Deep Dive
Industry insights from our journalists
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Protein degraders: chasing undruggable targets
Some two dozen biotech developers of PROTACs, molecular glues and other types of protein-degrading drugs have sprung up over the past two decades.
Gwendolyn Wu • Updated July 9, 2025 -
K_E_N via Getty Images
Sodium channel blockers for pain: New opportunities after Vertex’s ‘watershed’ moment
The success of Vertex's opioid alternative Journavx could aid a group of biotechs that aim to take a similar path with NaV1.8 and NaV1.7 inhibitors.
Jacob Bell • July 1, 2025 -
Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images
Health department layoffs may be illegal, experts say
HHS bypassed normal procedures as it laid off thousands of employees, according to sources. One union has already filed an internal complaint, while at least two law firms are exploring suits.
Rebecca Pifer • April 15, 2025 -
wildpixel via Getty Images
Blocking PD-1 and VEGF: The bispecific cancer drugs that could best Keytruda
Striking study results last year indicated a new type of medicine may improve on Merck’s immunotherapy, spurring a wave of research practically overnight.
Ben Fidler • March 4, 2025 -
Permission granted by Vertex Pharmaceuticals
A new, non-opioid pain drug is here. Getting it to patients could be agony.
After decades of research, Vertex Pharmaceuticals now has an approved pain medication. Can one of the world’s most powerful biotechs contend with a healthcare system that’s long favored opioids?
Jacob Bell • Jan. 31, 2025 -
Nikida via Getty Images
‘The bar has risen’: China’s biotech gains push US companies to adapt
Pharma dealmaking for drugs invented in China is putting pressure on U.S. biotechs to compete harder, according to investors and executives interviewed by BioPharma Dive earlier this year.
Ben Fidler • Jan. 16, 2025 -
Pony Wang via Getty Images
Endometriosis drug research, long underfunded, confronts familiar problems in women’s health
Despite the disease’s prevalence, endometriosis remains misunderstood, and research into drugs that might treat it draws scant funding — problems that have deep roots.
Delilah Alvarado • Dec. 9, 2024 -
Adeline Kon/BioPharma Dive/BioPharma Dive
Biotech startups are built on venture capital. Track funding rounds here.
London-based Charm Therapeutics closed a $80 million Series B round this week to fund development of its drug for acute myeloid leukemia. It’s planning to enter the clinic in the first quarter of 2026.
Gwendolyn Wu, Ben Fidler, Ned Pagliarulo and Julia Himmel • Updated Sept. 2, 2025 -
Christoph Burgstedt via Getty Images
RNA editing: emerging from CRISPR’s shadow
Early data from Wave Life Sciences suggests how editing RNA may yield viable medicines. Large and small drugmakers say such results are just the start.
Ben Fidler and Gwendolyn Wu • Oct. 22, 2024 -
George Frey/Reuters
A decade of cancer immunotherapy: Keytruda, Opdivo and the drugs that changed oncology
Over the past 10 years, PD1-blocking medicines have transformed cancer care. But the steady expansion of their use has slowed and, despite much trying, pharmaceutical companies have largely failed to top the drugs’ successes.
Jonathan Gardner • Sept. 4, 2024 -
Kendall Davis/BioPharma Dive
10 clinical trials to watch in the second half of 2024
Study results are expected for two closely watched obesity drugs, while key tests await for a high-priced AbbVie acquisition and one of 2023’s largest IPOs.
BioPharma Dive staff • July 1, 2024 -
Permission granted by Biohaven Ltd.
These microscopic tunnels are a goldmine for new medicines
A growing cohort of biotechs, from Biohaven to Neurocrine to Jazz, hope research on ion channels will bring them new drugs and big business — much like it has done for Vertex.
Jacob Bell • June 27, 2024 -
Adeline Kon / BioPharma Dive/BioPharma Dive
Drug patents protect pharma profits. Track when they’ll expire.
This database now covers the 50 best-selling pharmaceutical products and has been updated to reflect current patent expiry expectations.
