Biohaven has suffered a few setbacks in recent months, including an FDA rejection and a missed $150 million benchmark payment, but CEO Vlad Coric looked for the brighter side at JPM, specifically emphasizing a serendipitous discovery that could get the company in the obesity game.
The star of the acquisition, anti-IgE antibody ozureprubart, is being tested as a prophylactic treatment for food allergies, potentially setting up a competition for GSK with Roche’s Xolair.
The companies have an expansive clinical program for the mRNA neoantigen therapy intismeran autogene in combination with immuno-oncology heavyweight Keytruda.
BioSpace has revealed its new 2026 Hotbed Maps, showcasing seven regional life sciences hot spots.
The initiative could tackle the first-mover disadvantage some CDMOs believe deters early customers, but leaders at companies including Novo Nordisk see hurdles to implementing the changes.
In this bonus episode, BioSpace’s Vice President of Marketing ⁠Chantal Dresner⁠ and Careers Editor ⁠Angela Gabriel⁠ take a look at Q4 job market performance and what it signals for 2026.
Follow along as BioSpace tracks job cuts and restructuring initiatives.
FEATURED STORIES
Henry Gosebruch, who has $3.5 billion in capital to deploy, is thinking broad as he steers the decades-old biotech out of years of turmoil. 
After J.P. Morgan, biotech’s bold promises meet real-world challenges. In 2026, success starts with a CDMO partner who accelerates timelines and anticipates every manufacturing hurdle. Learn how AGC Biologics offers tailored cell line solutions for complex molecules.
With inspections always on the table, LOTTE Biologics is pushing a proactive, quality first culture across its dual hubs in Syracuse and Songdo, backing its new single‑use ADC facility with rigorous training, self‑audits and real‑time regulatory surveillance.
Following the hard-won success of early anti-amyloid drugs, a new generation of Alzheimer’s modalities—from tau-targeting gene silencers to blood-brain barrier delivery platforms—is entering the pipeline to anchor future combination therapies.
Speaking on the sidelines of the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, Novo business development executive Tamara Darsow said the company is gunning for obesity and diabetes assets.
It doesn’t matter how many times you have traversed Union Square; no one knows which way is north, or where The Westin is in relation to the Ritz Carlton. A Verizon outage brought that into focus on Wednesday.
FROM BIOSPACE INSIGHTS
BioSpace’s 2025 Q4 U.S. Life Sciences Job Market update highlights early signs of stabilization in biopharma hiring, with modest gains in job postings, slowing layoffs, and cautiously improving sentiment heading into 2026.
UPCOMING EVENTS
LATEST PODCASTS
In this bonus episode, BioSpace’s Vice President of Marketing ⁠Chantal Dresner⁠ and Careers Editor ⁠Angela Gabriel⁠ take a look at Q4 job market performance and what it signals for 2026.
AbbVie and Novartis strike billion-dollar pacts while attendees at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference await that one big M&A deal and Merck teases limitless buying capacity; Eli Lilly readies for potential orforglipron launch while Novo Nordisk laments compounders; the IPO window cracks open; and the FDA concludes that GLP-1s do not pose a suicide risk.
In this episode of Denatured, Jennifer C. Smith-Parker speaks to Maha Katabi, general partner at Sofinnova Investments and Andrew Lam, managing director, head of Biotech Private Equity at Ally Bridge Group, about how M &A dynamics, dealmaking and global partnerships are reshaping portfolio valuations and paths to growth in 2026.
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SPECIAL EDITIONS
Recent breakthroughs and three decades of progress in treating Huntington’s disease
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.
DEALS
  1. Buying vaccine biotech Dynavax was an easy choice for Sanofi despite antivaccine moves by the Trump administration.
  2. After a period of diversification, Novo Nordisk is returning to its roots by focusing on the 2 billion people with diabetes, obesity or overweight.
  3. There hasn’t been a headline-stealing deal at J.P. Morgan yet. Nevertheless, the mood is positive amid green shoots and a flurry of dealmaking to end 2025.
  4. Mature biopharma deals are stealing all the headlines, but Bristol Myers Squibb’s Robert Plenge says the company’s deals with insitro, Orbital and more are building the future.
  5. The deal, which sees AbbVie paying RemeGen $650 million upfront, gives the pharma ex-China rights to the biotech’s PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody—a modality being targeted by companies including BMS, Merck and Pfizer.
WEIGHT LOSS
  1. Despite ushering in the current GLP-1 era, Novo Nordisk has fallen behind its chief rival Eli Lilly, which has exceeded the Danish pharma in terms of sales.
  2. FDA
    Target action dates for drugs sponsored by Sanofi, Boehringer Ingelheim and Disc Medicine have also been pushed back despite assurances of swift reviews under the FDA’s new Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher program.
