With fewer biopharmas making or planning workforce reductions so far year over year, layoff round size and M&A impact on headcounts will likely shape the number of employees who are ultimately on the chopping block.
Summit Therapeutics and Akeso are answering questions raised about ivonescimab’s ability to translate to Western populations, though the partners have yet to share if the new findings are statistically significant.
With Phase 3 data showing what analysts called a “potentially best-in-class profile,” Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals plans to submit for FDA approval of plozasiran by the end of the year—hoping to follow to market Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ Tryngolza, which got the regulator’s nod in severe hypertriglyceridemia last month.
Top-selling cell therapies from BMS, J&J and Gilead depend on a BioLife product, positioning Repligen to use the takeover to increase its exposure to the modality.
Looking for a biopharma job in Cambridge? Roles posted on BioSpace have more than doubled compared to last year.
A Congressional advisory panel recommends the U.S. government put supportive policies in place for rare disease drug development, such as a finalized platform designation from the FDA and the allowance of novel trial designs for small patient populations.
IPO
BioSpace is launching an IPO dashboard to help the industry keep tabs on U.S. biotechs that have taken the public plunge in 2026.
FEATURED STORIES
As drug hunting gets more complex, where and how data is generated in partnerships between Big Pharmas and AI biotechs is becoming a headache for dealmakers.
With a Phase 3 failure denting the rare disease drug’s prospects, AstraZeneca has little room for error as it plots a path toward its ambitious 2030 sales target.
The biopharma industry would do well to re-embrace the 505(b)(2) path, which allows sponsors to draw on previous findings around an existing drug even as they propose modifications to it.
Having started to publish CRLs without consulting the public, the FDA is under pressure to change course amid concerns it failed to openly and fully evaluate a complex issue.
After the trailblazing approval of Sanofi’s Tzield for stage 3 type 1 diabetes, several companies, including SAB Biotherapeutics and Eledon Pharmaceuticals, are vying for a spot in the landscape with innovative approaches—and experts say there’s room for all of them.
Poised to become the first company to achieve a regulatory filing for a cell therapy in autoimmune disease, Kyverna Therapeutics is building a pipeline-in-a-product to change the treatment paradigm.
FROM BIOSPACE INSIGHTS
Gain the latest insights into the biopharma hiring landscape with BioSpace’s Biopharma Job Market Report Q2 2026. Explore the trends shaping talent acquisition, from rising job postings and sustained R&D hiring to the market activity signaling stronger hiring demand ahead.
UPCOMING EVENTS
LATEST PODCASTS
Second quarter earnings continue to roll with Novartis and Roche reporting this week; Eli Lilly’s AtaiBeckley buy for up to $3.8 billion offers clear “validation” for the fledgling psychedelics space; more drama unfolds at FDA as the agency goes back and forth on its policy of publishing complete response letters in real-time; and IPO fever continues.
In this episode of Denatured, you’ll hear from Lance Alstodt, chairman and CEO at Biorestorative Therapies, and Paul Mieyal, chief business officer at South Rampart Pharma. We explore why pain has remained such a difficult therapeutic area to tackle and one of the biggest unmet needs today, and how non-opioid mechanisms to regenerative therapies could reshape the future of treatment.
Biogen’s new data, presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, supports a tau-focused approach to the intractable neurodegenerative disease; psychedelics are back in the news with more positive data from Compass Pathways and final guidance from the FDA; and the ATTR-CM space got a major shakeup with the late-stage failure of AstraZeneca and Ionis’ antisense therapeutic.
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SPECIAL EDITIONS
Who is the highest paid CEO in all of pharma? In this special edition, BioSpace examines top paid CEOs and their pay packages.
BioSpace examines how the FDA approval of Eli Lilly’s oral obesity drug Foundayo has ignited a key race with Novo Nordisk.
Opportunities increased by the end of the first quarter, according to BioSpace data.
DEALS
  1. Second quarter earnings continue to roll with Novartis and Roche reporting this week; Eli Lilly’s AtaiBeckley buy for up to $3.8 billion offers clear “validation” for the fledgling psychedelics space; more drama unfolds at FDA as the agency goes back and forth on its policy of publishing complete response letters in real-time; and IPO fever continues.
  2. With PolyPeptide manufacturing peptides such as GLP-1 medicines, Samsung Biologics has identified the deal as a way to tap into fast-growing demand for obesity drug production services.
  3. Novartis will continue to be on the lookout for bolt-on deals below $2 billion, CEO Vas Narasimhan said Tuesday on the pharma’s second quarter earnings call—though major pickups aren’t completely off the table.
  4. IPO
    Axiom Biosciences is thinking outside of the box, betting on a public debut in Hong Kong to raise capital and grow into a global company.
  5. With the AtaiBeckley acquisition, Eli Lilly is jumping into psychedelics, a drug class that Jefferies analysts say could herald the “biggest change” for the field of psychiatry.
WEIGHT LOSS
  1. IPO
    Kalohexis is working on peptide therapies, including one for obesity that could offer an alternative approach to the GLP-1s that currently dominate the weight loss space.
  2. New data on Hengrui Pharma and Kailera Therapeutics’ investigational oral GLP-1 have validated the late-stage weight loss asset and paved the road for a regulatory submission in China, but analysts pointed to high rates of nausea and vomiting that could challenge the ongoing U.S. study.
  3. IPO
    After debuting on the public markets with $256.3 million and raking in an additional $472 million, Veradermics has emerged as one of biotech’s biggest post-IPO standouts. CEO Reid Waldman credits the weight loss craze for establishing consumer-driven channels.
  4. Eli Lilly’s weight-loss franchise—including the tirzepatide products Mounjaro and Zepbound, and the weight-loss pill Foundayo—is projected to account for nearly half of the total sales of the top 10 drugs in 2032.
