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Tristan Manalac

Tristan Manalac

Contributing Writer | News

Tristan is an independent science writer based in Metro Manila, with 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.

Taylor Tieden for BioSpace
Government
Changes to IRA Pill Penalty Conspicuously Absent as Congress Narrowly Passes Trump’s Tax Bill
The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” includes negotiation exemptions for orphan drugs approved to treat more than one rare disease and has implications for PBMs. Also on Thursday, the White House released its MAHA report with a mission to “make our children healthy again.”
May 23, 2025
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Syringe resting on top of a vaccine vial, with more vaccine bottles in the background
Vaccines
FDA Vaccine Advisors Agree on COVID-19 Vaccine as New Framework Looms as ‘Elephant in the Room’
The advisory committee meeting comes days after the FDA unveiled a new risk-based approval framework for COVID-19 vaccines.
May 23, 2025
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
New York City, NY, USA - August 22, 2022: Pfizer world headquarters in New York City, USA. Pfizer Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation.
Adcomms
Pfizer’s Talzenna Expansion Fails To Earn FDA Advisory Committee’s Support
The FDA’s independent advisors found Pfizer’s data lacked the precision needed to establish the efficacy of Talzenna in patients with prostate cancer who do not carry HRR mutations.
May 22, 2025
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
The COVID-19 vaccine in glass bottles for prevention, immunization, and treatment of coronavirus infection on a green background. Space for text. Concept of medical and vaccine.
Vaccines
FDA Asks Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna To Add Myocarditis Risk to COVID-19 Vaccines
The FDA had given Pfizer and Moderna until May 17 to propose changes to the labels of their COVID-19 vaccines or challenge the agency’s directive. The products’ labels already include myocarditis warnings, albeit for different age groups.
May 22, 2025
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Pictured: Eli Lilly's biotechnology center in California
Drug pricing
‘We Don’t Believe This Is Right’: Lilly Bristles as CMS Leaves Obesity Drugs Out of Medicare
The CMS last month declined to include anti-obesity medications in its Medicare coverage for Part D, a move that Lilly says could interfere with patients getting the appropriate medical care.
May 22, 2025
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
super glue tube on blue background
Collaboration
Genentech Bets Again on Orionis With Potential $2B+ in Crowded Molecular Glue Space
Roche, along with Bristol Myers Squibb, Novo Nordisk, AbbVie, Eli Lilly and others, is making inroads into molecular glues to use in cancer, immunology and other applications.
May 21, 2025
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Government
RFK Claims Ignorance About HHS Research, Clinical Trial Cuts in Hearing
After a tense exchange, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) told Kennedy that by implementing sweeping cuts to the HHS, he is “enacting his budget,” which “Congress has not passed.”
May 21, 2025
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Tristan Manalac
A person and a group of people are separated by a yellow line. Establishing contact. Distrust. Quarantine. Distance with strangers. Barrier to understanding, difficult integration. Rejection, refusal.
Lymphoma
Roche’s Genentech Fails to Win Adcomm Backing for Columvi Expansion
The ODAC cited concerns with patient populations in clinical trials used to support the proposed expansion. Johnson & Johnson fared better, with the FDA’s cancer advisors voting to recommend Darzalex in patients with a certain type of multiple myeloma.
May 21, 2025
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Handshake in retro collage style. Hands with halftone effect make a deal, a hand comes out of a laptop, online deals. Vector modern illustration.
Collaboration
CRISPR Expands Focus, Pays Up To $95M in Sirius’ siRNA Pact
The partnership with Sirius expands CRISPR Therapeutics’ modality toolkit, especially in the cardiovascular space.
May 20, 2025
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Modern collage with human heart and hands stock illustration
Cardiovascular disease
Ionis Builds Triglyceride-Lowering Case for RNA-Targeting Tryngolza
The late-stage results come in advance of pivotal data that Ionis expects to provide for its antisense oligonucleotide Tryngolza in the third quarter, building up toward a regulatory submission in hypertriglyceridemia by year-end.
May 20, 2025
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
FDA headquarters with a purple psychedelic background.
Psychedelics
Makary Backs Psychedelics for Neuropsych, Promises Speedy Review
In an interview on Friday, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary threw his weight behind psychedelic therapies, noting that patients taking these substances experience significant benefits for various neuropsychiatric conditions.
May 20, 2025
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Creative poster collage of two business partners having deal financial payment giving money banknote isolated on beige color background.
Cancer
Pfizer Puts $6B on the Line for 3SBio’s PD-1/VEGF Antibody
The deal comes three months after Pfizer inked a PD-1/VEGF partnership with Summit Therapeutics, leading BMO Capital Markets to express confusion regarding the pharma’s overall strategy.
May 20, 2025
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Big fish eats small, takeover of the company. Art collage.
Mergers & acquisitions
Regeneron Comes to 23andMe’s Rescue With $256M Acquisition Plan
Regeneron promised to comply with 23andMe’s consumer privacy policies and related data security laws.
May 19, 2025
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Contemporary art collage. Human hands over dna drawings, looking at hereditary material. Medical university, studying genetics. Concept of healthcare, medicine, laboratory, awareness
Gene therapy
ASGCT Roundup: Sarepta, Rocket, Neurogene and the World’s First Tailored CRISPR Therapy
Taking center stage at the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy meeting was the first-ever reported case of a personalized in vivo CRISPR editing therapy, which substantially eased the symptom burden in an infant.
May 19, 2025
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4 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Novavax logo on a building
COVID-19
FDA Grants Narrow Approval of Novavax’s COVID Shot as Makary Teases Changes to Vaccine Approval Framework
The restrictions on Novavax’s vaccine could portend changes at the FDA. Commissioner Marty Makary suggested last week that the agency could update its vaccine approval guidelines “in the coming days.”
May 19, 2025
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
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