A schizophrenia drug in Cerevel Therapeutics Inc.’s lineup understandably stole much of the thunder during coverage of Abbvie Inc.’s takeover late last year to the tune of $8.7 billion, but much further back in the pipeline awaits another potentially lucrative prospect: a kappa opioid receptor antagonist (KORA) for major depressive disorder (MDD).

The U.S. FDA approved 28 new drugs in June, marking the third-highest month in BioWorld’s records, following March 2024’s 30 approvals and June 2020's 29 approvals, and a significant increase from May’s 11 FDA drug approvals. For context, the FDA approved an average of around 16 drugs per month in 2023, 12.5 per month in 2022, and 17 per month in both 2021 and 2020.

New U.S. SEC rules designed to reel back the special purpose acquisition (SPAC) market went into effect on July 1, yet only a few weeks later two such companies completed IPOs and are now targeting mergers with health care and life sciences firms, including biopharma and medical technology.

Tufts University professor Ken Getz had an everything-you-know-is-wrong moment when he looked at new research showing the costs of delays in drug development and sales. The results prompted more than a few gulps from others. The old numbers are outdated and based on anecdotal evidence, the center concluded, and with the new data, it’s time to hit the reset button.

Biopharma firms raised a total of $22.94 billion in the second quarter (Q2) of 2024. Although a 51% decline from Q1's $47.25 billion, with more than $70 billion raised in the first half of the year, financings in 2024 are already approaching 2023’s full-year total of $70.97 billion. Biopharma financings in the first half of 2024 reached $70.19 billion, marking a 130% increase over the first half of 2023. Only the first half of 2021, which saw $71.58 billion raised, has been higher.

Biopharma deal value in June decreased to $12.82 billion, down from $18.76 billion in May, $15.28 billion in April, and $27.9 billion in January. However, total deals from January through June are trending higher than last year, with $97.09 billion raised in the first half of 2024, 10.5% more than the $87.82 billion deal value in the same period in 2023. The monthly average for 2024 deals is now $16.27 billion, slightly lower than the $18.14 billion monthly average in 2023.

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis was renamed, for the first time in 34 years, to metabolic dysfunction associated steatohepatitis (MASH), but a name change is far from being the biggest development in the field, according to experts at Bioplus Interphex (BIX) Korea 2024.