The row between pharma companies and the U.K. government over rebates has intensified, with the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) calling up its members to speak on the record, as it ramps up the campaign against paying back over 23% on sales of branded drugs. At a time when companies are coming under pressure from President Donald Trump to increase investment in the U.S., the stand-off over the U.K.’s Voluntary Scheme for Pricing and Access (VPAG), is doing little to make the U.K an attractive place to operate, according to comments from managing directors of U.K. pharma operations. “We have reached a critical juncture,” said Russell Abberley, vice president and general manager of Amgen UK. “Government must act decisively on VPAG, taking immediate positive steps to prevent looming disinvestment.”

Kymera’s phase I data lead big week for STAT6 space

Given the promising preclinical data for Kymera Therapeutics Inc.’s oral STAT6 degrader candidate, KT-621, hopes were high going into phase I. Even so, the first safety, pharmacokinetic and biomarker data to read out still managed to blast through expectations, setting up Kymera to launch a wide-ranging phase II program. It’s also a major, though early, win for the STAT6 space, which has drawn significant pharma attention over the past year. On the same day the Kymera data were unveiled, Sanofi SA exercised its option to license Nurix Therapeutics Inc.’s NX-3911 under the firms’ 2020 deal and nominated REX-8756, an oral, selective and reversible small-molecule inhibitor of STAT6, as lead candidate in its partnership with Recludix Pharma Inc.

ASCO 2025: Dizal's new chemical entities for lung, blood cancers

Dizal (Jiangsu) Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s LYN/BTK dual inhibitor, DZD-8586, saw tumor shrinkage in 94.1% of patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma following Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors, the company reported during an oral presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2025 conference. For the last 20 years, BTK inhibitors brought tremendous benefits to patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia,” Dizal CEO Xiaolin Zhang told BioWorld. “They are relatively safe and extremely efficacious, and first-line patients are seeing progression-free survival for seven or eight years. The problem is that eventually patients relapse, and when they do, there are no approved drugs for these patients.”

US Fed Circuit rules in favor of Moderna in patent squabble

Moderna Inc. once again emerged the winner in a long-fought court battle over claims that its COVID-19 vaccine infringed two Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. patents. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a precedential opinion today, agreeing with the lower court that Moderna didn’t infringe the patents.

Korea pharma exports rise to quarterly high of $2.5B in Q1

South Korea’s pharmaceutical exports rose nearly 18% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to reach $2.56 billion in the first quarter (Q1) this year, according to the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI). Medical device exports, however, dropped about 5% in Q1 2025 to $1.39 billion, attributed to a drop in trade of implant products to both China and the U.S. Overseas sales of cosmetic products rose 12.7% QoQ to $2.58 billion from January to March this year. Combined, the country’s health care industry exports totaled about $6.52 billion in Q1 2025 – a 10.2% increase from Q1 2024. “Health care exports continued to increase in the first quarter of 2025,” Lee Byung-kwan, head of KHIDI’s biohealth innovation planning division, said. “Solid demand for key products like biopharmaceuticals and basic cosmetics is expected to continue into Q2, along with overall health care industry exports. However, we will need to respond flexibly to the external trade environment, where uncertainty regarding U.S. tariff policy is increasing.”

Sarepta’s gene therapy gets boost with FDA platform designation

The FDA gave Sarepta Therapeutics Inc.’s rAAVrh74 viral vector, used in an investigational gene therapy for the treatment of limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, a step up, making it one of the first platforms to receive the agency’s platform technology designation. In announcing the news today, Louise Rodino-Klapac, Sarepta’s chief scientific officer and R&D head, said the designation is “an important recognition by FDA of the reproducibility and adaptability of this technology across multiple therapeutic programs.” Authorized by Congress in late 2022 as part of a package of responses to the pandemic, the designation is intended to speed the development and review of life-saving drugs and vaccines by allowing sponsors to incorporate data from designated platform technologies.

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Ability, Agenus, Alto, Amicus, Amylyx, Ardelyx, Ascentage, Asgard, Aspera, Beam, Beyondspring, Bioage, Bionet, Cardiff Oncology, Chase, Corcept, Entrada, Estrella, Experimental Drug Development Centre, Genmab, Glenmark, Harvard, Haya, Ichnos, Immuneoncia, Immunitybio, Imunon, Innovent, Intragrand, Jazz, Jikang, Johnson & Johnson, Kamari, Kiora, Kura, Kyowa Kirin, Leyden, Lobe, Maat, Nasus, OSE, PDS, Perspective, Pheast, Priothera, Protara, PT Bio Farma, Recce, Redwire, Remegen, Roche, Sanofi, Senju, Sernova, Spinogenix, Teijin, Tenpoint, Titan, Transpire, Traws, Tuhura, Zydus