Policy

Eli Lilly offers weight loss drug Zepbound directly to consumers while Novo Nordisk continues to struggle with supply challenges for its own GLP-1s. Meanwhile, gene therapies for retinal diseases target competitive market, and layoffs persist.

Congress, the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office are all targeting Big Pharma’s practice of filing multiple, overlapping patents that stifle generic and biosimilar competition.

Well-financed startup Tome is winding down operations just as two new companies, Borealis Biosciences and GondolaBio, are launching. Meanwhile, in the midst of already tense relations with China, House lawmakers raise the alarm about U.S. companies working with the country’s military on trials.

Venture capital in the sector hit $9.2 billion in the second quarter of 2024, up from $7.4 billion in Q1, while exits fell on a slower M&A cycle and picky IPO market.

Project 2025, a blueprint for a potential second Trump term that highlights the IRA as a potential target, took a starring role in this week’s Democratic National Convention.

Last week, the Biden administration revealed the first drug prices negotiated under the Inflation Reduction Act; Lykos, Grail and others make substantial staffing cuts, and Pfizer/BioNTech see mixed results for their COVID/flu vaccine.

As the pharma industry awaits congressional action on the bill, gaping holes in the domestic drug manufacturing ecosystem have never been clearer.

The recent invalidation of an AAV gene therapy patent overlooks the complexity of innovation in biotechnology and could put a broad swath of intellectual property at risk.

Amgen’s Enbrel, Bristol Myers Squibb’s Eliquis and Johnson & Johnson’s Stelara will account for 51.4% of the Inflation Reduction Act’s drug price negotiation savings in 2026, according to the Brookings Institution.

For the Biden-Harris administration to compare the newly announced negotiated Medicare prices to the list prices for these drugs is, at best, not very meaningful. At worst, it’s disingenuous.