After investing $24 billion in three major acquisitions earlier this year, Bristol Myers Squibb Co. said April 25 it 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 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. Read More
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. Read More
Acrivon Therapeutics Inc.’s $130 million financing disclosed April 9 hiked confidence in then-pending data with ACR-368 (prexasertib), the selective small-molecule inhibitor that targets checkpoint kinase 1 (CHK1) and CHK2. Undergoing tests in a potentially registrational phase II trial across multiple tumor types, ACR-368 also raised the stakes for Boundless Bio Inc., which is developing CHK1 inhibitor BBI-355. Read More
The U.S. FDA issued a revised draft guidance, “Promotional labeling and advertising considerations for prescription biological reference and biosimilar products,” to help ensure promotional communications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. Read More
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. Read More
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. Read More
Clinical updates, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: Alkermes, Alvotech, Arrowhead, Atai, Atom, Calcimedica, Calliditas, Curevac, Gain, Genethon, Immutep, Innoviva, Kiromic, Lykos, Naveris, Novartis, Pasithea, Redhill, Scpharmaceuticals. Read More
Biopharma happenings, including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Cidara, Day One, Hyundai Bioscience, J&J, Mundipharma, Xoma. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Amneal, Ascendis, Astellas, Capricor, Day One, GSK, Hookipa, Medicure, Novartis, Travere, Vifor. Read More
