The Latest

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    Adeline Kon/BioPharma Dive
    Deep Dive

    Biotech M&A is picking back up. Here are the latest deals.

    At $43 billion, Pfizer’s planned buyout of Seagen is the largest pharmaceutical industry acquisition since 2019.

    Updated March 13, 2023
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    LaylaBird via Getty Images
    Sponsored by MilliporeSigma

    Addressing manufacturing challenges in gene therapy development

    As new gene therapies are developed to treat a growing number of indications, patients may soon have access to novel treatment options and potential cures.

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    Thomas Lohnes via Getty Images

    Flush with cash, BioNTech buys into an immunotherapy to rival Yervoy

    The COVID-19 vaccine maker is paying $200 million to secure rights to an experimental CTLA-4 inhibitor that privately held OncoC4 designed to have fewer side effects.

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    Courtesy of Grail

    Illumina, facing Icahn challenge, ‘moving quickly’ on resolution for Grail

    The DNA-sequencing company said the activist investor hasn’t offered any better solutions for satisfying regulators’ concerns about the acquisition.

  • A photograph of a Sarepta building in Boston, MA
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    Courtesy of Sarepta

    FDA reversal sets up high-stakes hearing on Sarepta gene therapy

    The regulator will convene a panel of advisers to consult on an approval decision for the biotech’s Duchenne treatment, a change from just a few weeks ago when Sarepta had said a meeting wouldn’t be held.

  • A wall showing a Merck & Co. logo in Kenilworth, New Jersey
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    Courtesy of Merck & Co.

    Merck TIGIT drug misses goal in lung cancer trial, adding to doubts over approach

    The combination drug didn’t help patients any more than chemotherapy, but Merck will continue the trial to test it together with chemo.

  • A thumbnail illustration for BioPharma Dive's IPO tracker
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    Adeline Kon/BioPharma Dive
    Deep Dive

    After a record run, fewer biotechs are going public. Here’s how they’re performing.

    The pace of biotech IPOs so far this year is the slowest in at least five years, lagging behind even last year's torpid clip. Only four drugmakers have priced new stock offerings.

    Updated March 3, 2023
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    agrobacter via Getty Images

    Sanofi joins other diabetes drugmakers in cutting insulin prices

    The pharma is the last of the three major insulin suppliers to reduce U.S. list prices, responding to persistent criticism and policy changes that will affect Medicaid rebate payments.

  • A picture of the exterior of the US Department of Health and Human Services. In front of the building is a black sign designating the building's name.
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    Alex Wong via Getty Images

    CMS lays out plans for negotiating drug prices

    The guidance fills in details for one of the central pharmaceutical provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, signaling how the agency will use its new authority.

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    Leonid Sorokin via Getty Images

    Esperion in dispute with Daiichi over drug milestone payment

    The companies disagree over what qualifies for a payment of up to $300 million that’s associated with inclusion of heart data on the cholesterol drug’s label.

  • HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra speaks to reporters.
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    Justin Sullivan/Staff via Getty Images

    US names first drugs to face price hike penalty

    Gilead’s cancer cell therapies Yescarta and Tecartus were among the slate of 27 drugs singled out by CMS for rebates under a provision of the IRA.

  • A security guard at Silicon Valley Bank peers through the front door of the bank branch
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    Justin Sullivan / Staff via Getty Images

    Healthcare companies may turn to big banks after SVB’s fall

    SVB’s unraveling created a hole in life sciences financing that could be filled by bigger banks, but might hamper access to quick, short-term cash for startups.

  • A composite photo of Paul Yaworsky and Rahul Ballal, Mediar Therapeutics' chief scientific officer and chief executive officer respectively.
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    Permission granted by Mediar Therapeutics

    With focus on fibrosis, startup Mediar draws big pharma backing

    Novartis joined venture investor Sofinnova in leading an $85 million investment in the startup that also involved Pfizer, Eli Lilly and Bristol Myers Squibb.

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    monsitj via Getty Images

    Jounce gets rival takeover bid from company controlled by shareholder

    Tang Capital’s Concentra Biosciences is offering Jounce investors a competing bid to the biotech’s planned reverse merger with Redx Pharma.

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    Brian Tucker / BioPharma Dive

    In Pfizer-Seagen review, FTC has chance to set new pharma precedent

    The regulator’s review of the planned $43 billion deal could reveal how it plans to apply a new philosophy toward drugmaker mergers.

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    iStock via Getty Images

    VA to cover Leqembi for veterans with early Alzheimer’s

    The agency’s decision on Eisai and Biogen’s new drug contrasts with a stringent Medicare policy that limits coverage to patients in clinical trials.

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    Novo Nordisk

    Novo Nordisk follows Lilly in sharply cutting insulin prices

    Responding to policy changes and pressure over high drug costs, the pharma is reducing the sticker price of four branded diabetes medicines by up to 75%.

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    Evgenii Kovalev via Getty Images
    Emerging biotech

    Switch Therapeutics launches with $52M to capitalize on RNA medicine ‘era’

    The company’s name comes from its goal of developing drugs that only “switch” on in target cells, potentially enabling more precise therapies.

  • A photograph of a box of Amylyx Pharmaceuticals' ALS medicine Relyvrio
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    Permission granted by Amylyx Pharmaceuticals
    ALS drug development

    Amylyx’s ALS drug sales impress Wall Street

    In its first full quarter on the market, Amylyx’s Relyvrio generated nearly $22 million in revenue, or about five times what some analysts forecast last month.

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    Justin Sullivan via Getty Images
    Emerging biotech

    ‘What a mess’: How biotech startups grappled with SVB’s collapse

    The bank’s failure caused some companies to question whether they could pay employees, while forcing many others to take steps to calm nervous investors.

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    Jeenah Moon via Getty Images

    Pfizer to buy Seagen in $43B cancer drug deal

    The acquisition would give Pfizer control of a top-selling lymphoma drug and a pipeline of medicines that have made the Seattle-based company one of the sector’s most valuable biotechs.

    Updated March 13, 2023
  • A photo of Sanofi headquarters in Paris, France.
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    Courtesy of Sanofi

    Sanofi acquires diabetes drug via Provention buyout

    The deal builds on a licensing agreement between Sanofi and Provention to market the first-of-its-kind treatment, called Tzield and approved to slow the disease’s progression.

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    Justin Sullivan via Getty Images

    Regulators backstop SVB deposits, offer emergency lending

    SVB’s demise on Friday marked the nation’s largest bank failure since Washington Mutual collapsed in 2008, and sent shock waves through both the life sciences and tech sectors.

  • Pfizer logo
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    Spencer Platt via Getty Images

    Pfizer’s Biohaven deal pays dividends with new drug approval

    The medicine, a nasal spray for migraines to be sold as Zavzpret, was a key part of Pfizer’s roughly $12 billion buyout of Biohaven last year. 

  • An SVB sign stands outside the bank's headquarters.
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    Justin Sullivan via Getty Images

    Regulators take over Silicon Valley Bank

    The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation closed the embattled bank and appointed the FDIC as receiver, regulators said Friday.

  • President Biden talks about his proposed 2024 federal budget plan at an event in Philadelphia on March 9, 2023.
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    Chip Somodevilla/Staff via Getty Images

    Biden takes fresh aim at drug prices with new budget plan

    The proposal, viewed as a “non-starter” by one analyst, seeks to double the number of drugs Medicare can negotiate prices for and open up those talks more quickly.