Jonathan Gardner • Updated April 9, 2025 -
aprott via Getty Images
Chasing Novo and Lilly: The obesity drugs that could challenge Wegovy and Zepbound
Large and small drugmakers are vying for a piece of what analysts view as one of the biggest market opportunities in the pharma industry's history. Here’s what’s coming next.
Jonathan Gardner • April 30, 2024 -
SDI Productions via Getty Images
New postpartum depression drugs are here. Diagnosis, treatment hurdles still stand in the way.
The first medicine approved for PPD, Sage’s Zulresso, never gained traction. The company is in the midst of launching its second, but long-standing challenges could slow uptake.
Delilah Alvarado • April 10, 2024 -
Permission granted by Bristol Myers Squibb
Psychiatry drugs finally have pharma’s attention. Can they keep it?
Recent biotech company acquisitions have put emerging schizophrenia treatments in focus. But many development hurdles still stand in the way of new medicines for the brain.
Jacob Bell • April 8, 2024 -
Nemes Laszlo via Getty Images
CAR-T for lupus: the ‘tip of the iceberg’ for cell therapy in autoimmune disease
Since a landmark paper in 2022, drugmakers have begun nearly a dozen trials of cell therapies for lupus, with more set to start. Here’s why their efforts are worth watching.
Ben Fidler • Jan. 30, 2024 -
Win McNamee via Getty Images
Women’s health companies, battling under-investment in research, see growing opportunity
While investment remains lower than in other areas of drug R&D, executives and VCs speak of progress for a field that’s been overlooked in the past.
Delilah Alvarado • Jan. 16, 2024 -
Kendall Davis/BioPharma Dive
10 clinical trials to watch in the first half of 2024
A non-addictive pain pill faces its definitive test, while study results in ALS and for a Duchenne gene therapy could have far-reaching implications.
Ben Fidler, Jacob Bell, Ned Pagliarulo, Jonathan Gardner and Delilah Alvarado • Jan. 2, 2024 -
Massachusetts General Hospital
As ALS research booms, one treatment center finds itself in the spotlight
The Healey center is at the front of ALS research and care, earning acclaim from patients, doctors and scientists. Still, the complexities of the disease and of drug development have brought hard-felt losses.
Jacob Bell • Dec. 20, 2023 -
Photo illustration: Shaun Lucas/Industry Dive; CRISPR Therapeutics; Gregor Fischer/DPA/Newscom
‘No tolerance for failure’: An oral history of the first CRISPR medicine
A new sickle cell disease therapy developed by CRISPR Therapeutics and Vertex Pharmaceuticals is now approved in the U.S. and U.K. This is the story of how it came to be.
Ned Pagliarulo and Shaun Lucas • Dec. 10, 2023 -
Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images
Pharma benefited from basing business overseas. An international tax effort could spur a rethink.
U.S. tax law changes six years ago slashed large pharma companies' rates and saved them billions. Now, a push for an international floor could disrupt their R&D accounting.
Jonathan Gardner • Nov. 28, 2023 -
Janice Haney Carr/CDC/Sickle Cell Foundation of Georgia/AP
What if a CRISPR cure isn’t such an easy choice?
Casgevy can mute sickle cell disease’s most damaging symptoms. Yet treatment may not be as simple as its dramatic benefit makes it seem.
Ned Pagliarulo and Shaun Lucas • Nov. 8, 2023 -
Gregor Fischer/DPA/Newscom
A decade later, biotech’s CRISPR revolution is still going strong
Once the specialty of a few select drugmakers, CRISPR gene editing is now an essential technology for a growing group of biotechs, many led by former students of the field's pioneering scientists.
Gwendolyn Wu, Shaun Lucas and Julia Himmel • Oct. 11, 2023 -
Carol Highsmith. (2005). "The Apex Building" [Photo]. Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.
New antitrust merger guidelines could have chilling effect on healthcare deals
Regulators have historically struggled to halt complex and non-traditional tie-ups. That could change with new guidelines, as the Biden administration scrutinizes healthcare M&A, antitrust experts said.
Rebecca Pifer • July 21, 2023
