Deep Dive

Industry insights from our journalists

Permission granted by Gilead Sciences

How Gilead finally spent its money

This year, the biotech spent about $27 billion trying to become a leader in cancer research. Executives who spoke to BioPharma Dive said there's still work to be done.
Jacob Bell • Nov. 24, 2020
Permission granted by Cheryl Yoder

From no drugs to 3: Patients with spinal muscular atrophy now face hard choices

The availability of three vastly different, cutting-edge medicines for the rare disease has put patients, families and doctors in an unfamiliar position.
Jonathan Gardner • Oct. 05, 2020
Danielle Ternes/BioPharma Dive

How biotech and pharma companies pay their CEOs, and their workers

The median CEO of 231 drug companies analyzed by BioPharma Dive earned 50% more last year than in 2017, a leap that far outpaced the more modest pay gains among employees.
Ned Pagliarulo • Sept. 09, 2020
Permission granted by Relay Therapeutics

Relay Therapeutics set out to change how drugs are designed. Can it continue what Vertex began?

Vertex pioneered a more precise way of developing drugs. Relay, which has raised nearly $1 billion since its founding, thinks it can go one step further.
Ned Pagliarulo • Aug. 24, 2020
Danielle Ternes/BioPharma Dive

A cure for hemophilia seemed closer than ever. For many patients, it's now further out of reach

The surprise rejection of BioMarin's hemophilia A gene therapy delayed a decades-long mission to fix the rare bleeding disorder.
Jacob Bell • Aug. 18, 2020
Courtesy of Lonza Ltd.

Vaccines can end the coronavirus pandemic. Will every country get them?

Scientists around the world are racing to develop a coronavirus vaccine. But the factories slated to make the leading candidates are concentrated in a handful of countries, raising concerns about global access.
Jonathan Gardner • June 23, 2020
Brian Tucker/BioPharma Dive

The first coronavirus vaccines have arrived. Here's where the rest stand.

J&J's vaccine appears to be on the cusp of emergency authorization in the U.S., while China's CanSino Biologics plans to ask for approval there.
Nami Sumida, Jonathan Gardner, Ned Pagliarulo and Ben Fidler • June 09, 2020
Yujin Kim/BioPharma Dive

Venture capital found its footing in biotech. Then came the virus.

There's been no better time for venture firms to invest in drug startups than the past few years. But when a virus upended the world, it raised new questions about what types of investors and investments would succeed moving forward.
Jacob Bell • May 26, 2020
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. (2020). "Novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2" [Microscope image]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/nihgov/49565158908/in/album-72157713108522106/.

A closer look at the race to develop antibody drugs for COVID-19

Eli Lilly, Regeneron and China's Junshi are now testing antibody drugs in clinical trials, while others are close behind. Here's why they will matter.
Ben Fidler • May 12, 2020
Courtesy of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

A coronavirus vaccine may arrive next year. 'Herd immunity' will take longer.

Experimental vaccines for COVID-19 are moving at an unprecedented pace. But that could mean researchers won't definitively know whether they're safe and effective when they do arrive.
Jonathan Gardner • May 04, 2020
Permission granted by University of Pennsylvania

Big pharma shied away from gene therapy for years. Academia picked up the slack

The byproduct was richer licensing fees for universities and a throng of startups, but also questions on fair prices and research priorities.
Jonathan Gardner • March 17, 2020
Adeline Kon / BioPharma Dive

Big pharma backed away from brain drugs. Is a return in sight?

Biotech executives see a new era of neuroscience breakthroughs on the horizon. But in a historically challenging space, it's hard to pinpoint what would cause big pharma to dive back in — and what ripples that would create.
Jacob Bell • Jan. 29, 2020
Lydia Polimeni, National Institutes of Health

Will sky-high drug prices spur the US to use an obscure power over patents?

New cell therapies as well as gene-based treatments like Zolgensma benefited from NIH funding of early-stage research. Advocates say the time is now for the government to invoke its "march-in" rights.
Jonathan Gardner • Dec. 04, 2019
Brian Tucker, BioPharma Dive

Bankrupt biopharmas are rare. 2019 has some worried that's changing.

Eleven biopharmas declared bankruptcy in 2019, more than any other year since at least 2011. Rising market pressures, coupled with legal liabilities, risk more companies falling to zero, experts warn.
Andrew Dunn • Nov. 19, 2019
Brian Tucker, BioPharma Dive

31 biopharmas at high risk of bankruptcy in 2020

BioPharma Dive dug into data from a credit monitoring firm to identify drugmakers at high risk of going bankrupt, including companies like Teva, Bausch Health and Novavax.
Andrew Dunn • Nov. 19, 2019
Brian Tucker, BioPharma Dive

The running list of 2019 biopharma bankruptcies

From antibiotic developers like Achaogen to opioid drugmakers like Purdue and Insys, 2019 saw an uptick in biopharmas filing for Chapter 11.
Andrew Dunn • Nov. 19, 2019
Getty Images

Give up board chairmanship? No thanks, US big pharma CEOs say

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla will soon head the pharma's board, too, adding another example of a large drugmaker with unified leadership.
Jonathan Gardner • Oct. 16, 2019
Getty Images

First-of-its-kind trial in ALS spurs hope for brutal disease

A so-called platform study will test five drugs at once, a design that experts say could become a model in rare disease drug development.
Andrew Dunn • Sept. 25, 2019
Adeline Kon / BioPharma Dive

Cancer centers stretching to keep up with pharma's oncology interest

Empty trials, bandwidth constraints and lingering issues with enrollment criteria are on display amid a boom in cancer drug research.
Jacob Bell • Sept. 23, 2019
Novo Nordisk

Is the future of diabetes treatment better drugs or better care?

Drug manufacturers are trying to push the boundaries of glucose control, but cost concerns could rein in ambitions.
Jonathan Gardner • Sept. 23, 2019
Public trust in drugmakers is at an all-time low. Can biopharma recover?

Leaders are grappling with how to improve the industry's reputation at a time when the broader business world is under increased scrutiny.
Andrew Dunn • Sept. 11, 2019
Amgen

Amgen puts its KRAS hopes on 'Navy Seals' team of drug hunters

Found in many solid tumors, mutant KRAS is cancer research's white whale. Amgen's drug looks the most promising to emerge from decades of failed efforts, but others are close behind.
Ned Pagliarulo • Aug. 30, 2019
Getty Images

Amyloid's last hope? Prevention studies next big test for Alzheimer's research

The DIAN-TU trial, studying patients genetically predisposed to Alzheimer's, could help decide the fate of what's been the dominant hypothesis of the disease's cause.
Jonathan Gardner • Aug. 29, 2019
Kendall Davis / BioPharma Dive

Unblinded: Rebekah Gee's drug pricing experiment in Louisiana

Louisiana's health secretary negotiated a new payment model with Gilead for one of the poorest states in the country. Could it spread nationwide?
Andrew Dunn • Aug. 28, 2019
Brian Tucker, BioPharma Dive

Number of female biotech CEOs remains 'shockingly low,' putting spotlight on BIO

"I need more from BIO," the group's diversity chair and Halozyme chief Helen Torley told BioPharma Dive. More than 90% of CEOs running the industry's top companies are men.
Andrew Dunn • July 31, 2019