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Alternatives to opioids are desperately needed to better treat moderate to severe acute pain, but to date, we’ve seen few novel analgesics hit the market.
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IPO
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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Phacilitate’s annual event dawns as cell and gene therapies reach a new tipping point: the science has hit new heights just as regulatory and government policies spark momentum and frustration.
Onvansertib cut the risk of death or disease progression by 62% versus standard of care, but analysts await more detailed data.
Roche’s obesity candidate achieves 22.5% weight loss in Phase II; Moderna pulls the plug on late-stage vaccine trials as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s anti-vaccine policies and rhetoric continues; and embattled gene therapy maker Sarepta announces new data in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
The deal will help bolster Eli Lilly’s growing hearing loss portfolio, which is anchored by the gene therapy AK-OTOF.
If workloads aren’t adjusted as needed, the company’s priorities are already compromised. Executive coach Angela Justice explores what happens when goals move forward without removing unnecessary work and what to do about it.
BioSpace’s 2026 U.S. Life Sciences Employment Outlook examines the state of the biopharma workforce amid ongoing funding pressure, elevated layoffs and cautious hiring sentiment, while highlighting early signals of stabilization and cautious optimism for the year ahead.
After a patient safety signal and then death, the FDA in October 2025 placed holds on two of the company’s CRISPR programs for hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis.
Roche said the Phase II results help build the case for advancing CT-388 into late-stage testing, which is set to get underway this quarter.
The cornerstone of the deal is SIM0709, which Simcere designed to target both TL1A and IL-23, crucial players in facilitating inflammation. Boehringer Ingelheim will advance the asset for inflammatory bowel diseases.
While Baseline Therapeutics declined to disclose its starting capital, the startup said it will use the funds to push its GLP-1 asset BT-001 into late-stage development, with two trials planned this year.