While Takeda is eliminating 4,500 roles across its global operations, the company has some 2,200 jobs currently open for hiring, for which internal candidates will be prioritized.
In this episode of Denatured, you’ll be hearing from Miguel Forte, president of the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy (ISCT), and John Ellis, co-founder & CEO of Trenchant Bios, speaking live from the ISCT annual meeting. We dive into mesenchymal stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells, exploring the science behind them, the manufacturing challenges, and the potential for scalable, engineered next-generation therapies.
While average job postings live on BioSpace have increased year over year for nearly every month of 2026, the number of employees affected by made or planned layoffs by the end of that same period nearly matched what was seen in 2025.
Looking for a biopharma job in California? Check out the BioSpace list of 17 companies hiring life sciences professionals like you.
Disease is driven by complex biological networks that remain only partially understood until experimentally resolved as a whole. Targets and compounds advance without clear biological understanding, leading to failure. AI and large-scale experimental data have scaled hypotheses and insights. The bottleneck now shifts to biological resolution.
MacroGenics is selling the manufacturing plant to Bora, a Taiwan-based CDMO, to raise cash to support the progress of its drug development pipeline.
FEATURED STORIES
European pharma companies splashed billions of dollars into the U.S. biopharma sector in a matter of days, but there are differing views on whether the activity represents the rise of a new buyer class or a quirk of timing.
Three pharma CEOs joined the $30 million compensation club in 2025 but Eli Lilly’s David Ricks exceeded his nearest peer by more than $4 million.
Epidemiology, Next-Generation Vaccine Platforms, and the Critical Role of Prefusion F Antigens in RSV Research
After years of suffering from a bear market and more than 14 months of geopolitical turmoil shaking the macroenvironment, biotech appears to be moving on.
New guidelines from two leading medical associations suggest that efforts to reduce bad cholesterol should focus on maintaining low levels of two key lipoproteins. Big pharma is all in, looking to improve on the standard statins to help vanquish America’s number one killer: heart disease.
The FDA’s decision last year to make complete response letters public provides new insight into why therapies sometimes fail to get the regulatory greenlight. Analysts say the information could help sponsors refine their regulatory strategies.
LATEST PODCASTS
In this episode of Denatured, you’ll be hearing from Miguel Forte, president of the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy (ISCT), and John Ellis, co-founder & CEO of Trenchant Bios, speaking live from the ISCT annual meeting. We dive into mesenchymal stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells, exploring the science behind them, the manufacturing challenges, and the potential for scalable, engineered next-generation therapies.
It’s official: FDA Commissioner Marty Makary is out at the FDA after reports of his ouster emerged late last week; Sanofi is reportedly having challenges with one of the FDA’s new signature programs; and biopharma CEOs’ multimillion-dollar salaries ticked up again this year. Who made the most in 2025?
In this episode of Denatured, you’ll be hearing from Georg Vo Beiske, CEO of Tribune Therapeutics and Jonas Hallén, co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Calluna Pharma. We dive into IPF and fibrosis challenges, unpacking treatment hurdles, emerging targets, unmet needs and expansion paths beyond the lung.
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SPECIAL EDITIONS
BioSpace looks back at 2025 and where the FDA is going in 2026.
The BioSpace team hit the ground running at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference earlier this month to bring you the news from the streets of San Francisco.
BioSpace data show job postings live increased quarter over quarter, while layoffs fell year over year.
DEALS
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Catalyst Pharmaceuticals comes with a trio of approved drugs as Angelini Pharma expands its neuroscience offerings. -
With Siran Biotechnology under its fold, GSK will have access to a long-acting siRNA therapy that could induce weight loss while preserving lean mass, in addition to addressing other weight-related comorbidities. -
Sanofi’s investment will support a Canadian site’s efforts to apply AI to drug production, while Amgen has unveiled the second expansion of its Puerto Rico plant in quick succession. -
Pfizer-backed cancer company CellCentric will use the cash to support the launch of a pivotal myeloma trial testing its potentially first-in-class oral treatment this year. -
For $300 million upfront, Bayer is purchasing Perfuse Therapeutics to advance an eye implant for glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy, marking the company’s first pharma acquisition since 2021.
WEIGHT LOSS
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Analysts and investors alike had been eagerly awaiting sales figures for Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill. The answer blew past expectations by 86%. -
The selloff in Eli Lilly’s shares was “overdone,” according to RBC Capital Markets, which noted that the overall safety profile of Foundayo remains favorable. -
As Q1 earnings arrive, three biotechs have big quarters ahead, with two—Amylyx and Neumora Therapeutics—betting at least partly on novel assets for obesity. -
In its latest biopharma pipeline report, Deloitte warned that the growing importance of a small pool of potential mega-blockbusters raises the risk of “significant value destruction from a single program failure.” -
Amgen has launched a late-stage program to test the feasibility of switching patients from weekly GLP-1 injections to its own investigational obesity asset MariTide, which could open up monthly or more infrequent dosing schedules.
