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Annalee Armstrong

Senior Editor

Annalee Armstrong is an award-winning biopharma journalist covering the business of drug development. She has been a journalist for more than 18 years, covering the pharmaceutical and biotech industry for the last eight.

Annalee 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.

She is senior editor at BioSpace and curates the Biopharm Executive newsletter every Wednesday. You can reach her at  annalee.armstrong@biospace.com. Follow her on LinkedIn.

Inhibrx CEO Mark Lappe was particularly keen on INBRX-106’s performance in patients with HPV-positive disease and sees a nearly $4 billion near-term opportunity thanks to the Phase 2 results.
With M&A rising, venture capital returning and policy risks easing, biotech is on a positive trajectory following a prolonged post-pandemic slump, Truist Securities declared after a survey of sector leaders.
New Phase 3 data show that Summit Therapeutics and Akeso’s PD-1/VEGF therapy improved overall survival in patients with a type of lung cancer as compared to Merck’s Keytruda but the results will need to be replicated in non-Chinese patients.
FDA
Novartis hits pause on several CAR T trials after three patient deaths, followed by Bristol Myers Squibb after separate safety signals; Revolution Medicines scores early FDA approval for groundbreaking pancreatic cancer drug; BioNTech suspends a mid-stage trial of its mRNA cancer immunotherapy after a futility analysis; and nine mid-sized biopharma companies join their big pharma peers in President Donald Trump’s Most Favored Nation drug pricing scheme.
Roche has tapped Simcere Zaiming for a new T cell engager that could have broad application in B cell–mediated diseases including lymphoma and autoimmune conditions.
Biomarin has granted Ascendis a non-exclusive, worldwide license to use navepegritide, the active ingredient in the latter company’s recently approved achondroplasia drug Yuviwel, in exchange for 18–20% royalties on net sales.
The FDA granted the approval of Revolution Medicines’ daraxonrasib, now to be known as Rasonque, in pancreatic adenocarcinoma 6.5 months ahead of deadline.
FDA
FDA extends its review of Capricor Therapeutics’ Duchenne muscular dystrophy cell therapy as an unhappy shareholder advocates for change; Merck and Moderna tout positive data for their mRNA-based cancer vaccine; Trump nominates White House aide Heidi Overton as FDA commissioner; and the oral obesity market heats up with rivals Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk going head-to-head.
Haisco Pharmaceutical Group has been on a deal hot streak this year, inking major deals with Eli Lilly, AbbVie and more. The new company will take on one of Haisco’s core immunology assets.
Investors had been pessimistic about the probability of success for the personalized cancer vaccine intismeran autogene, so the Phase 3 win was a welcome surprise.
If Heidi Overton clears the Senate nomination process, analysts say she will have a tough job ahead to “restore predictability” to an agency battered by layoffs and controversial policies.
FDA
Amylyx shares good news for its investigational GLP-1 blocker; Definium announces positive data for its LSD-based therapy in anxiety; Summit/Akeso’s ivonescimab shows degrading survival benefits; patients treated with Neurocrine’s Prader-Willi drug experience serious adverse events; and Eli Lilly cracks down on the black market for next-gen obesity asset retatrutide.
Massachusetts-based biotech accelerator LabCentral signed an agreement with Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation in June to connect founders with the U.S. ecosystem—and fuel more innovation.
This is the third recent acquisition conducted by Denmark’s LEO Pharma in medical dermatology, a portfolio that marked 12% growth in the first half of the year.
Ivonescimab notched its third approval in China last week, but the label update has tempered expectations for the Summit Therapeutics/Akeso drug, showing that progression-free survival declines over time.