The results, which come on the heels of the FDA’s approval of J&J’s esketamine nasal spray Spravato as a monotherapy for treatment-resistant depression, could serve to further bolster a space hit hard by the rejection of Lykos’ MDMA-based PTSD therapy in August 2024.
Atara Biotherapeutics’ layoffs could leave the biotech with around 80 employees. The cuts follow news that the FDA rejected Ebvallo, a T cell therapy approved in Europe for a transplant-related blood cancer, and placed a clinical hold on the company’s active drug applications.
2024 was a tough year for the biopharma industry, with several companies cutting hundreds or even thousands of employees. Follow along as BioSpace tracks job cuts and restructuring initiatives throughout 2025.
Landing a job remains challenging for life sciences professionals, according to a new BioSpace report. While 59% of surveyed organizations are actively recruiting, nearly half of unemployed survey respondents had been out of work for at least six months, and 20% of surveyed employers expect to lay off employees this year.
The company, co-founded by Nobel Laureate Craig Mello, aims to push molecules for Huntington’s and a form of epilepsy into Phase I trials, with additional preclinical assets targeting Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
Versant Ventures continues to invest in the increasingly competitive obesity space, this time launching Helicore with $65 million and a GIP-targeting asset intended to induce higher-quality weight loss.
FEATURED STORIES
Riding recent momentum in the Duchenne muscular dystrophy space, Capricor Therapeutics, Wave Life Sciences, Regenxbio and more aim to deliver the next wave of progress with near-term data and regulatory milestones.
The Japanese pharma had one asset rejected by the FDA and withdrew a regulatory application for another, but already this month the company has secured an approval for AstraZeneca-partnered Dato-DXd, to be marketed as Datroway.
While the last decade has brought considerable progress for patients with DMD, substantial unmet need remains. Several companies including Wave, Dyne and Avidity are looking to answer the call with investigational therapies targeting greater efficacy and broader reach.
FROM BIOSPACE INSIGHTS
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.
LATEST PODCASTS
Biopharma executives shared their thoughts on the potential impacts of the new administration; Annalee Armstrong recaps JPM and her talks with Biogen, Gilead, Novavax and more; Wegovy’s higher dose induces more weight loss; AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo’s Dato-DXd scores its first FDA approval.
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 we expect to see ahead.
In this episode of Denatured, BioSpace’s Head of Insights Lori Ellis talks to Dr. Peter Marks, Director, CBER about his thoughts on the future of cell and gene therapies.
Job Trends
2024 was a tough year for the biopharma industry, with several companies cutting hundreds or even thousands of employees. Follow along as BioSpace tracks job cuts and restructuring initiatives throughout 2025.
Subscribe to Genepool
Subscribe to BioSpace’s flagship publication including top headlines, special editions and life sciences’ most important breaking news
SPECIAL EDITIONS
In this deep dive BioSpace explores the opportunities and challenges presented by the FDA’s accelerated approval program.
Year-over-year BioSpace data shows there are fewer job postings live on the website and far more competition for them.
On election day, Tuesday, November 5, Americans will choose between former President Donald Trump and current Vice President Kamala Harris for their next president. The election will also see the rearrangement of Congress.
DEALS
-
Following a lawsuit filed last week, Sage has officially rejected Biogen’s unsolicited buyout offer, which valued the embattled biotech at just $469 million. -
Protein degradation–focused Neomorph nabs its third Big Pharma deal of around $1.5 billion in less than a year. -
The deal follows a $1.06 billion U.S. contract in July 2024 and a $1.24 billion agreement with an Asia-based pharma a few months later. -
On the company’s Q4 earnings call where an eyepopping $88.8 billion in full-year sales were revealed, leaders shifted focus away from enormous takeovers to single-digit billion buy outs. -
With an eye toward advancing a novel antibody-drug conjugate for gastrointestinal cancers, ArriVent is the latest biopharma player to ink a deal with a Chinese biotech.
WEIGHT LOSS
-
Patients taking Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy plus Veru’s enobosarm saw 71% lower lean mass loss than those who were taking Wegovy alone but investors await more data. -
The readout comes on the heels of CagriSema’s disappointing Phase III performance, where it missed Novo’s projection of 25% weight reduction. -
The San Diego–based company’s molecules avoid the well-trod GLP-1 pathway in favor of an alternate route in the gut. -
Biopharma executives shared their thoughts on the potential impacts of the new administration; Annalee Armstrong recaps JPM and her talks with Biogen, Gilead, Novavax and more; Wegovy’s higher dose induces more weight loss; AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo’s Dato-DXd scores its first FDA approval. -
Computational research conducted by scientists from Washington University in St. Louis shows that GLP-1 agonists can have mental and cognitive health benefits but may also harm the kidneys and pancreas.