POLICY
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s health department has consistently touted radical transparency as being key to its mission. Recent instances—the FDA’s decision not to disclose the recipients of three Commissioner’s National Priority Vouchers and FDA and CDC choices not to publish vaccine-related papers—call this intent into question. -
Of the 17 companies that were implored by the White House last July to apply Most Favored Nation pricing to their drugs, Regeneron is the last to agree—the same day the FDA greenlit its gene therapy for hearing loss in kids. -
The FDA in July 2025 made publicly available over 200 complete response letters—an initiative that the investment community sees as “unanimously positive,” analysts told BioSpace. -
Two of the biggest insurance providers have expressed reluctance to participate in the government’s BALANCE program that would have made GLP-1 drugs more affordable to patients. -
A year of significant policy change at the FDA brought momentum and scrutiny into the new year. As 2026 gets underway, biopharma companies are responding to sweeping vaccine changes while concerns surface about the politicization of the agency.
Over one-third of BioSpace LinkedIn poll respondents have done free work while interviewing for jobs. A recruiting expert and career coach discuss why employers make work requests and how biopharma professionals should evaluate and respond to them.
Finding the right people for critical open roles can be difficult even for biopharma leaders. In this column, Kaye/Bassman’s Michael Pietrack discusses four pitfalls executives face during the hiring process, starting with confusing scientific brilliance with leadership ability.
Some bosses stretch you. Others make work more bearable. Both can earn your loyalty. Only one is building your future. Leadership coach Angela Justice explains how to tell the difference.
As AI reshapes deeply specialized scientific work, R&D professionals must learn to navigate the shift to a skills-centered market. The key is knowing which skills to develop and how to leverage AI as scientific modalities evolve, technologies advance and regulatory complexity increases.
Recruiters can play a significant role in biopharma professionals getting hired, especially in an employer-driven job market. However, when working with them, candidates need to avoid making six key mistakes, from waiting too long to ask for help to prematurely contacting hiring companies.
While you should never rely solely on AI tools when applying for jobs, they can greatly benefit the application process. Recruiting expert Bryan Blair discusses how using large language models can set you apart from the competition and includes a prompt framework to get you started.
HOTBEDS
REPORTS
In this Employment Outlook report, BioSpace explores current workforce sentiment, job activity trends and the prospective job and hiring outlook for 2025, particularly as it compares to the previous year.
BioSpace’s third report on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in life sciences examines dramatic shifts in attitude around diversity initiatives.
CANCER
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Of the 13 programs that the companies will advance, four will come from Hengrui Pharma and four from Bristol Myers Squibb. The remaining five assets will be jointly discovered. -
Partner Therapeutics announced last week that the FDA had granted Bizengri a Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher to accelerate drug review. -
Before discontinuing the asset, Ascendis Pharma was studying onvapegleukin alfa in advanced or metastatic solid tumors, demonstrating a three- to four-month overall survival advantage over historical controls. -
The action affects BioNTech sites in Germany and Singapore, where the company expects to have excess capacity. -
The advisory committee meeting—the FDA’s first drug-related adcomm in nine months—could have been a “more conceptual discussion” about the design of AstraZeneca’s Phase 3 trial of camizestrant in HER2-negative advanced breast cancer, former cancer regulator Harpreet Singh told BioSpace.
NEUROSCIENCE
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Biogen’s Qalsody won FDA approval in 2023 to treat a rare, genetic form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. On Tuesday, QurAlis presented interim Phase 2 data showing the potential of a similar drug to more broadly treat the neurodegenerative disease. -
Passage Bio, which has been working toward a registrational trial for a drug candidate whose indications include frontotemporal dementia, is exploring strategic alternatives in addition to cutting staff. -
The FDA is looking at a slew of label expansions this month, including one that could open up home-based treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. -
Alzheimer’s disease agitation could mean peak sales of over $2.1 billion for Axsome’s Auvelity, according to analysts at William Blair. -
Corcept Therapeutics’ amyotrophic lateral sclerosis drug was linked to an 87% reduction in the risk of death, a result the biotech hopes to replicate in an upcoming Phase 3 trial.
CELL AND GENE THERAPY
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The FDA turned away Ebvallo in January, taking issue with the design of the registrational trial. In a recent meeting, however, the agency agreed that the study could in fact support the cell therapy’s approval. The news comes a week after the departure of controversial biologics Director Vinay Prasad. -
Sarepta Therapeutics has put in place several initiatives to help its gene therapy Elevidys return to growth, but recovery will take a long time, according to company executives. -
Comprehending the spate of recent rejections in the cell and gene therapy space may require looking no further than early-stage clinical trials of candidates from REGENXBIO, Excision BioTherapeutics and Intellia Therapeutics. -
UniQure plans to submit AMT-130 to the U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in the third quarter of 2026 based on Phase 1/2 data showing a 75% slowing of disease—the same data the FDA has deemed unacceptable for a biologics license application. -
George Church’s Rejuvenate Bio is turning to social networks to help fund its work on one-time gene therapies targeting chronic diseases and root causes of aging.
