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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.

Editorial
FDA Weathers Bait-and-Switch Storm as Staff and Sites Come and Go
Marty Makary, likely FDA commissioner under President Trump, appeared before Congress this week as the agency he’s set to lead continues to be rocked by sweeping changes and about-faces.
March 7, 2025
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3 min read
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Jef Akst
Podcasts
Tariff Threat Continues, More Meetings Cancelled, AbbVie Makes Obesity Play, More
Pfizer reacts to Donald Trump’s tariff threats on big pharma, another regulatory meeting is canceled under RFK Jr., AbbVie and Eli Lilly strike mid-sized deals in obesity and molecular glues, priority review vouchers set to take a hit and immuno-oncology matures.
March 5, 2025
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1 min read
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Heather McKenzie
Rear view businessman in front of many different doors choosing one. Difficult decision, important choice, failure or success concept. Decisive ways to unknown future, business opportunity symbol.
Cancer
The Search for the Next Keytruda: Immuno-Oncology’s Next Play
More than a decade after Merck’s Keytruda and BMS’ Yervoy ushered in the immuno-oncology revolution, the space is at a crossroads, with experts highlighting novel targets, combinations and pre-emptive immunization as the next wave for IO.
March 3, 2025
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7 min read
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Heather McKenzie
Editorial
Transparency Missing in Action at HHS Despite Leaders’ Calls for Clarity
In the five weeks since Donald Trump returned as U.S. president, the FDA, NIH and CDC have been thrown into disarray, with meetings regarding vaccines and rare diseases canceled or indefinitely postponed—all without a clear reason why.
February 28, 2025
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4 min read
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Heather McKenzie
Podcast
Trump’s Pharma Tariffs, Another GLP-1 Compounding Lawsuit, Bluebird’s Bailout, More
As FDA seeks to rehire some fired employees, Donald Trump threatens to enact tariffs on pharma companies unless they reshore manufacturing; another lawsuit hits the complex GLP-1 compounding space as Eli Lilly offers expanded Zepbound options; and struggling gene therapy biotech bluebird bio goes private in an attempt to stay solvent.
February 26, 2025
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1 min read
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Heather McKenzie
Ribonucleic acid strands consisting of nucleotides important for protein bio-synthesis - 3d illustration
Drug Development
RNA Editing Hits the Clinic, Fueling New Hope for Rare and Common Diseases
With the modality now in early clinical trials, experts say more efficiency, broader editing capabilities and delivery breakthroughs are needed to propel RNA editing to the next stage.
February 24, 2025
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6 min read
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Heather McKenzie
Pictured: bluebird bio logo on wall/device, courtesy of Pavlo Gonchar
Mergers & acquisitions
Bluebird, Facing Cash Crunch, To Go Private In Deal Valued at $30M
The proposed acquisition by global investment firms Carlyle and SK Capital Partners could net shareholders $3 per share plus potential CVR dollars and provide bluebird bio with primary capital to expand the commercial reach of its gene therapies.
February 21, 2025
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3 min read
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Heather McKenzie
Silver Spring, MD, USA 11/10/2020: Exterior view of the headquarters of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This federal agency approves medications, vaccines and food additives for human use.
FDA
FDA Reels From ‘Indiscriminate’ Job Cuts Under Trump as Biopharma Appeals for Clarity
Morale is low at the FDA, which was hit with layoffs this week following RFK Jr.’s confirmation. Biopharma leaders and agency insiders fear further workforce cuts could delay new medicines.
February 20, 2025
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5 min read
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Heather McKenzie
Podcast
Trump’s Hammer Hits FDA, Moderna Falls Further and Patent Cliffs Loom
The FDA is mired in uncertainty with some staffers losing their jobs over the weekend and more potentially to come, vaccines and psychedelic therapies could be facing very different futures under newly confirmed HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Moderna continues its downward revenue slide and Merck, Regeneron, BMS and more face strong patent headwinds.
February 19, 2025
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1 min read
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Heather McKenzie
Pictured: White House/
FDA
‘No Job Security’ at FDA as Trump Team Seeks to Dismantle Workforce: Updated
The hammer came down on an unspecified number of FDA employees this weekend, days after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed as HHS Secretary.
February 17, 2025
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6 min read
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Heather McKenzie
Mushrooms and mental health as Psychedelic drug or psychedelics hallucinogenic drugs and hallucinogens representing medicine for brain disorders in a 3D illustration style.
Psychedelics
Psychedelics Space Regroups as RFK Jr. Signals Support
After the rejection of Lykos Therapeutics’ MDMA-based PTSD treatment tempered excitement for psychedelic therapeutics, a recent approval and positive data are generating new momentum, which experts expect to continue throughout 2025 and 2026.
February 17, 2025
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5 min read
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Heather McKenzie
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Policy
RFK Jr. Confirmed as HHS Secretary Despite Continued Controversy
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—whose history of anti-vaccine rhetoric has had the healthcare and biopharma industries on edge—was confirmed as Health and Human Services Secretary in a Senate vote along party lines.
February 13, 2025
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2 min read
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Heather McKenzie
Podcast
New M&A Action, BMS’ Ongoing Cost Cuts and the Insatiable Demand for Weight Loss Drugs
Novartis, Eli Lilly and more put on their deal-making caps, Bristol Myers Squibb targets $2 billion in savings through 2027, sales continue to soar for Lilly and Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1s and Regeneron sues Sanofi over an alleged failure to provide adequate information about Dupixent sales.
February 12, 2025
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1 min read
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Heather McKenzie
External view of Boehringer Ingelheim's headquarters in Silicon Valley
Drug Development
Boehringer Ingelheim’s Lung Fibrosis Drug Scores Second Late-Stage Win
Nerandomilast, an oral phosphodiesterase 4B inhibitor, hit the primary endpoint in a Phase III trial in progressive pulmonary fibrosis—nearly six months after achieving a similar feat in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Boehringer plans to submit for FDA and other global approvals in both indications.
February 10, 2025
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2 min read
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Heather McKenzie
Opioid health risk and medical crisis with a prescription painkiller addiction epidemic concept as a group of people running away from a dangerous falling bridge of pills as a medicine addict problem with 3D illustration elements.
Editorial
FDA Approval of Vertex’s Non-Opioid Journavx Signals New Era in Pain Treatment
If the attention generated by BioSpace’s coverage of this landmark approval is any indication, Americans are hungry for non-opioid pain treatments that could help quell the still raging opioid epidemic.
February 7, 2025
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3 min read
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Heather McKenzie
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