  3. Strive Compounding Pharmacy alleged in its lawsuit that Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk have worked to lock telehealth providers in exclusive partnerships, disallowing them from offering compounded versions of GLP-1 medicines.
  4. BMO analysts say Eli Lilly is well-positioned to maintain its lead in the ballooning weight loss space, predicting “strengthening leadership in obesity and beyond” as portfolios expand and patient access improves.
  5. A more detailed review of data by the FDA showed that GLP-1 drugs do not increase the risk of suicidal ideation or behavior.
POLICY
  1. Robert Kramer, former CEO of Emergent BioSolutions, allegedly earned more than $10.1 million by executing trades with information related to the company’s manufacturing operations that had yet to be made public.
  2. Incoming PhRMA Chair Paul Hudson, a day before the White House announcement, pledged to work with the administration as the president turns to insurers as a source of cost savings for prescription medicines.
  3. An inconsistent boom-and-bust cycle funding environment for early-stage biotech innovations and burdensome regulation threaten the U.S.’s half-century-long dominance in the biotech sector.
  4. Acadia Pharma’s Catherine Owen Adams is one of the founders of a group of small- to mid-cap biotechs advocating against a ‘peanut butter blanket’ approach to drug pricing for small companies.
  5. Former European Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan and former US Senator Richard Burr, speaking on a panel at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, pushed to see a larger picture beyond the Trump administration’s year of chaos and confusion.
CAREER HUB
Looking for a biopharma job? Check out the BioSpace list of 12 top companies hiring life sciences professionals like you.
Looking for a new opportunity in New Jersey? These nine companies have open roles that could be a great fit for you.
The difference between a job and a career is what you walk away with when it ends. Here’s how to evaluate if your role and environment are enabling capability building–and if your title is holding you back.
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?
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.
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
Following rusfertide’s triumphant Phase III trial last year, Protagonist must decide how involved to be in future development. Hundreds of millions of dollars are on the line.
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. Despite the late-stage miss, analysts maintained confidence in the Epkinly program, with Truist Securities saying the result “doesn’t waver our optimism” regarding the bispecific antibody’s ongoing frontline trial.
  2. 2026 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for rare disease drugmakers, with key approvals, filings and readouts lined up for this year.
  3. Primarily known as an immunology and neuroscience company, AbbVie wanted to put the biopharma world on notice during its J.P. Morgan presentation: its oncology portfolio is underappreciated. This week, the Illinois-based company dove into the sizzling PD-1/VEGF space with a licensing deal with China-based RemeGen.
  4. AstraZeneca is relying on several upcoming products to help hit its target of $80 billion in revenue by 2030, including drugs for hypertension, breast cancer and generalized myasthenia gravis, all of which are currently under FDA review.
  5. The FDA initially placed the Phase III IDeate-Lung02 study on hold due to a “higher than expected” number of deaths in patients treated with ifinatamab deruxtecan.
NEUROSCIENCE
  1. After a cacophony of troubles hit the RNA editing biotech last fall, CEO Ram Aiyar is in San Francisco to develop partnerships, pitch the potential of its new AATD program and find more money to keep the dream alive.
  2. Three years after the accelerated approval of its anti-amyloid Alzheimer’s therapy, Biogen—neck and neck in the market with Eli Lilly and its Kisunla offering—is focused on a near-term FDA decision for a subcutaneous induction dose of Leqembi, a presymptomatic readout in 2028 and a clutch of next-generation candidates.
  3. The deal will see Novartis gain global rights over SciNeuro’s potentially disease-modifying anti-amyloid antibody, which leverages the latter’s proprietary shuttle platform to allow delivery into the brain.
  4. After years stuck in the “doldrums,” the biopharma sector is in a “very good place” heading into the new year, analysts told BioSpace, with both rare and chronic diseases headlining investor and R&D interest as JPM26 kicks off.
  5. The DC-based biopharma disputed the FDA’s conclusions regarding the data provided in its supplemental application for Hetlioz and promised to keep pushing for an approval.
CELL AND GENE THERAPY
  1. Jefferies analysts forecast a $1 billion market opportunity for each of Sarepta’s siRNA programs for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy and myotonic dystrophy type 1.
  2. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary called these changes “common-sense reforms” that could expedite the development of cell and gene therapies.
  3. Aurora joins the clutch of companies linked to Nobel Prize winner and CRISPR trailblazer Jennifer Doudna.
  4. The prevalence of serious inflammatory safety issues such as cytokine release syndrome and immune effector cell–associated neurotoxicity syndrome limits the reach of these transformative cancer therapies.
  5. Rampart Bioscience was working on a platform to deliver gene therapies without the need for viral vectors.