FDA approves Lilly obesity pill, triggering battle with Novo Nordisk

Foundayo could erase the Wegovy pill’s four-month head start as the two drugmakers clash on a debate of efficacy and convenience.

By Jonathan Gardner • April 1, 2026

FDA, after turbulent year, leaves drugmakers guessing on its direction

Constant leadership changes and erratic decision-making have left the biopharmaceutical industry feeling its chief regulator is as unpredictable as it’s ever been.

By Jonathan Gardner , Shaun Lucas • April 1, 2026

Explore the Trendline➔

Top 5 stories from BioPharma Dive

Looming patent expiries this decade and intensifying competition from China are forcing drugmakers to adapt, while new opportunities open up in oncology and in neuroscience.

By BioPharma Dive staff

Lilly beefs up neuroscience pipeline with $6.3B Centessa buyout

The deal secures two sleep disorder drugs that would fill a hole in the company’s portfolio and intensify a competition with Takeda and Eisai.

By Jonathan Gardner • March 31, 2026

Lilly’s AI commitment expands through deal with Insilico

A collaboration “across multiple therapeutic areas” could net the Hong Kong-based biotech more than $2 billion as Lilly seeks to sustain its industry lead.

By Jonathan Gardner • March 30, 2026

Otsuka picks up PTSD drug with $700M Transcend buy

The buyout, which includes another $525 million in floated payouts, hands Otsuka a medicine it sees as a possibly “paradigm-shifting therapy” in psychiatry.

By Jacob Bell • March 27, 2026

AstraZeneca lung drug gets ‘surprise’ win in COPD trials

The treatment, tozorakimab, succeeded where other similar therapies failed and could help a broader group of COPD patients than Dupixent. 

By Jonathan Gardner • March 27, 2026

Merck to buy Terns in $6.7B bet on a ‘differentiated’ leukemia drug

If consummated, the deal would hand Merck a treatment that could challenge Novartis’ fast-selling Scemblix. But the low purchase premium — which one analyst described as a "steal" — may leave room for a competing bid.

By Ben Fidler • March 25, 2026

Risk, readiness and resilience

The location secret behind pharma's most reliable East Coast expansion corridor.

March 23, 2026

Roche stops work on experimental SMA drug

In a letter to European patients, Roche said its decision to end development of “emugrobart” was based on the drug “not consistently” improving muscle growth and motor function in a key study.

By Jacob Bell • March 20, 2026

Novartis pays $2B to land a startup’s breast cancer drug

Acquiring a unit of privately held Synnovation Therapeutics hands Novartis a prospect that might improve on medicines that, like its own Piqray, target tumors driven to growth by PIK3CA mutations. 

By Gwendolyn Wu • March 20, 2026

Novo uses FDA voucher to win speedy approval of higher-dose Wegovy

The clearance, issued 54 days after an approval submission, gives Novo another chance to claw back market share from Eli Lilly. 

By Ben Fidler • March 19, 2026

Lilly’s three-pronged obesity drug hits goal in large diabetes trial

Retatrutide, a possible advance on GLP-1 drugs like Zepbound, significantly cut blood sugar and body weight in the study, a sign it might be similarly impactful against obesity.

By Jonathan Gardner • March 19, 2026

Pfizer aims for wider use of PARP drug in prostate cancer with new data

While sales of Talzenna, which Pfizer acquired in a $14 billion deal, have been “negligible” so far, the new results should justify use in earlier lines of care, one analyst said. 

By Kristin Jensen • March 19, 2026

AstraZeneca to boost cell therapy capabilities with new China investment

The planned Shanghai facility extends a yearslong push into the field and will support CAR-T therapies AstraZeneca is making for autoimmune disease and cancer.

By Ben Fidler • March 19, 2026

J&J wins FDA nod for psoriasis pill that aims to compete with top-selling injections

The clearance is the first for an oral peptide that blocks IL-23, the target of popular medicines like Skyrizi and Tremfya. J&J has said the new drug, Icotyde, has the potential to top $5 billion in sales.

By Kristin Jensen • March 18, 2026

Pfizer’s Ibrance successor moves forward with new study data

The drug, which one analyst described as a “critical” part of Pfizer’s oncology strategy, represents a possible improvement upon Ibrance and other, similar breast cancer medicines from Eli Lilly and Novartis.

By Kristin Jensen • March 17, 2026

FDA clears repurposed GSK drug for ultra-rare brain disease instead of autism

Months after promising help for “hundreds of thousands of kids,” the FDA approved the decades-old medicine for a disease documented in less than 50 people.

By Kristin Jensen • March 11, 2026

Lilly unveils $3 billion production expansion in China

The Zepbound developer is joining other drugmakers’ rush into China as it plans to boost its oral solid dosage supply chain to support the launch of its obesity pill orforglipron.

By Jonathan Gardner • March 11, 2026

Bimzelx tops Skyrizi in head-to-head psoriatic arthritis trial

UCB said it’s the first time an approved biologic demonstrated superiority over an IL-23 blocker in psoriatic arthritis. Yet analysts aren’t sure how commercially impactful the results will be.

By Delilah Alvarado • March 11, 2026

Bristol Myers claims success in study of another next-gen blood cancer drug

The therapy, mezigdomide, is part of group of medicines the pharma sees as successors to its lucrative multiple myeloma drugs Revlimid and Pomalyst.

By Gwendolyn Wu • March 9, 2026

Roche’s prized breast cancer pill fails closely watched study

The result “pulls the rug” out from under giredestrant, according to one analyst, sparking another share selloff following disappointing obesity data last week.

By Jonathan Gardner • March 9, 2026

Rethinking the box: Why circular cold chain packaging is becoming a cost strategy in healthcare

Spend enough time inside a healthcare distribution center and you start to notice something.

March 9, 2026

Roche, Zealand shares fall on ‘undifferentiated’ obesity drug results

An amylin-targeting medicine at the center of the companies’ multibillion-dollar alliance spurred less weight loss than investors had hoped, leading some analysts to question its ability to stand out. 

By Delilah Alvarado • March 6, 2026

Lilly targets employers in new bid to broaden access to obesity drugs

A service tailored to people with workplace-based insurance coverage represents a new way for Lilly to bypass insurers and expand use of its popular obesity shot. 

By Jonathan Gardner • March 5, 2026

Blackstone puts $400M into Teva, Sanofi gut disease drug

The deal adds to a growing biotech presence for Blackstone and supports testing of a drug competing with rival therapies from Merck and Roche.

By Jonathan Gardner • March 4, 2026