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Phacilitate’s annual event dawns as cell and gene therapies reach a new tipping point: the science has hit new heights just as regulatory and government policies spark momentum and frustration.
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JPM
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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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.
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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.
Contineum Therapeutics joined the 2024 initial public offering class on Friday with an SEC filing. The biotech will use the IPO proceeds to complete a Phase II trial for its most mature candidate targeting multiple sclerosis.
FDA
With its FDA approval last week and first-to-market advantage, Madrigal Pharmaceuticals’ Rezdiffra will set the standard for other metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis candidates in development.
By votes of 11-0 and 8-3, respectively, an FDA advisory committee Friday deemed the risks of early death for both Johnson & Johnson’s Carvykti and Bristol Myers Squibb’s Abecma acceptable.
Asgard Therapeutics, a Swedish gene therapy biotech, has closed a $32 million Series A round with help from prominent pharma players as it prepares for a 2026 IND.
Bayer will co-create a novel target identification platform that leverages Aignostics’ artificial intelligence technology and proprietary multimodal patient cohorts.
The Chinese biotechs are broadening their collaboration. Hansoh Pharma is licensing Biotheus’ anti-EGFR/cMet bispecific antibody to develop antibody-drug conjugates.
After forging a partnership last year, Astellas is ending the pact with Cartesian Therapeutics and stopping the development of a Pompe disease candidate.
The PD-1 inhibitor Keytruda significantly improved overall survival in a late-stage trial when used with chemoradiotherapy to treat patients with newly diagnosed advanced cervical cancer.