Rare disease drug development companies battle with economic challenges and small patient populations, but new technology alongside a human connection are helping researchers and marketers identify patients, educate physicians and build networks. At Pharma USA, a Reuters Events meeting in Philadelphia March 16-17, executives from Astrazeneca plc and UCB SA discussed their successes with rare disease launches, presenting their playbooks for building trust and driving adoption among patients.
Roche Holding AG pledged to invest ₩710 billion (US$484.6 million) in South Korea over the next five years, positioning the country as a major global hub for clinical trials. The near $500 million agreement inked with the Korean government will bring Roche’s clinical trials for common or incurable diseases and innovative biopharmaceutical products to the country.
Roche Holding AG pledged to invest ₩710 billion (US$484.6 million) in South Korea over the next five years, positioning the country as a major global hub for clinical trials. The near $500 million agreement inked with the Korean government will bring Roche’s clinical trials for common or incurable diseases and innovative biopharmaceutical products to the country.
Biopharma dealmaking continued its momentum into 2026, with January logging $31.16 billion in total value. That figure outpaced January 2025’s $28.63 billion and exceeded the 2025 monthly average of $24.38 billion. In addition, January 2026 ranks as the highest first month in the past eight years.
The pressure to replace animal testing with human-relevant assays that are more predictive of human-drug responses has now reached a tipping point, and there is a movement toward greater acceptance of these potentially more translatable tests.
Wall Street pushback against relaxin player Tectonic Therapeutic Inc. was sharp, but a trial design that differs could save the drug from the fate of Astrazeneca plc’s long-acting relaxin-2 analogue, AZD-3427, which the pharma giant has “removed from phase II,” where it was being tested in a trial called Re-phire, because of less than ideal efficacy.
Astrazeneca plc is investing $15 billion in China through 2030 to expand R&D and manufacturing, marking one of the largest long-term investments by a multinational pharma company in the country. The U.K.-based company also struck a deal worth up to $3.5 billion with China’s CSPC Pharmaceuticals Group Ltd. to accelerate the development of next-generation therapies for obesity and type 2 diabetes.
An Anglo-American team of researchers has devised a new computational method for quantifying Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) directly from human genome sequences and used this to identify 22 genes that link higher levels of the virus to a range of chronic diseases. The new method sets the scene for further exploration of biobank DNA sequence data to gain greater understanding of the nature and the role of the human virome, the 10(13) – largely unstudied – viral particles that coexist in humans.
Astrazeneca plc is investing $15 billion in China through 2030 to expand R&D and manufacturing, marking one of the largest long-term investments by a multinational pharma company in the country. The U.K.-based company also struck a deal worth up to $3.5 billion with China’s CSPC Pharmaceuticals Group Ltd. to accelerate the development of next-generation therapies for obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Astrazeneca plc has signed a new strategic collaboration agreement with CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. to advance the development of next-generation therapies for obesity and type 2 diabetes across eight programs.
