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.

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.
Reports of seven deaths in patients who had taken Neurocrine Biosciences’ Vykat and the official termination of Aardvark Therapeutics’ Phase 3 trial after cardiac complications marked a tough day for the Prader-Willi syndrome community.
FDA
After two rejections, Replimune has made it across the regulatory finish line with its advanced melanoma therapy. Meanwhile, the last of the major pharmas, including Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, reported second quarter earnings, and psychedelics made headlines once again.
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.