News
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.
FEATURED STORIES
With the biopharma industry performing better of late, analysts, executives and other industry watchers are “cautiously optimistic”—a term heard all over the streets of San Francisco at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference earlier this month.
Bristol Myers Squibb, GSK and Merck are contributing drug ingredients as part of their deals with the White House but are keeping many of the terms of their agreements private.
Some 200 rare disease therapies are at risk of losing eligibility for a pediatric priority review voucher, a recent analysis by the Rare Disease Company Coalition shows. That could mean $4 billion in missed revenue for already cash-strapped biotechs.
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Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
The FDA’s rare pediatric disease priority review voucher program missed reauthorization at the last minute in 2024; advocates have been fighting to get it back ever since.
THE LATEST
GenAI, the youngest of the AI family, is evolving quickly. The global life sciences industry is attempting to evolve with it. However, as a keynote session at DIA’s MASC suggests, taking a pause to understand AI risks and to prepare to comply with the EU AI Act is what is needed.
The biotech Tuesday reported that 56% of patients taking paltusotine in a late-stage trial achieved the primary endpoint of IGF-1 levels for their rare hormonal disorder. An NDA submission is slated for later this year with a launch anticipated in 2025.
Following in the footsteps of Bristol Myers Squibb and Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca on Tuesday jumped into the radiopharmaceuticals space by acquiring Fusion Pharmaceuticals in a deal worth $2.4 billion.
To help support the launch of Lyfgenia, bluebird bio on Monday entered into a five-year term loan deal with Hercules Capital that will extend the biotech’s cash runway through the first quarter of 2026.
An appellate court sided with Regeneron versus Novartis on Monday, agreeing that anti-VEGF pre-filled syringes constitute a distinct market than those sold in vials. The case involves Regeneron’s Eylea and Novartis’ Lucentis eye treatments.
Orchard Therapeutics on Monday secured the FDA’s first approval for an autologous gene therapy to treat the rare metabolic disease metachromatic leukodystrophy in children.
BioSpace’s 2024 Salary Report explores the average salaries and salary trends of life sciences professionals.
AstraZeneca reported Monday that adding Lynparza to Imfinzi improved outcomes in mismatch repair proficient endometrial cancer, more than doubling the median duration of response in patients.
With Boehringer Ingelheim’s announcement earlier this month that it was capping U.S. inhaler costs at $35 per month, AstraZeneca on Monday followed suit.
New late-stage trial results for GSK’s Jemperli show improved overall and progression-free survival in a broader range of endometrial cancer patients, which could lead to a potential label expansion.