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FDA
With Commissioner Marty Makary’s exit, the FDA will enter a period of “unprecedented” and “prolonged” leadership vacuum, analysts at Capital Alpha predicted, noting that the government will have trouble finding someone who will want to take the FDA’s reins.
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IPO
After years of suffering from a bear market and more than 14 months of geopolitical turmoil shaking the macroenvironment, biotech appears to be moving on.
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.
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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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Bysanti is based on iloperidone, an active metabolite of a compound that forms the core of Fanapt, another drug by Vanda Pharmaceuticals.
A lower court had previously ruled for Sarepta in the companies’ long-running dispute, finding that REGENXBIO’s AAV patent was invalid because its elements were naturally occurring. The appeals court on Friday said that this original decision adopts a “narrow” view of the invention.
The centerpiece of the takeover is anito-cel, a CAR T therapy under development for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. An FDA decision on the therapy is expected by December 2026.
Head-to-head trials are often reserved for approved therapies as drugmakers try to one-up each other to gain further market share. In this case, Novo Nordisk ran the test at the candidate stage, and the bet did not pay off.
The U.S. Congress greenlit a historic $315 million in federal ALS research funding for 2026 amid Rare Disease Month, spotlighting biotech progress like VectorY Therapeutics’ first patient dosing in its TDP-43-targeting PIONEER-ALS trial and EverythingALS’ pharma consortia driving biomarker innovations and trial alignment.
The first gene therapies approved to treat sickle cell disease in December 2023 are struggling on the market. But there are glimpses of forward momentum as Vertex and Genetix Bio provide updates.
After last year’s ‘stampede’ for FGF21 assets, the focus for the metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis space has shifted toward differentiated approaches, such as THR-β agonists and combination treatments, that seek to mirror the commercial success of Madrigal’s Rezdiffra.
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.
Maintaining America’s momentum demands that policymakers resist policies that undermine research and development incentives.
Tracy Beth Høeg addressed FDA staffers for the first time in her role as the fifth CDER chief under President Donald Trump, announcing inquiries into the use of SSRIs in pregnancy and RSV antibodies in infants despite well-documented safety of these treatments.