Biotech


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    Startup launches

    Venture firms pour $101M into a biotech using the brain to fix the immune system

    Nilo Therapeutics, which launched Wednesday, is trying to develop drugs that regulate inflammation and the immune system by targeting a special kind of nerve cell.

    By Oct. 8, 2025
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    Bhagavatheeshwaran, Govind. (2016). "MRI Scan" [Image]. Retrieved from Flickr.
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    China competition

    Zenas looks to China to stock pipeline with 3 more immune drugs

    A potentially $2 billion deal with InnoCare Pharma hands Zenas rights to a BTK inhibitor in late-stage testing for multiple sclerosis and two other immune medicines in earlier development.

    By Kristin Jensen • Oct. 8, 2025
  • An illustration of beta amyloid plaques and tau in the brain Explore the Trendline
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    National Institute on Aging. (2017). "Beta-Amyloid Plaques and Tau in the Brain" [Image]. Retrieved from Flickr.
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    Trendline

    Alzheimer's disease

    Many companies hope to follow in the footsteps of Biogen, Eisai and Eli Lilly by developing new therapies for the debilitating disease, which affects tens of millions of people and costs healthcare systems hundreds of billions of dollars each year.

    By BioPharma Dive staff
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    Alamy
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    IPO window

    MapLight uses workaround to tee up IPO during government shutdown

    The company set terms for an offering with the help of a little-used section of the Securities Act that would enable its IPO to price automatically in 20 days.

    By Oct. 7, 2025
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    Obesity drugs

    Skye shares crash as obesity drug falls short in key study

    The findings are the latest setback for weight loss medicines that target a specific cannabinoid receptor and are meant to boost the effects of incretin therapies like Wegovy.

    By Oct. 6, 2025
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    News roundup

    Gilead delays arrival of Biktarvy copycats; CDC updates vaccine schedule

    A settlement could extend the exclusivity of the world’s best-selling HIV medicine to 2036. Elsewhere, an AstraZeneca drug acquisition paid more dividends and a Vertex veteran became Stoke’s full-time CEO.

    By BioPharma Dive staff • Oct. 6, 2025
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    Gene editing

    Chiesi buys into Arbor gene editing drug for rare kidney disease

    The Italian drugmaker will pay as much as $115 million in upfront and near-term payments in a deal that gives it rights to a treatment in early-stage testing for primary hyperoxaluria type 1.

    By Oct. 6, 2025
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    Sponsored by Cullinan Therapeutics

    Immune reset: How T cell engagers can change the autoimmune treatment landscape

    T cell engagers could redefine autoimmune care around lasting remission and patient experience.

    By Jeffrey Jones, Chief Medical Officer, Cullinan Therapeutics • Oct. 6, 2025
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    News roundup

    FDA clears generic abortion pill; CMS punts ‘combo drug’ guidance

    The decision to clear another mifepristone generic sparked political backlash. Elsewhere, investors will pump up to $175 million into Ovid after the company reported early, but encouraging, data for a potential epilepsy drug.

    By BioPharma Dive staff • Oct. 3, 2025
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    Emerging biotech

    Cartography secures $67M in pursuit of ‘differentiated’ cancer drugs

    The company is working on T cell engagers and other multifunctional antibodies, led by a prospect it believes might be helpful treating the vast majority of colorectal cancer cases.

    By Oct. 2, 2025
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    ASCO / Nick Agro

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    The top biopharma conferences in 2026

    Medical meetings often feature important clinical trial results, making them barometers of biotech and pharma companies’ research progress. Here’s a list of conferences to watch next year.

    By Oct. 1, 2025
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    Permission granted by Aerska
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    Startup launches

    A new biotech aims to get RNA drugs into the brain

    Dublin-based Aerska launched on Wednesday with $21 million in seed funding and a technology designed to shuttle RNA interference medicines past the blood-brain barrier.

    By Oct. 1, 2025
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    Tasos Katopodis via Getty Images
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    Trump administration

    As shutdown begins, FDA to stop accepting new drug submissions

    The funding lapse triggered by the U.S. government shutdown is the latest test for an agency that’s already dealt with significant layoffs and leadership upheaval this year.

