atopic dermatitis data “modest,” noting that the OX40 receptor blocker “came in at the lower end of efficacy and expectations,” but found Uplizna’s performance in generalized myasthenia gravis “better than expected.”
If approved, the potential restrictions would impact Merck’s Keytruda and Bristol Myers Squibb’s Opdivo, which are marketed for the first-line treatment of several types of stomach cancer regardless of PD-L1 expression.
IntraBio’s Aqneursa is the second drug within a week approved by the regulator for treating Niemann-Pick disease type C, just days behind Zevra Therapeutics’ Miplyffa.
New revelations from the showdown between Novo Nordisk’s CEO and Bernie Sanders’ Senate health committee Tuesday; PhRMA’s legal victory in IRA case; the federal interest rate cut and anticipated approval for schizophrenia.
Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster type 2 diabetes medication is a sure bet for the list of the next 15 drugs whose Medicare prices will be negotiated in 2025 and go into effect in 2027, according to analysts and academics.
Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are expected to rule the obesity market for a few more years without much challenge. To ensure they stay there as competition enters, the companies are spending billions in licensing and M&A deals.
About a month after reporting it’s had a tough time starting enough patients on its treatments, bluebird bio announced it will lay off about 25% of its employees, over half of whom work in R&D.
Amid a flurry of weight loss readouts, a fresh-on-the-scene startup has come out with Phase I results showing weight loss at day 36 on par with or better than competitors, with few gastrointestinal side effects.
Flagship Pioneering–backed Generate:Biomedicines has signed its second major Big Pharma partnership, bringing in $65 million upfront to use its AI platform to discover novel protein drug candidates.