The tickets could go to the lipid-lowering pill enlicitide decanoate and the antibody-drug conjugate sacituzumab tirumotecan, though a spokesperson for the HHS did not confirm the news.
If you’re looking for a biopharma job in Philadelphia, here are eight companies on BioSpace hiring right now.
The CDC accepted the recommendation of its advisory committee that the shot be delayed for many patients until they are at least two months of age due to safety concerns. The CDC itself has said the vaccine is safe and effective.
BMS is Harbour’s second powerhouse partner this year after the Chinese biotech signed a potential $4.68 billion deal with AstraZeneca in March.
Follow along as BioSpace tracks job cuts and restructuring initiatives.
Despite falling short of its primary Phase II objective, Nektar plans to push its T cell stimulator rezpeg into Phase III development.
Roche CEO Thomas Schinecker said during the company’s Q3 call that it is “not done” with deals—a promise he delivered on with Tuesday’s solid tumor pact with AI-focused Caris Life Sciences.
FEATURED STORIES
2026 is set to be a banner year for M&A in biopharma, as buyers facing major patent cliffs fight for a small pool of late-stage assets.
Metsera showed the biopharma world that M&A is back. Who could be next?
As clinical research evolves, disruptive trial designs are reshaping how oncology advances. By integrating novel methodologies, strategic innovation, and patient-centered approaches, MEDSIR is driving a new era in cancer research, one that accelerates development, enhances efficiency, and delivers more meaningful therapeutic progress for patients worldwide.
These deals radically reshaped the biopharma world, either by one vaccine rival absorbing another, a Big Pharma doubling down after another failed acquisition or, in the case of Pfizer and Novo, two heavyweights duking it out over a hot obesity biotech.
Representatives of companies including AbbVie, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson and Merck have voiced concerns about the FDA’s approach to pre-approval inspections.
In the midst of regulatory and political upheaval, biopharma’s R&D engine kept running, churning out highs and lows in equal parts. Here are some of this year’s most glorious clinical trial victories.
FROM BIOSPACE INSIGHTS
Biotech’s slump may finally be over in 2026. In interviews with BioSpace, Zymeworks’ CEO Ken Galbraith and Zai Lab’s President and COO Josh Smiley explain what’s fueling the comeback.
UPCOMING EVENTS
LATEST PODCASTS
Eli Lilly’s retatrutide exceeds expectations in Phase III, capping off a sparkling 2025 for the obesity titan; an internal FDA safety review finds no confirmed pediatric deaths caused by COVID-19 vaccines, and Commissioner Marty Makary says no black box warning will be attached to the shots; and BioSpace looks at six biotechs that could be pharma’s next buy.
In this episode of Denatured presented by AnaptysBio, Jennifer Smith-Parker speaks to Dr. Joe Murray, Mayo Clinic; Marilyn Geller, the Celiac Disease Foundation; and Dr. Paul Lizzul, AnaptysBio, about the challenges and opportunities facing celiac disease treatment.
Pfizer deals again in obesity space as Wave and Structure drop splashy weight loss results; what CDER Director Richard Pazdur’s sudden retirement means for biopharma; neuro diseases take center stage at CTAD; and more.
Job Trends
Follow along as BioSpace tracks job cuts and restructuring initiatives.
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SPECIAL EDITIONS
In this deep dive, BioSpace investigates China’s rise as a biotech powerhouse.
In this deep dive, BioSpace explores the next big thing in obesity.
BioSpace did a deep dive into biopharma female executives who navigated difficult markets to lead their companies to high-value exits.
DEALS
  1. The star of the agreement targets a specific type of tau protein, helping to prevent toxic accumulation in the brain while also preserving the function of healthy tau.
  2. Sanofi bought Dren’s DR-0201 program earlier this year for $600 million upfront and is running two Phase I trials in undisclosed inflammatory indications.
  3. With $6 billion left in firepower, Pfizer is planning transactions in the hundreds of millions to the low-billions range, particularly in internal medicine and immunology and inflammation, Guggenheim reported.
  4. Pfizer apparently had more in the tank after the high-profile battle to acquire Metsera earlier this fall. The company has licensed a new GLP-1 from YaoPharma.
  5. What China is accomplishing in R&D “has implications for everyone playing in the R&D or innovation world,” McKinsey’s Fangning Zhang says.
WEIGHT LOSS
  1. Eli Lilly’s retatrutide exceeds expectations in Phase III, capping off a sparkling 2025 for the obesity titan; an internal FDA safety review finds no confirmed pediatric deaths caused by COVID-19 vaccines, and Commissioner Marty Makary says no black box warning will be attached to the shots; and BioSpace looks at six biotechs that could be pharma’s next buy.
  2. Coming up in the back half of December, the FDA will issue a verdict on Vanda Pharmaceuticals’ gastroparesis drug tradipitant, which it rejected last September, triggering a very public dispute with the company.
  3. Analysts were hoping for a safety profile similar to what was achieved in Phase II but an abnormal sense of touch, called dysesthesia, has emerged in the late-stage TRIUMPH-4 trial.
  4. Also on Thursday, Zealand held its Capital Markets Day in London, outlining the strategy for its weight management franchise in the near-term, including launching five products by 2030.