    By Kristin Jensen • Oct. 1, 2025
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    News roundup

    FDA official’s comments spark Aurinia sell-off; Halozyme buys a biotech

    George Tidmarsh criticized Aurinia’s lupus drug in a later-retracted social media post. Elsewhere, the FDA approved a new Novartis drug and two biotechs cut staff.  

    By BioPharma Dive staff • Oct. 1, 2025
  • Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP1, 7-36) molecule The glucagon like peptide-1 receptor has a strong effect on the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus.
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    Obesity drugs

    Metsera strengthens case for Pfizer buyout with latest study data

    In a Phase 2 trial, a drug at the center of the $4.9 billion deal matched the type of weight loss trajectory seen in testing of Eli Lilly’s Zepbound.

    By Sept. 30, 2025
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    Startup launches

    Crystalys debuts with $205M and plans for a better gout drug

    The biotech is starting up with partial rights to a drug that’s approved in multiple Asian countries and its executives see as a superior version of the now-withdrawn gout medication Zurampic.

    By Sept. 30, 2025
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    Emerging biotech

    Star raises another $125M for its blood disease drug

    Star hopes its drug, which is currently in late-stage testing, might prove a more convenient, longer-lasting alternative to standard therapies for Von Willebrand disease.

    By Sept. 30, 2025
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    Courtesy of Genmab A/S
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    Genmab to acquire closely watched cancer drug in $8B Merus buyout

    The deal hands Genmab a drug that showed the potential in earlier testing to extend survival in head and neck cancer when added to Merck’s widely used immunotherapy Keytruda.

    By Sept. 29, 2025
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    Moonlake shares crash on mixed study results for immune drug

    Anticipated late-stage results in the skin disease hidradenitis suppurativa were described by analysts as “disappointing” and “undifferentiated,” erasing more than four-fifths of the company’s market value.

    By Sept. 29, 2025
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    News roundup

    Crinetics drug to challenge pharma ‘Goliaths’; FDA, ARPA move to speed gene therapies

    Crinetics’ acromegaly treatment will go up against several entrenched medicines. Elsewhere, Bristol Myers moved to sell Sotyktu online at a discount and regulators rejected a new version of Biogen’s Spinraza.

    By BioPharma Dive staff • Sept. 26, 2025
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    Courtesy of UniQure
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    UniQure to seek approval of Huntington’s gene therapy after trial win

    New study data showed treatment slowed signs of disease progression by 75% after three years, a finding that could have “massive effects on patients’ lives,” an investigator said.

    By Sept. 24, 2025
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    Pharma’s next generation of antibodies takes a ‘more is better’ approach

    A recent report from Back Bay Life Science Advisors shows a surge in testing of, and investment in, multifunctional antibodies that can hit two or more targets at once.

    By Kelly Bilodeau • Sept. 24, 2025
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    Courtesy of Sanofi
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    Emerging biotech

    Sanofi Ventures banks $625M to back young biotechs, digital health startups

    The French pharma’s venture arm will use the funds to back companies working in immunology, neurology, rare diseases and vaccines.

    By Sept. 24, 2025
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    Scholar Rock SMA drug rejected by FDA over manufacturing concerns

    The denial sets back a drug Scholar Rock hopes to become part of a new standard of care for spinal muscular atrophy, treatment for which has changed dramatically over the last decade.

    By Sept. 23, 2025
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    News roundup

    FDA clears under-the-skin Keytruda; MBX shares double on study data

    The clearance of Keytruda QLEX follows similar approvals for Bristol Myers and Roche. Elsewhere, MBX’s parathyroidism drug impressed investors and Roche claimed success in a breast cancer study.

    By Sept. 23, 2025
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    Sean Anthony Eddy via Getty Images
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    Biotech zombies

    Why Xoma, a drug royalty firm, is hunting biotech ‘zombies’

    The collapse in value of many biotechs over the past few years has created an opportunity for specialists like Xoma to “do the right thing” for the ecosystem and liquidate them, its executives say.

    By Sept. 23, 2025