Tristan Manalac

Tristan Manalac

Senior Staff Writer

Tristan is BioSpace‘s senior staff writer. Based in Metro Manila, Tristan has more than eight years of experience writing about medicine, biotech and science. Being formally trained in molecular biology, he once dreamed of collecting degrees and starting his own lab. But these days, he finds his greatest joy in a bottle of beer and a beautiful sentence. He can be reached at tristan.manalac@biospace.com, tristan@tristanmanalac.com or on LinkedIn.

GSK’s departure comes as the industry anticipates the incoming Trump administration and as it continues to grapple with the threat of the BIOSECURE Act and losses of legal challenges to the IRA’s drug price negotiation program.
Leqembi’s sales continue to be underwhelming, according to analysts, who contend the companies’ Alzheimer’s disease therapy is being held back by barriers such as coverage, infusion centers and time to diagnosis.
The five-year investment will go toward the construction of a new R&D facility in Beijing to develop innovative therapies and integrate the world’s second most populated country into the company’s global strategy.
While Moderna’s Spikevax beat Wall Street estimates in the third quarter, William Blair analyst Myles Minter in a Thursday note to investors said sales of the company’s respiratory syncytial virus vaccine mRESVIA was significantly lower than expected.
Driven by copycat versions of Bristol Myers Squibb’s Revlimid and Novo Nordisk’s Victoza, Teva’s generics business was again a top-performer in the third quarter, with U.S. sales growing 30% and bringing in $1.1 billion in sales.
BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan Seigerman in a note to investors called Gilead’s third-quarter performance “consistent” and “steady,” while noting the company continues to demonstrate “reliable strength” in its human immunodeficiency virus business.
Novo Nordisk’s total revenue in the third quarter missed analysts’ expectations but sales of weight loss drug Wegovy exceeded the consensus forecast. Still, the Danish drugmaker narrowed its full-year guidance for revenue and operating profit.
The contract manufacturer fell short of Wall Street’s projections for its first quarter of fiscal 2025, which ended Sept. 30, 2024. The miss comes amid growing opposition to Novo Holdings’ proposed $16.5 billion acquisition of Catalent.
Truist Securities analyst Asthika Goonewardene in an investor note said data for anito-cel—particularly its safety profile—will help differentiate the CAR T therapy from Legend Biotech and J&J’s entrenched Carvykti in relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma.
BMO Capital Markets analyst Etzer Darout in a note to investors said the insurance fraud probe represents a “headline risk” to AstraZeneca, but contends that the share selloff is “overdone” and likely a knee-jerk reaction by investors.
Despite the PDUFA date being extended by three months for Merus’ zenocutuzumab, Truist Securities analyst Asthika Goonewardene in a Tuesday note to investors said the delay is not a cause for concern with an approval expected.
While expected and seen as largely incremental, Jefferies analyst Peter Welford in a Tuesday note to investors said the detailed data for three early-stage assets support moving them into Phase IIb studies and creates a “foothold” for AstraZeneca in the weight loss space.
Coming off of a strong third quarter, Vertex Pharmaceuticals is nearing several important milestones, including the potential approvals of vanzacaftor triple in cystic fibrosis and the non-opioid therapy suzetrigine in pain—both slated for January 2025.
Driven by the early approval of its updated COVID-19 vaccine, BioNTech far exceeded analysts’ expectations in the third quarter and reported its first quarterly profit in 2024. However, the German biotech also cut its outlook for the year.
The Big Pharma companies made a last-ditch effort asking a U.S. appeals court to reconsider their lawsuits against the Inflation Reduction Act’s Medicare drug price negotiations, which they contend infringe on their constitutional rights.