Regulatory
An inconsistent boom-and-bust cycle funding environment for early-stage biotech innovations and burdensome regulation threaten the U.S.’s half-century-long dominance in the biotech sector.
A more detailed review of data by the FDA showed that GLP-1 drugs do not increase the risk of suicidal ideation or behavior.
AbbVie and Novartis strike billion-dollar pacts while attendees at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference await that one big M&A deal and Merck teases limitless buying capacity; Eli Lilly readies for potential orforglipron launch while Novo Nordisk laments compounders; the IPO window cracks open; and the FDA concludes that GLP-1s do not pose a suicide risk.
The FDA previously rejected Zycubo for Menkes disease in October last year, citing issues with the drug’s manufacturing facility.
Drugmakers told the FDA that inflexible post-approval change requirements are among the top regulatory barriers to the reshoring of pharmaceutical manufacturing.
FDA Commissioner Marty Makary called these changes “common-sense reforms” that could expedite the development of cell and gene therapies.
After greenlighting 56 novel therapeutics in 2025, four notable applications continue to await the agency’s action after being delayed from the fourth quarter last year.
The DC-based biopharma disputed the FDA’s conclusions regarding the data provided in its supplemental application for Hetlioz and promised to keep pushing for an approval.
Novo Nordisk follows Christmas oral Wegovy approval with quick launch; Eli Lilly is headed for $94.3 billion in annual revenue by 2027, analysts predict; nine more pharmas strike Most Favored Nation deals but half remain unsigned; experts call for stability and rare disease action at FDA, and all eyes are on M&A ahead of the J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference next week.
Only a handful of the top pharmas have signed Most Favored Nation drug pricing deals with the White House, while smaller biotechs continue to hang in limbo.
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