FDA
-
The monthly maintenance regimen, which offers a more convenient frequency than the initially approved treatment schedule for patients with Alzheimer’s, could help with Leqembi’s thus far disappointing uptake and sales. -
Less than a day into his second term, President Donald Trump ordered a freeze on communications at major public health agencies, among other moves that have sent waves through the biopharma industry. -
The drugs’ active ingredient, glatiramer acetate, has been linked to more than 80 cases of anaphylaxis worldwide since December 1996 and six patient deaths. -
Spravato’s monotherapy nod on Tuesday comes after a series of setbacks in the depression space. -
The FDA is putting Atara’s active Investigational New Drug applications on hold due to manufacturing concerns at a third-party provider while releasing Amylyx’s investigational ALS therapy from a previous pause.
Being laid off is bad enough. When companies mishandle the layoff process, it can make the situation even worse. Four biopharma professionals share how some employers are getting it wrong.
Job postings in California took a dip in December during the holiday period, but activity is expected to pick up in January.
As market values increase for computational biology and data science, biopharma companies are looking to hire R&D professionals in those areas. A biotech talent acquisition expert shares his insights on these in-demand roles.
Gratitude, a key part of stoicism, can benefit those working in—and being served by—the pharmaceutical industry.
Businessman and entrepreneur Mark Cuban recently discussed leadership with Leadership Lab columnist Michael Pietrack. The three lessons that came out of that conversation start with one word: caring.
When hiring job candidates to work on cell and gene therapies, companies look for more than just technical skills. Talent acquisition executives from Bristol Myers Squibb and Intellia Therapeutics offer an inside look at what they want in an employee.
HOTBEDS
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
The unsuccessful Phase III results are the latest to suggest that the blockbuster cancer drug is finally bumping up against its limits after racking up around 50 approvals since getting its first FDA nod in September 2014.
REPORTS
This report investigates anticipated job search activity and hiring outlook for the remainder of 2024.
BioSpace’s third report on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in life sciences examines dramatic shifts in attitude around diversity initiatives.
BioSpace’s 2024 Salary Report explores the average salaries and salary trends of life sciences professionals.
CANCER
-
Bristol Myers Squibb’s Opdivo plus Yervoy, as well as Pfizer’s Braftovi, have each shown strong Phase III performances that could position them as new standards of care in certain subtypes of metastatic colorectal cancer. -
Ascentage is looking to use the IPO proceeds to advance its Phase III candidates for chronic or small lymphocytic leukemia and for certain types of chronic myeloid leukemia. -
Datroway, formerly known as Dato-DXd, significantly improved median progression-free survival in a Phase III study but failed to do so for overall survival. -
Traditionally carrying a dire prognosis, the treatment paradigm for multiple myeloma is changing, with CAR T therapies, bispecifics and more contributing to multifaceted regimens unique to each patient’s needs. -
Even before the FDA’s recent approval of Dato-DXd in breast cancer, analysts predicted sales of the antibody-drug conjugate could hit $5.9 billion in 2030. However, the asset faced a series of setbacks in 2024.
NEUROSCIENCE
-
Little information has emerged about osavampator, a potentially first-in-class drug, since its promising Phase II performance last spring. -
Vigil Neuroscience reported a strong safety profile and 50% sTREM2 reduction in an early-stage trial for VG-3927, potentially representing a new avenue for treating Alzheimer’s disease. -
In a good-news-bad-news week for Biogen, the company will cut an undisclosed number of employees, just as a higher dose of its Ionis-partnered therapy Spinraza for spinal muscular atrophy will be considered by the FDA and EMA. -
The U.S. Court of Federal Claims ruled that Vanda cannot claim a breach of confidentiality for specifications that it did not develop itself. -
Cebranopadol, a dual-NMR agonist, reached the primary endpoint in a Phase III trial and matched placebo for safety, a significant concern in the analgesic field.
CELL AND GENE THERAPY
-
At J.P. Morgan, most biopharma executives expressed a neutral stance on the incoming administration, but just days later, President Trump issued multiple executive orders that concern the industry. -
Five years ago, Gilead signed a massive deal with Galapagos. After a restructuring, the pharma is still hunting for the potential it saw at the original signing. -
As the year gets underway, analysts and biotech executives highlight cell therapy’s pivot from oncology to autoimmune diseases, a continued appetite for next-generation obesity drugs and an increased focus on neuromuscular, kidney and cardiovascular diseases. -
In this episode of Denatured, BioSpace’s Head of Insights Lori Ellis talks to Dr. Peter Marks, Director, CBER about his thoughts on the future of cell and gene therapies. -
Along with its gene editing therapy Casgevy, Vertex is offering fertility preservation support for its patients—a program that the HHS claims violates anti-kickback statutes.
