Bayer cut its C-suite nearly in half amid a massive restructuring. Meanwhile, the U.S. government says it will pay for Wegovy for patients with heart disease.
It was another busy week in biopharma last week, with one of the biggest announcements coming from Bayer. As part of a major restructuring, the company has reduced its executive suite from 14 to 8, among other changes. Could it be a sign that Big Pharma is following a trend in biotech toward leaner or fractional C-suites?
Meanwhile, Medicare coverage of the ever-popular GLP-1 weight-loss drugs made headlines as the government announced it will pay for Wegovy for patients with heart disease after the Novo Nordisk therapy was approved earlier this month for the cardiovascular indication. BioSpace will be keeping an eye out for indications that the government could change its tune on coverage of Wegovy and competitor Zepbound, from Eli Lilly, specifically for weight loss. This question will become all the more important if experimental oral GLP-1 drugs such as the one in Phase I development by Viking Therapeutics make it to the market.
Finally, we touch on Mirador’s emergence from stealth and the FDA’s approval of the third therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy in less than a year.
Greg Slabodkin is the News Editor at BioSpace. You can reach him at greg.slabodkin@biospace.com. Follow him on LinkedIn.
Heather McKenzie is a senior editor at BioSpace. You can reach her at heather.mckenzie@biospace.com. Follow her on LinkedIn.
Tyler Patchen is a staff writer at BioSpace. You can reach him at tyler.patchen@biospace.com. Follow him on LinkedIn.
Editor’s note: At 4:13, Al Sandrock was referred to in error. The executive in reference is John Maraganore.
