Bristol Myers Squibb Co.’s decision this week to snag Bluebird Bio Inc. spinout 2seventy Bio Inc. for $102 million net – just weeks after investors bid $30 million for Bluebird itself – seemed to place a final blow on what was once a promising gene therapy company. The space in general has struggled to make business sense out of the one-time therapies that often involve complicated manufacturing and exorbitant prices, despite the life-changing value that gene therapies bring to patients. But despite some recent setbacks, biopharmas continue to plow forward with promising research in the field. Read More
Visen Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. announced its initial public offering (IPO) on the Hong Kong Stock exchange (HKEX) to raise roughly HKD$603.3 million (US$77.6 million) to advance its pipeline of endocrinology assets. Read More
Latest findings on Healios K.K.’s stem cell therapy to treat acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), coined Multistem (invimestrocel; HLCM-051), found the regenerative medicine effective in reducing the number of patient days on ventilator treatment, as well as mortality benefits. Read More
Term sheets are being drawn up with potential pharma partners after Torqur AG reported positive interim results from an ongoing phase II trial of bimiralisib topical gel in the treatment of actinic keratosis. Read More
Cardiothoracic surgeon and television personality Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump’s nominee for administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), faced the U.S. Senate’s finance committee on March 14, suggesting the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and the reduction of drug prices would be among his top priorities, if confirmed. Read More
U.S. President Donald Trump touched off a not-uncommon flurry of puzzlement and outrage when, during his speech to Congress on March 4, he referred to an example of government waste as spending $8 million on “making mice transgender. This is real.” Skeptical media outlets jumped on the case right away. Read More
Biopharma deal activity climbed in early 2025, reaching $37.38 billion in the first two months, up from $35.66 billion a year ago. February saw $8.76 billion in deals, down 69% from January’s $28.63 billion, which included 11 transactions valued at $1 billion or more. Early 2025 saw the second-highest biopharma deal total on record, trailing only the $42.19 billion logged in the first two months of 2022. Read More
Clinical updates, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: Blue Earth, Cosciens, Ennodc, Grifols, Merck, Rivus, Shionogi, Transcode, UCB. Read More
Biopharma happenings, including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Allarity, Allovir, Boehringer, Chromadex, Hologen , Immunoprecise Antibodies, J&J, Kalaris, Meiragtx, Mira, Niagen, Nosis, Sotio, Synaffix , Viiv, Theratechnologies. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Lundbeck, Otsuka, Springworks, Zai Lab. Read More
