Heather McKenzie

Heather McKenzie

Senior Editor

Heather McKenzie is a professional journalist with more than five years experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Since joining BioSpace, she has written more than 200 features and breaking news articles with a particular focus in neuroscience and gene therapy. She has also traveled internationally to cover global biotech hubs such as Israel. In previous roles, she has covered current affairs, sports, education and politics. She previously spent eight years as a senior content producer for executive-level business conferences in the pharma/biotech, legal, energy and business strategy sectors. In her free time, Heather enjoys creative writing, spending time with family and playing with her energetic Russian Blue cat Roofus. She hails from Toronto and has also lived in Chicago and Chesapeake, Virginia. You can reach her at heather.mckenzie@biospace.com.

Last week, the Biden administration revealed the first drug prices negotiated under the Inflation Reduction Act; Lykos, Grail and others make substantial staffing cuts, and Pfizer/BioNTech see mixed results for their COVID/flu vaccine.
FDA
In 2023, the FDA greenlit 55 new drugs and 34 cell and gene therapies. Follow along as BioSpace keeps you up to date on all of the FDA’s decisions in 2024.
Psychedelic drug developers are undeterred by the FDA’s Complete Response Letter for the company’s MDMA therapy for PTSD, and experts expect Lykos will ultimately obtain approval.
Lykos will lay off approximately three-quarters of its staff amidst a reorganization aimed at helping the company complete a regulatory resubmission for its MDMA-assisted therapy.
Lykos Therapeutics will ask the FDA to reconsider its rejection of the company’s MDMA-assisted PTSD therapy, Pfizer scores positive Phase III results for its RSV vaccine, a roundup of Q2 earnings season and more.
Hundreds of companies are currently running clinical trials in the increasingly lucrative obesity space. BioSpace looks at five candidates with data expected before the end of the year.
Clinical trial concerns and a negative advisory committee vote ultimately sunk the treatment.
Experts say the time is now to develop and provide widespread access to genetic medicines for the rarest diseases. What’s more, they say it is a moral imperative.
With U.S. election season now in full swing, BioSpace looks at pharmaceutical-associated campaign contributions. Plus, Q2 earnings, Adaptimmune’s big approval, an anticipated FDA decision on an MDMA-assisted treatment and more.
Second-quarter earnings season continues with Big Pharma beating Wall Street expectations, the author of an encrypted email sent to BioSpace has a proposal for Moderna and Merck, Roche and Viking seek quicker entry to the obesity market, and AAIC is in full swing.
Despite early 2024 optimism, BioSpace’s Job Market Trends report outlines a still sluggish situation in the biopharma industry, Novartis and J&J announce Q2 earnings, GLP-1 market leaders expand into China and the Cassava Sciences saga continues.
While supportive of Amylyx’s acquisition of a GLP-1 drug, analysts say the company’s future hinges on key upcoming readouts from multiple products in its pipeline.
ALS
After a long and challenging journey for its stem cell therapy NurOwn, BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics has aligned with the FDA on the parameters of a Phase IIIb ALS trial that is expected to begin by the end of 2024.
Pfizer selects its candidate for the oral GLP-1 race as Eli Lilly strives to overtake Novo Nordisk in the injectable weight-loss drug space. Meanwhile, pressure builds to reduce drug prices in the U.S.
After a busy first half of 2024, several companies are expecting key data readouts in the neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disease spaces during the next six months.