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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.
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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.
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.
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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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The company’s experimental lgG4 antibody met the primary endpoint in a late-stage study of the rare skin disease. AnaptysBio will submit an application to the FDA by the third quarter of 2024.
The regulator approved the combination of Pfizer’s Braftovi and Mektovi for the treatment of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer in adult patients with a BRAF V600E mutation.
The Danish pharma announced Monday that it is buying a Phase III hypertension candidate from Singapore-based KBP Biosciences. It is Novo Nordisk’s third high-value purchase in as many months.
Patients in a late-stage trial treated with Eli Lilly’s GIP and GLP-1 receptor agonist saw a 21.1% mean body weight reduction over 72 weeks following an intensive lifestyle intervention program.
A revised Paxlovid supply agreement with the U.S. government has pushed Pfizer to launch a “cost realignment” program including layoffs, though it is still unclear how many employees will be affected.
The first two weeks of October saw BMS’s $4.8 billion buyout of Mirati, Lilly’s $1.4 billion purchase of Point, Kyowa Kirin’s $387 million acquisition of Orchard and AbbVie’s $110 million Mitokinin deal.
The regulator’s approval of oral, once-daily etrasimod, to be marketed as Velsipity, was based on favorable Phase III safety and efficacy data showing significant clinical remission of ulcerative colitis.
Last year, the FDA declined to approve a drug that appears to reverse a rare and debilitating enzyme deficiency. Some experts say it’s emblematic of a need for more flexibility around therapeutics targeting rare diseases.
The biotech will pause its lirafugratinib program for a rare bile duct cancer to target a larger FGFR2-altered solid tumors population, citing the Inflation Reduction Act as a driving decision factor.
The biopharma’s data manipulation controversy continues with a recently leaked City University of New York report, which found signs of “egregious” and “deliberate” misconduct by a company advisor.