Annalee Armstrong headshot

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.

As antibody-drug conjugates advance and move into earlier lines of treatment, drug developers have to build gentler therapies that don’t just extend survival but improve it.
A surprising deal from Vertex Pharmaceuticals adds to Big Pharma’s acquisitive streak as Crinetics folds into the cystic fibrosis drugmaker. Meanwhile, IPOs and venture capital raises trend upward, but mostly for derisked companies. Plus, FDA decisions slow only slightly as the hunt for a permanent leader drags on.
A mostly black box since emerging with more than a billion dollars in hand, Xaira Therapeutics is slowly pulling back the curtain, revealing plans to find partners and validate its pipeline.
Vera Therapeutics’ atacicept, to be marketed as Trutakna, will go up against Novartis, Otsuka and possibly Vertex in the kidney disease primary IgA nephropathy after receiving an accelerated FDA approval.
New data from a Phase 3 trial will further support a rolling submission for Compass Pathways’ psilocybin treatment COMP360. Patients who saw a clinically meaningful benefit on depression severity maintained response through week 26.
The vibe at BIO 2026 in San Diego last week was overwhelmingly positive, with attendees observing noticeable changes at the FDA and an uptick in dealmaking and IPOs. Plus, a top medical journal this week retracted a pivotal study for Amgen’s rare disease drug Tavneos, which has been in the FDA’s crosshairs since January.
The total of 52 mergers and acquisitions for the first half of 2026 reflects what analysts, industry watchers and executives are saying over and over: M&A is back.
Who is the highest paid CEO in all of pharma? In this special edition, BioSpace examines top paid CEOs and their pay packages.
At the BIO International Convention in San Diego, attendees marked the 50th anniversary of original biotech Genentech, reflecting on the immense challenges facing companies as China becomes a powerhouse innovator.
Investment firm Deerfield Management is the latest to find a gem in China, which has been rising as a source of biotech innovation over the past few years.
Zymeworks announced a new plan to become a royalty-driven company last year, making Theravance a perfect match.
IPO
Dealmaking across biopharma is shifting dramatically as the SEC rolls out new regulations to ease burdens on newly public companies and antitrust review is replaced by drug pricing as the policy concern du jour.
Dual and even triple or quadruple track processes have come roaring back in 2026 thanks to a glut of M&A that has refilled investors’ wallets. Big Pharma is being put on notice that time is critical if they want to acquire.
AbbVie scooped up immunology player Apogee Therapeutics for nearly $11 billion in one of the year’s top deals to-date, while Sanofi made a big play to survive its upcoming Dupixent patent cliff; FDA uncertainty continues as the agency changes direction on gene therapies by uniQure and REGENXBIO; and Jef Akst and Annalee Armstrong report back from San Diego.
Speaking to media on Tuesday, BIO CEO John Crowley complimented China’s rise as a biotech powerhouse but said U.S. policy needs to protect and maintain America’s lead.