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FDA Commissioner Marty Makary intends to resign on Tuesday, according to several sources. This report follows a tumultuous 13-month tenure in which Makary oversaw the controversial rejections of several rare disease drugs and “predictable volatility” within the agency.
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New guidelines from two leading medical associations suggest that efforts to reduce bad cholesterol should focus on maintaining low levels of two key lipoproteins. Big pharma is all in, looking to improve on the standard statins to help vanquish America’s number one killer: heart disease.
The FDA’s decision last year to make complete response letters public provides new insight into why therapies sometimes fail to get the regulatory greenlight. Analysts say the information could help sponsors refine their regulatory strategies.
The Department of Health and Human Services is spinning its wheels, unable to establish steady leadership at three major divisions—the CDC and the FDA’s two primary review units.
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s health department has consistently touted radical transparency as being key to its mission. Recent instances—the FDA’s decision not to disclose the recipients of three Commissioner’s National Priority Vouchers and FDA and CDC choices not to publish vaccine-related papers—call this intent into question.
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Icotyde, co-developed by Johnson & Johnson and Protagonist Therapeutics, is backed by data from the Phase 3 ICONIC program, which, among other advantages, showed significant superiority over Bristol Myers Squibb’s Sotyktu.
Heath Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s efforts to overhaul vaccine policy are likely illegal, a Massachusetts District Court Judge ruled; Structure’s GLP-1 weight loss pill succeeds in Phase 2 while Rhythm’s Phase 3 basket trial fails to find the beat; Eli Lilly warns of potential safety risks of taking compounded tirzepatide, and Novo Nordisk is hit with an FDA warning letter regarding adverse events potentially linked to Ozempic.
Excalipoint Therapeutics will use its seed money to advance a pipeline of cancer therapies, including a tri-specific antibody for small cell lung cancer and neuroendocrine tumors.
Alongside R1 Therapeutics, Mestag Therapeutics and iDEL Therapeutics also brought in money on Tuesday, helping to push their respective cancer portfolios forward.
While Johnson & Johnson retains the top revenue rank across the major pharma companies, Eli Lilly last year established itself as the clear leader in the obesity market, in the process capturing investors’ attention and enthusiasm.
The major pharmas are loaded up with trillions in firepower—but are sticking to mid-cap deals. One expert says it might be time to think outside the box and shake up the industry with some consolidation.
In its complete response letter, the FDA said Aldeyra had failed to demonstrate reproxalap’s efficacy in adequate and well-controlled studies. The FDA previously turned the candidate away in November 2023 and April 2025.
Although FDA Commissioner Marty Makary promised “an exciting treatment” for autism, what the agency delivered was a label expansion for leucovorin to treat the ultrarare cerebral folate deficiency. The regulatory process, which relied on a literature review rather than new evidence, stands in contrast to recent rare disease rejections in which the FDA cited a need for more rigorous evidence.
Pfizer has a lofty goal for the CDK4 inhibitor atirmociclib, the New York pharma’s answer to Ibrance’s loss of patent protection next year. In 2025, Ibrance led Pfizer’s oncology portfolio with $1.04 billion in sales.
The Phase 3 EMANATE study is a basket trial looking at the efficacy of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals’ injectable obesity drug across four types of obesities driven by specific genetic mutations.