Massachusetts

WuXi AppTec looks to unload its Philadelphia manufacturing sites and WuXi Biologics slows its rapid expansion in the U.S. as the companies await the Senate’s review of the BIOSECURE Act that threatens to cut them off from U.S. biopharma.
Sage has decided to discontinue the development of dalzanemdor in Alzheimer’s disease. A study of the candidate in Huntington’s is ongoing, with early data expected later this year.
With Monday’s data from SAPPHIRE, Scholar Rock is building toward regulatory submissions for apitegromab in spinal muscular atrophy in the first quarter of 2025.
Relay Therapeutics is cutting its workforce to help streamline its research organization as it looks to complete its first large-scale, pivotal clinical trial.
Designed to create hundreds of jobs and add up to $1 billion to Massachusetts’ gross domestic product by the start of 2030, MassBio’s five-year strategic plan addresses challenges including skill gaps and talent shortages.
M&A
The acquisition was featured Monday in Roche’s Pharma Day presentation, which also included projections of more than $3 billion in annual sales from three early-stage obesity and diabetes drugs.
About a month after reporting it’s had a tough time starting enough patients on its treatments, bluebird bio announced it will lay off about 25% of its employees, over half of whom work in R&D.
Clinical trial results shared by Boehringer Ingelheim and Insilico Medicine showed improvement in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an intractable lung disease for which current treatment options fail to stop progression, but the data were limited, leaving experts wanting.
Stifel analyst Paul Matteis called Tuesday’s readout a “positive surprise” that could reinvigorate some investor enthusiasm for Biogen as the company “has essentially become an out-of-favor value stock,” driven by the slow launch of its Alzheimer’s disease therapy Leqembi.
ALS
Launched in 2020 to more quickly bring to market an effective medicine for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the HEALEY Platform Trial has generated disappointing results for many but also continuing programs from Clene and Prilenia.
PRESS RELEASES