  5. Pfizer deals again in obesity space as Wave and Structure drop splashy weight loss results; what CDER Director Richard Pazdur’s sudden retirement means for biopharma; neuro diseases take center stage at CTAD; and more.
POLICY
  1. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla defended his company’s vaccine business as rhetoric from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. drives a notable drop in COVID-19 sales.
  2. With five CDER leaders in one year and regulatory proposals coming “by fiat,” the FDA is only making it more difficult to bring therapies to patients.
  3. Writing in separate editorials in two leading medical journals, former chiefs of federal scientific agencies issued warnings about the changes being proposed to vaccine frameworks by current officials.
  4. FDA
    In this episode of Denatured, Jennifer C. Smith-Parker speaks to Stacey Adam, PhD, Vice President of Science Partnerships at the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health and Patrick Smith, Senior Vice President, Translational Science at Certara, to discuss the latest regulatory news and the future for new approach methologies (NAMs) development.
  5. This week’s meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will be led by Kirk Milhoan, a physician and pastor who recently claimed that COVID-19 vaccines contained a contamination that causes cancer.
CAREER HUB
Clarity on employment terms is essential to protect careers. In this column, Kaye/Bassman’s Michael Pietrack speaks to employment attorney Howard Matalon, JD, partner at OlenderFeldman, on how to evaluate the fine print of an employment agreement.
Communication must be viewed as more than the last step of the research process. It is the structure that makes scientific work clear, trusted and remembered.
What should you do when belief in the mission remains, but the career path doesn’t?
Looking for a biopharma job? Check out the BioSpace list of 12 top companies hiring life sciences professionals like you.
Employees rarely leave companies for one reason alone. In this column, Kaye/Bassman’s Michael Pietrack shares a framework that helps leaders identify when their team members are thinking about heading for the exit—and how to address it.
Biopharma professionals aren’t typically hired right away, based on a BioSpace LinkedIn poll. In the past year, only about one-third of respondents found employment in three months or less. Several who did share their keys to success.
In a volatile industry, staying put might seem like a smart bet, but job hugging can quietly erode your visibility, growth and future opportunities.
HOTBEDS
Where are the Best Places to Work in life sciences? BioSpace’s annual Best Places to Work list demonstrates a company’s desirability in the recruitment marketplace - find out who made the list this year.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
For $950 million upfront, Sobi will gain ownership to pozdeutinurad, an oral URAT1 inhibitor that performed well in Phase II studies.
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
  1. Analysts at Jefferies called the approval “highly significant,” estimating it could add $2 billion to $3 billion to peak Enhertu sales.
  2. FDA
    Johnson & Johnson, which did not apply for the national priority voucher, was granted the ticket based on results from a Phase III study testing Tecvayli plus Darzalex in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.
  3. Varegacestat, a gamma secretase inhibitor, significantly improved progression-free survival while also meeting all key secondary endpoints in the pivotal RINGSIDE trial. Immunome is planning an FDA application for the second quarter of 2026.
  4. Every year in biopharma brings its share of grueling defeats, and 2025 was no different, especially for companies targeting neurological diseases. Some failures split up partners, and one particularly egregious case even led to the demise of an entire company.
  5. The loss of domvanalimab is the latest in a string of high-profile failures recorded across the biopharma world for the TIGIT modality, including from GSK, Merck and Roche.
NEUROSCIENCE
  1. Kyverna plans to submit mivocabtagene autoleucel to the FDA for approval in the first half of 2026. If approved, it would be the first CAR T therapy for an autoimmune disease.
  2. Sanofi’s multiple sclerosis hopeful tolebrutinib faced dual setbacks on Monday, with a late-stage failure in one form of the disease and yet another regulatory setback in another.
  3. In a first for the Parkinson’s field, AC Immune’s immunotherapy has stabilized key biomarkers that suggest an effect on the disease’s course.
  4. Analysts at Jefferies see blockbuster potential in zorevunersen in Dravet syndrome, with sales potentially reaching $1 billion to $4 billion.
  5. The R&D pipeline for depression therapies faced a demoralizing 2025 as five high-profile candidates, including KOR antagonists by Johnson & Johnson and Neumora Therapeutics, flunked late-stage clinical trials, underscoring the persistent challenges of CNS drug development.
CELL AND GENE THERAPY
  1. Addition joins a growing list of launches this year, following in the footsteps of startups like Crystalys Therapeutics and Ollin Biosciences.
  2. Backed by Italy-based Fondazione Telethon ETS, Waskyra, for Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, is the first gene therapy from a non-profit sponsor to win FDA approval.
  3. FDA
    For traditional approval, CAR T therapies will need to establish superiority over current standard treatments, including already-approved CAR T products.
  4. As big pharmas including Takeda and Novo Nordisk flee the cell therapy space and smaller biotechs shutter their operations, these players are sticking around to take the modality as far as it can go.
  5. The FDA approved an intrathecal form of Novartis’ spinal muscular atrophy gene therapy Zolgensma on Monday, broadening access to patients two years and older in what one Stanford Medicine professor called a “game changing advance” for the field.