After investing $24 billion in three major acquisitions earlier this year, Bristol Myers Squibb Co. said April 25 if would cut 2,200 employees and discontinue 12 programs in an effort to save $1.5 billion and put the company on track for growth by the end of the decade. The number of jobs lost represent 28% of all biopharma jobs lost so far in 2024 – 7,834, as announced by 82 different companies. There were 17,424 jobs lost at 185 companies in 2023 and 18,500 jobs lost at 123 companies in 2022, according to BioWorld data. Among the programs getting cut are the Princeton, N.J.-based company’s CTLA4 antibody, BMS-986288, which was in proof-of-concept studies in non-small-cell lung cancer and microsatellite stable colorectal cancer but has not shown better data than BMS’ Yervoy (ipilimumab). Work on its BET inhibitor, BMS-986158, which was in a phase I/II for myelofibrosis and showed promising data, also is ending.

Mammoth gets a $95M equity investment from Regeneron in CRISPR/gene editing deal

Seven years after embarking on in vivo therapeutic development using CRISPR/Cas gene-editing technology with Intellia Therapeutics Inc., Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. is bringing another company into the collaborative fold. Regeneron will pay Mammoth Biosciences Inc. $100 million, including $95 million as an equity investment, and an up-front payment. Mammoth also could bring in up to $370 million for each target in milestones along with royalties on net sales from products created through the collaboration. Regeneron, which develops adeno-associated viral vectors to deliver genetic therapeutics, gets access to Mammoth’s ultracompact CRISPR system. Mammoth was co-founded by CRISPR visionary and Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna.

Asia Bio Partnering Forum: VCs stress need for different investment strategies

With a frozen IPO market, investors are tightening their belts and figuring out where to hedge their bets. In Asia, that means having different strategies for different countries while keeping a global mindset, venture capital (VC) investors said during the Asia Bio Partnering Forum in Singapore on April 25.

US FDA expands promotional guidance to include interchangeables

The U.S. FDA issued a revised draft guidance, “Promotional labeling and advertising considerations for prescription biological reference and biosimilar products,” to help ensure promotional communications involving reference biologics or their follow-ons are accurate, truthful and not misleading. A revision of a 2020 draft, the new question-and-answer guidance expands the scope of the original to fulfill the FDA’s BsUFA III commitment to publish draft guidance on promotional labeling and advertising considerations for interchangeable biosimilar products.

BioWorld Insider Podcast: Mark McKenna storms back with Mirador and eyes the development landscape

In one of the biggest financings of the year so far, former Prometheus Biosciences Inc. CEO Mark McKenna helped raise $400 million to launch a new company, Mirador Therapeutics Inc. He didn’t sit on the sidelines for long after Merck & Co. Inc. bought Prometheus for $10.8 billion in 2023. He recruited key Prometheus executives to focus on Mirador’s genetic approach to drug discovery and precision medicine. McKenna said there was too much left undone to just hang back. In this BioWorld Insider episode, he talks about the new company and the multi-billion-dollar drugs that he believes provide sub-optimal efficacy compared to the tailor-made therapies he wants to develop. He also has deep insights into drug pricing and why the investment market is so tough on companies that don’t have A-plus science and teams.

Also in the news

Alkermes, Alvotech, Amneal, Arrowhead, Arvinas, Ascendis, Astellas, Atai, Atom, Calcimedica, Calliditas, Capricor, Cerevance, Cidara, CSL Vifor, Curevac, Day One, Gain, Genethon, GSK, Hookipa, Hyundai, Immunitybio, Immutep, Inmune, Innoviva, Kinsea, Kiromic, Lykos, Medicure, Mundipharma, Naveris, Novartis, Nucleome, Pasithea, Redhill, Revopsis, RS, Scpharmaceuticals, Travere, Xoma