Business
First results for a first-in-class mutCALR-targeted therapy in essential thrombocythemia presented at EHA point to a lucrative future for the early-stage product.
In this week's episode: breaking down big pharma’s executive pay; US vaccine panel upheaval; Merck’s RSV approval; MFN and Japan; and the future of Pfizer and Arvinas’s partnership.
UroGen’s Zusduri was approved despite an advisory committee vote recommending against it in May. It is the first approved drug for a type of recurring bladder cancer.
Private Company Edition: Antares’ lead asset will enter the clinic in 2026 after Lilly committed up to $2.5bn for Scorpion’s Phase I/II PI3Kα inhibitor STX-478. Also, Amplify raised $200m for its first biotech VC fund and Mosanna raised an $80m series A round, among other financings.
The Belgian drugmaker is boosting its biologics capacity over the pond.
After in-licensing a cardiovascular candidate last year, AstraZeneca has signed a strategic drug discovery alliance, which could generate billions of dollars in payments to the Chinese firm.
Public Company Edition: Insmed raised $750m after reporting positive Phase IIb data in PAH, Cogent accessed up to $400m in new debt, Kelun-Biotech netted $250m in a placement of shares and ADC revealed a $100m private placement. In strategic updates, Recursion cut 20% of its jobs.
Deal Snapshot: Including its internal efforts with bimagrumab, Lilly has been seeking a muscle-sparing therapy to complement GLP-1 obesity drugs, such as Zepbound.
Plus deals involving BioAge/JiKang, Sanyou/Medicovestor, AriBio/Acino, Intragrand/Transpire, Kaken/Twocells, Sumitomo/Novo Nordisk, NIBEC/Undisclosed, Formosa/Adalvo, Drug Farm/Amoytop, Lupin/SteinCares and Lupin/Honeywell.
The oral BTK inhibitor impresses in a Phase II trial for IgG4-related disease.
The $1.25bn buyout is a simple deal for BioNTech, bringing new mRNA R&D and manufacturing capacity while also ending a bothersome patent dispute.
Will Zydus’s acquisition and licensing deal with Agenus turn out to be a strategic move towards building an oncology portfolio or an opportunistic one driven by a venture capital mindset?
The first Phase III data for the CD38-targeting antibody is expected in 2027 in antibody-mediated rejection in kidney transplant patients, followed by other indications.
Novo Nordisk will partner with privately held Deep Apple to study a novel, non-incretin target that could be better suited than GLP-1s for long-term obesity treatment.
The big pharma CEO with the highest-valued compensation in 2024 was David Ricks of Eli Lilly, while Pfizer and J&J executives slipped into third and fourth place behind AbbVie's now retired chief Richard Gonzalez. European firms brought up the rear.
Series B cash will be used to advance its Stargardt disease gene therapy.
Insmed’s inhaled treprostinil exceeded goals for reducing pulmonary vascular resistance and improving six-minute walk test distance in Phase IIb data.
A recent study suggested that measles could become endemic in the US due to low vaccination rates. However, first-quarter vaccine sales offered a more nuanced picture.
The US FDA approved Merck’s Enflonsia (clesrovimab) to prevent RSV in newborns and infants on the same day Sanofi assured that it would ship Beyfortus in time for the 2025-2026 RSV season.
Intended as obesity monotherapy and for combination with the firm’s GLP-1 analog, MET-0233i showed best-in-class efficacy with placebo-like tolerability at low doses.