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While Johnson & Johnson retains the top revenue rank across the major pharma companies, Eli Lilly last year established itself as the clear leader in the obesity market, in the process capturing investors’ attention and enthusiasm.
The major pharmas are loaded up with trillions in firepower—but are sticking to mid-cap deals. One expert says it might be time to think outside the box and shake up the industry with some consolidation.
Whether happening in public or private, biopharma M&A is fiercer than ever. Experts point to patent pressures, herd mentality and a declining stock of available biotechs with mature assets.
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Heath Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s efforts to overhaul vaccine policy are likely illegal, a Massachusetts District Court Judge ruled; Structure’s GLP-1 weight loss pill succeeds in Phase 2 while Rhythm’s Phase 3 basket trial fails to find the beat; Eli Lilly warns of potential safety risks of taking compounded tirzepatide, and Novo Nordisk is hit with an FDA warning letter regarding adverse events potentially linked to Ozempic.
Excalipoint Therapeutics will use its seed money to advance a pipeline of cancer therapies, including a tri-specific antibody for small cell lung cancer and neuroendocrine tumors.
Alongside R1 Therapeutics, Mestag Therapeutics and iDEL Therapeutics also brought in money on Tuesday, helping to push their respective cancer portfolios forward.
Astellas Pharma and CytomX Therapeutics first partnered up in March 2020. For $80 million upfront, the Japanese pharma gained access to the biotech’s Probody platform to generate masked antibody therapies for cancer.
Dozens of biotechs reported earnings this week. BioSpace recaps key highlights from Capricor Therapeutics, Legend Biotech, Inovio and Allogene.
Small-molecule drugs account for nearly half of the most valuable investigational therapies for orphan diseases, according to analytics firm Evaluate.
Total assets under management for Novo Holdings, Novo Nordisk’s controlling shareholder, fell by more than one-third last year. The report caps off a tumultuous year for the Novo group of companies.
Combining tirzepatide with vitamin B12, a common additive in compounded versions of the drug, yields an impurity that could alter the drug’s toxicity profile and pose safety risks to patients, the company said in an open letter.
The chief executives of AbbVie and Johnson & Johnson are now among the highest-paid pharma leaders after pay bumps pushed their 2025 compensations past $30 million.
Orforglipron, Eli Lilly’s oral obesity drug, is under FDA review with a decision expected in April. The pharma has also filed for marketing authorization for the pill in China.