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The FDA’s proposed Rare Disease Evidence Principles review process is a starting point for getting rare disease therapies across the finish line, but industry leaders say there are more concrete steps the regulator could take to help patients.
FEATURED STORIES
It can cure deadly diseases, save long-term healthcare costs and transform lives. But the U.S. insurance system still isn’t ready to pay for it.
IPO
Blank check deals dwindled after a crazy 2021. Now, biotechs are starting to turn to special purpose acquisition companies again as an easy route to the public markets.
IPO
Some of the biggest SPACs from the industry’s pandemic-fueled heyday are no longer on the market.
Job Trends
Carisma’s second workforce reduction this year likely leaves the company with 44 full-time employees as turns its focus to developing therapies for fibrosis, oncology and autoimmune diseases.
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Roche’s fenebrutinib this week scored a mid-stage win in relapsing multiple sclerosis, while Sanofi’s tolebrutinib met the primary endpoint in a Phase III trial for progressive MS but flopped in two late-stage relapsing MS studies.
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FDA
On the FDA’s docket for the back half of September is Merck’s proposed subcutaneous formulation of its blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda.
The settlement agreement will extend market exclusivity for AbbVie’s JAK inhibitor in the U.S. until 2037—providing pediatric exclusivity is granted.
Ocaliva won accelerated approval for primary biliary cholangitis in 2016, which the FDA refused to upgrade to full approval last year after an advisory committee was unable to verify a favorable risk/benefit profile.
President Donald Trump is considering tariff exemptions for certain “non-patented” pharmaceuticals, though the White House has yet to release specific guidelines.
IPO
LB Pharma landed on the Nasdaq Thursday, with 3 million additional shares sold than expected.
A draft executive order obtained by The New York Times purports to clamp down on the pharmaceutical industry’s ability to buy new molecules from biotechs based in China, along with a number of other proposed reforms.
The biopharma job market remains challenging, based on BioSpace data. In August, job postings live on the website dropped 32% year over year. In addition, during the first eight months of 2025, over 26,000 people were laid off or projected to be laid off.
New York City has seen increased life sciences employment during the past decade as public funding and key projects like JLABS @ NYC have given the area a boost. A Partnership Fund for New York City executive discusses the city’s strengths and a notable challenge facing businesses.
Capsida has yet to disclose the exact cause of death. The patient had received the gene therapy CAP-002 for a type of epilepsy.
New draft guidelines suggest the FDA is open to exercising regulatory flexibility for non-opioid drugs being developed for chronic pain.