Cytokinetics Inc. scored U.S. FDA marketing clearance Dec. 19 for Myqorzo (aficamten) 5-mg, 10-mg, 15-mg, and 20-mg tablets to improve functional capacity and symptoms in adults with symptomatic obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (oHCM). Shares of the South San Francisco-based firm (NASDAQ:CYTK) were trading up 10% to $69.24 midday on Dec. 22. An allosteric and reversible inhibitor of cardiac myosin motor activity, Myqorzo has brought about myosin blocking proven to reduce cardiac contractility and left ventricular outflow tract obstruction. Prescribing info for the drug includes a boxed warning for the risk of heart failure (HF), as Myqorzo reduces left ventricular ejection fraction and can cause HF due to systolic dysfunction.

Jacobio signs $1.9B deal with Astrazeneca for pan-KRAS inhibitor

Jacobio Pharmaceuticals Group Co. Ltd. is outlicensing its phase I pan-KRAS inhibitor, JAB-23E73, to Astrazeneca plc in a global deal worth up to $1.915 billion that gives Astrazeneca global rights to the compound outside of China, and the two companies will jointly develop and commercialize the asset in China. Under terms of the deal, Beijing-headquartered Jacobio will receive an up-front payment of $100 million and is eligible for additional development and commercial milestone payments up to $1.915 billion, as well as tiered royalties on net sales outside of China. Astrazeneca will be responsible for all clinical development, regulatory submissions, and commercialization activities for JAB-23E73 outside of China. 

White House continues to stomp down on US drug prices – for some

As 2025 winds to a close, the Trump administration is teeing up more deals and Medicare models to make U.S. prescription drug prices comparable with those seen in other countries. The biggest beneficiary of the reduced pricing will be state and federal governments. The most-favored-nation (MFN) pricing deals with nine biopharma companies announced Friday focus on Medicaid and cash prices, and the two proposed Medicare models, which would be implemented in 2027, are intended to reflect MFN pricing for Parts B and D drugs for Medicare beneficiaries. Patients outside of Medicare and Medicaid may see little change in the prices they pay, unless they turn to the growing cash market. And if Medicare premiums don’t go down in accordance with the lower drug prices, enrollees may not see a huge change in their overall drug tab due to the lower annual caps on out-of-pocket costs.

UK pharma calls Christmas truce after year of drug rebate disputes

The long-running dispute over rebates on sales of drugs that the pharma industry must pay to the U.K. government took a turn for the worse at the start of 2025, when it transpired that the rate would be going up from 15.3% to 22.9%. The row continued for most of the rest of the year before a truce of sorts was called in December. But that was not before a threat to withdraw from investment in the U.K. was carried out, and what was previously a domestic spat between the government and the industry became a target of U.S. President Donald Trump’s ire over drug pricing, as well as a bargaining chip in U.S./U.K. trade negotiations.

China-made products account for 30% of global deals in 2025

Big pharma is increasingly shopping in China to fill its pipelines as it faces looming patent cliffs on major blockbusters coupled with growing pricing pressures on drugs. As previously reported by BioWorld, China’s out-licensing deals grew to represent 32% of global deals in the first half of 2025, up from 21% in 2024, and only 5% in 2020, Jefferies Hong Kong-based analyst Cui Cui wrote in a July 2025 report on China dealmaking. Chinese biotechs are reshaping the U.S. biopharma landscape, as in-licensing assets from China could offer pharma companies a way to cut costs. China's cost advantages extend to labor, the supply chain and clinical trials, the report notes.

In 2025, science’s biggest story was political

In 2025, science saw its breakthroughs, which BioWorld will be covering as part of our end-of-the-year wrap-up. But the biggest science story of 2025 is not about any scientific advance. It is the politicized destruction of U.S. science, and the dismantling of a scientific ecosystem that has been the envy of the world since it emerged after Germany destroyed its own pre-eminence in the 1930s.

Also in the news

Altimmune, Alvotech, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cartesian, Celularity, Cue, Evaxion, Galapagos, Grifols, GSK, In8bio, Ipsen, Johnson & Johnson, Kodiak, Mandos, Medipost, Merck, Mirum, Neuexcell, Nimbus, Nxera, Polyrizon, Regeneron, Rezubio, Spero, Syneron, Teikoku Seiyaku, Teva, Tolmar, Vtv