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Annalee Armstrong

Senior Editor

Annalee Armstrong is an award-winning biopharma journalist covering the business of drug development. She began her career at small newspapers across Western Canada. During the assignment of a lifetime, the Yukon Quest Sled Dog Race, she met her husband in Alaska and eventually moved to the U.S. Since then, Annalee has covered energy, environmental regulations, healthcare and biopharma. Prior to BioSpace, Annalee was senior editor for Fierce Biotech, where she received several awards for her writing and editing. She lives in Ottawa, Ontario, with her husband, two wild boys, an anxious Rhodesian Ridgeback and an indifferent tabby cat.

Insilico Medicine CEO Alex Zhavoronkov’s mad dash across the BIO International Convention in June attracted plenty of eyes. But the executive would prefer industry watchers gawk at the billions of dollars’ worth of deals his company has struck.
Vaderis is hoping that engasertib will become the first approved medicine for hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia, a rare condition that can cause spontaneous bleeding.
After launching in April, Hunter syndrome drug Avlayah surprised analysts with a strong first quarter, as patients rush to get access to Denali Therapeutics’ new option.
Analysts expect Replimune’s newly approved Tudriqev to reach $1.3 billion in peak sales in 2035.
Patients who receive an organ transplant must take difficult immuno-suppressive medicines for the rest of their lives. LifeMine Therapeutics wants to offer a safer alternative.
Foundayo clocked $98 million in sales in Q2, the first quarter it was available, compared to Novo’s $355 million for the same sales period.
A legal dispute between the FDA and Eli Lilly over whether the highly anticipated obesity candidate retatrutide is indeed a biologic has come to a head as the company prepares to submit the medicine for approval.
Eli Lilly’s shares rose nearly 5% to $1,170 apiece in premarket trading as the company reported $23 billion in revenue for the second quarter. The company’s market cap is $1.02 trillion as of the end of July.
FDA
The industry has been abuzz since the weekend when talks of a potential mega-merger between Bristol Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca were reported. Meanwhile, Pfizer, Merck and others release second quarter earnings, with some disclosing pipeline discontinuations and cost-cutting measures. Finally, all eyes turn to the FDA in the wake of heated advisory committee meetings for Capricor Therapeutics and Replimune.
Pharma is definitely interested in making more deals. But what biotechs will come under the magnifying glass? BioSpace takes a look at companies that analysts see as near-term targets for buyouts.
Novo Nordisk’s shares fell 6% on Tuesday afternoon after its second quarter earnings report showed a slight miss for the Wegovy pill vs. consensus.
Asked on a second quarter earnings call if Pfizer could direct more money to M&A amid a feeding frenzy across the pharma industry, CEO Albert Bourla defended his strategy.
The additional cuts, which will primarily occur between 2027 and 2029, will cost some $6 billion as the pharma tries to ride out a post-COVID headache while facing stiff patent headwinds for major products like the blood thinner Eliquis.
BioNTech’s leadership transition was announced earlier this year, with CEO Ugur Sahin and CMO Özlem Türeci leaving to start a new mRNA company. Guido Oelkers of Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB will take over as CEO in early 2027.
If AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb were to successfully become one company, analysts say it could reset the current deal environment, which has picked up greatly in the first half of the year.