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Tristan Manalac

Tristan Manalac

Contributing Writer | News

Tristan is an independent science writer based in Metro Manila, with more than eight years of experience writing about medicine, biotech and science. Being formally trained in molecular biology, he once dreamed of collecting degrees and starting his own lab. But these days, he finds his greatest joy in a bottle of beer and a beautiful sentence. He can be reached at tristan.manalac@biospace.com, tristan@tristanmanalac.com or on LinkedIn.

Art collage, hand with coins on blue background. Concept of business and finance.
Antibody-drug conjugate (ADC)
Roche Ups ADC Bet With $1B in Biobucks for Oxford BioTherapeutics
Roche’s up to $1 billion investment will provide access to Oxford BioTherapeutics’ antibody-drug conjugate platform for undisclosed cancer targets.
March 19, 2025
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1 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Group Of Employees Being Fired By Their Company.
Layoffs
Cargo Lays Off 90% of Staff and Stops Development Work
The biotech is exploring opportunities for a reverse merger or other business combinations. CFO and now interim CEO Anup Radhakrishnan will take charge of these negotiations.
March 19, 2025
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Budget cuts, costs and unplanned expenses. Stress and nervousness. The concept of austerity and extortion. Inflation threatens savings. Poor financial planning. Reducing income. Expenses cover income.
Policy
Trump Eyes Steep Cuts to CDC HIV Prevention Program
The CDC budget cuts could pose headwinds for HIV drugmakers like Gilead and Merck but are unlikely to severely cripple their HIV divisions, according to analysts.
March 19, 2025
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Pictured: Sarepta sign on a brick building/courtes
Gene Therapy
Sarepta Shares Crash 22% After Patient on DMD Gene Therapy Elevidys Dies
After a patient taking the Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy Elevydis died of liver injury, Sarepta will update the label to reflect the safety signal.
March 18, 2025
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Modern collage with halftone hands give and take money. Financial transaction. Money investments. Cash payment. Pay for something
GLP-1
OPKO and Entera Link Up to Advance First Oral GLP-1/Glucagon Drug Into Clinic
Under the terms of the agreement, OPKO will accept 60% of the development costs, while Entera will shoulder 40%.
March 18, 2025
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Facade of AstraZeneca's office in Shanghai, China
Collaboration
AstraZeneca Sets Sights and $1.35B on Subcutaneous Cancer Drugs With Alteogen Alliance
Monday was a busy day for AstraZeneca, which also paid up to $1 billion to acquire Belgian biotech EsoBiotec and its cell therapy pipeline and technology.
March 18, 2025
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
AstraZeneca's sign on its office in California
Mergers & acquisitions
AstraZeneca Makes Potential $1B Cell Therapy Play in EsoBiotec Buy
AstraZeneca has recently been investing heavily in the cell therapy space, including two acquisitions for TeneoTwo and Gracell Biotechnologies.
March 17, 2025
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Lev Radin/Shutterstock
Legal
Regeneron Loses Appeal to Block Amgen’s Eylea Biosimilar
The appeals court for the Federal Circuit upheld a lower court’s ruling, finding that Regeneron has not sufficiently established that Amgen’s biosimilar Pavblu violates key patents of Eylea.
March 17, 2025
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Modern halftone collage. Concept of teamwork, problem solving together, business direction, collaborate to win,achieve success. Business creative illustration for web banner, marketing material, business presentation. Vector illustration
GLP-1
Altimmune Jumps On Takeover Rumors After Launching Alcohol Use Disorder Study
The company unveiled plans last week to test its GLP-1/glucagon dual receptor agonist in alcohol use disorder and alcohol-related liver disease.
March 17, 2025
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1 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Take a chance for keeping advance
Duchenne muscular dystrophy
Dyne’s Duchenne Exon Skipping Oligomer Shows ‘Differentiated’ Clinical Effect
Dyne is eyeing an accelerated approval filing for DYNE-251 in early 2026 that would pit the asset against Sarepta’s Exondys 51 in a patient population amenable to exon 51 skipping.
March 17, 2025
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Lymphocytes and biomedical concept, 3d rendering. 3D illustration.
Cell therapy
5 CAR T Cell Therapies With Autoimmune Readouts in 2025
Having established success in cancer, biopharma is now looking to leverage CAR T therapies against a new target, autoimmune disorders, with several early- to mid-stage readouts expected this year.
March 17, 2025
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9 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Dashed line from pills isolated on white
Pipeline
Pfizer’s Pipeline Pruning Ends Early-Stage STING Trial
Pfizer was studying PF-07820435, an orally available agonist of the STING protein, for solid tumors.
March 14, 2025
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
cutting off a row of people into pieces
Layoffs
Sutro Cuts Half of Staff, Deprioritizes ADC in Strategic Review
Sutro’s stock tumbled nearly 19% after the company announced it will sideline its FRα-targeted antibody-drug conjugate luveltamab tazevibulin, which it was studying for ovarian cancer. The biotech will seek licensing opportunities for the asset.
March 14, 2025
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3 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Drug capsules with skull and crossbone on dark stone background.
Business
Pliant Pops Poison Pill as Concentra Threat Looms
Pliant follows in the footsteps of Acelyrin, which also enacted a stockholder rights program on Thursday to protect shareholders against Tang Capital’s growing stake in the company.
March 14, 2025
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Creative pattern made with a syringe on pastel pink background. Vaccine for Coronavirus infection. Pandemic concept.
Government
FDA Makes Flu Vaccine Recommendations Without Convening Advisors
The recommendations were made in a closed session with representatives from CBER, the CDC and Department of Defense.
March 14, 2025
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
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