  5. Rhythm Pharmaceuticals’ Imcivree reduced fat—while boosting muscle—in patients with Prader-Willi syndrome.
POLICY
  1. The FDAs enforcement action against Purolea Cosmetics Lab offers an early look at how the agency expects AI-generated work to fit within existing quality systems, with experts saying human oversight and quality controls remain essential.
  2. The agency’s finalized recommendations for clinical testing of psychedelic compounds for mental health could pave the way for companies like Compass Pathways, whose psilocybin-based therapy for treatment-resistant depression could win approval as early as this year.
  3. Through the proposal, the FDA could clear barriers to distributed manufacturing approaches intended to enhance emergency preparedness and supply chain resilience.
  4. Congressional letters sent to the CEOs of Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Merck, BMS and AbbVie this week voicing concerns about the pharmas’ clinical trials in China highlight an ongoing discrepancy in how government and industry think about the rise of the Asian country’s biotech industry.
  5. Teams at facilities being developed by Eli Lilly, Regeneron and other companies will receive early technical guidance and additional perks from the FDA.
CAREER HUB
Working at a Big Pharma has its benefits, but there are limitations too. SERB Pharmaceuticals’ Thomas Kolaras discusses how moving to a midsize company creates new opportunities for sharpened thinking and leadership.
Looking for a biopharma job? Check out the BioSpace list of 12 top companies hiring life sciences professionals like you.
Controlling CEOs, manipulative middle managers and high-performing jerks can damage employees’ trust in employers and motivate them to hit the job market. Kaye/Bassman’s Michael Pietrack discusses the problematic behaviors executives must watch for in the workplace.
Even something as simple as “Tell me about yourself” can trip up biopharma professionals during job interviews. Two recruiting experts discuss what candidates should and shouldn’t say when answering five specific questions.
Rather than getting hung up on what to call DEI in the workplace, leaders should take three specific actions to help their employees embrace and engage with it. Companies and the patients they serve will benefit.
Three experts discuss whether biotech and pharma professionals should try to convince employers to adjust employment offers, mistakes people make during the process and tips for getting it right.
The people most trusted to deliver are not always the ones invited to shape direction. Executive coach Angela Justice examines why the habits that build a career can eventually limit advancement.
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
Structural gaps in areas including clinical execution and funding limit India’s ability to scale up innovation, according to a report from Boston Consulting Group and HealthKois.
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. The discontinued asset, being trialed for breast cancer and solid tumors, had yielded disappointing data, leading to Novartis’ decision to abandon development, according to a company spokesperson.
  2. IPO
    Eighteen companies have gone public this year so far, putting 2026 on pace to record the highest number of IPOs since the pandemic-driven high of 2021.
  3. The Phase 3 results are the first direct proof-of-concept for an ADC replacing platinum-based chemo in a first-line standard-of-care regimen for non-small cell lung cancer, according to Leerink Partners. The readout also represents the second late-stage win for the Merck and Kelun-Biotech asset, called sac-TMT.
  4. Just weeks after Pfizer’s Seagen-acquired antibody-drug conjugate sigvotatug vedotin failed a Phase 3 non-small cell lung cancer study, the big pharma has quietly culled another program being developed by the ADC specialist.
  5. Celcuity’s first approved drug, Revtorpyk, is indicated for the second-line treatment of advanced HER2- breast cancer patients without PIK3CA mutations—a key use distinction that sets it apart from other PIK3/AKT blockers in the space, according to Jefferies.
NEUROSCIENCE
  1. Psychedelics, chiefly Compass Pathways’ COMP360, are unlikely to make an immediate dent in the sales of Johnson & Johnson’s depression drug Spravato, H.C. Wainwright’s Patrick Trucchio told BioSpace.
  2. New mid-stage data from Biogen’s Ionis-partnered therapy diranersen served to both validate the tau hypothesis in Alzheimer’s disease and raise questions that could soon be elucidated by anti-tau candidates from Denali Therapeutics, Eisai and Eli Lilly.
  3. Biogen’s new data, presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, supports a tau-focused approach to the intractable neurodegenerative disease; psychedelics are back in the news with more positive data from Compass Pathways and final guidance from the FDA; and the ATTR-CM space got a major shakeup with the late-stage failure of AstraZeneca and Ionis’ antisense therapeutic.
  4. Eli Lilly’s anti-amyloid Alzheimer’s drug is designed to be stopped after patients drop below a certain amyloid level in the brain. However, at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference on Wednesday, Lilly revealed it is studying the potential of maintenance therapy for patients who need it.
  5. Biogen touted an “unprecedented” drop in tau in a Phase 2 trial, backing the company’s decision to take diranersen to Phase 3 despite a missed primary endpoint and seemingly supporting the anti-tau approach.
CELL AND GENE THERAPY
  1. In this episode of Denatured, you’ll hear from Jack Crawford, CEO of Demeetra, and Magnus Gustavsson, chief commercial officer at NorthX Biologics. We unpack the evolution of cell line development — CHO cells, targeted integration, transposases and the collaboration models speeding biologics from sequence to GMP.
  2. FDA
    Many of the FDA’s decisions this quarter involve applications that have previously been delayed, declined or outright rejected, including one for an mRNA vaccine that became the center of controversy earlier this year.
  3. The FDA approved the expansion of Casgevy, which had previously been greenlit for patients 12 and up, into a younger pediatric population under the agency’s Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher program.
  4. A few short days after announcing an FDA pivot on a separate asset, REGENXBIO is planning to test the agency’s apparent newfound rare disease outlook on another late-stage gene therapy.
  5. If cell and gene therapy makers are going to achieve their mission to improve patients’ lives, the industry must come together to share information across stakeholders, from regulators to manufacturers to payers.