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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.
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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.
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.
Molecular glue degraders are gaining traction in the clinic as well as funding from Big Pharma, with their potential to treat previously “undruggable” cancers and immunological diseases. Here are five clinical programs worth keeping an eye on.
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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.
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Biopharma leaders react to the forced resignation of CBER Head Peter Marks as RFK Jr.’s promised job cuts begin at the FDA; Novo Nordisk presents mixed results from oral semaglutide in cardiovascular disease; the EU’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use declines to recommend Eli Lilly’s Alzheimer’s drug; and pharma R&D returns grew in 2024.
Already reeling from years of market chaos, the announced departure of CBER chief Peter Marks sent a ripple across biopharma markets.
Organon’s workforce cuts come several months after the company’s loss of exclusivity to its second-largest product, Atozet.
The latest cuts, which are part of a larger reduction of 10,000 at the Department of Health and Human Services, were reportedly underway Tuesday, with CDER Office of New Drugs Director Peter Stein added to the list of casualties.
Cell therapy and oncology–focused Carisma Therapeutics started layoffs late last year. Now the company plans to wind down fully.
Merck continues to build the case for the pulmonary arterial hypertension drug that won FDA approval in 2024.
AIRNA’s lead candidate AIR-001 works by correcting the most common pathologic mutation driving the rare disease alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.
Analysts at financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald are urging President Donald Trump to rethink his appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services.
The layoffs will take place throughout 2025 and will mostly affect Tenaya’s research and manufacturing operations. The company is continuing to test its hypertrophic cardiomyopathy gene therapy.
Despite a $400 million impairment charge, analysts say the removal of a drug-device combo from its portfolio is not a huge loss for Vertex given that the company has a more advanced type 1 diabetes candidate in zimislecel.