At first glance, it appears that biopharmaceuticals dodged the latest U.S. tariff bullet; med-tech, not so much. According to the executive order President Donald Trump signed in the Rose Garden late yesterday, pharmaceuticals are one of the few things exempt from the new country-by-country reciprocal tariffs that will be going into effect over the next week. However, U.S.-based manufacturers of both drugs and devices could face supply chain disruptions, further market restrictions and increased operating costs as the new tariffs take effect and other countries retaliate. Read More
President Donald Trump’s executive order on global tariffs have pushed downward the stocks of biopharma and med-tech companies, even though the impacts of his 10% baseline tariff – which excludes pharmaceuticals – and his reciprocal tariffs affecting about 60 countries across the globe, are still unclear. “The story for the day is there’s still a lot of uncertainties in terms of pharmaceuticals,” said Wayne Winegarden, senior fellow and director of the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the Pacific Research Institute, a free-market think tank. “It’s going to pressure margins, pressure availability. This is just a complete negative for the industry. It’s self-inflicted. It’s not just unnecessary, it’s unwarranted.” Read More
Following news of U.S. President Donald Trump’s 10% across-the-board tariffs on Australian exports to the U.S., Australia’s Securities Exchange shed nearly AU$55 billion in losses Thursday morning. Even so, pharmaceuticals have escaped the tariffs for now. In China, Trump’s tariffs are not a big concern for China’s health care because drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients are exempted from the tariffs. Even if tariffs are imposed in the future, Chinese pharmaceutical companies have already significantly de-risked themselves in recent months by increasing out-licensing models with U.S. partners. Read More
Biomedical research seems like it should be the ultimate bipartisan issue. But under the Trump administration, unless and until Congress regains its will to make use of its constitutional powers, bipartisan support for research seems to be a thing of the past. On March 3, members of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine warned that the second Trump administration has been waging a “wholesale assault” on American research. Read More
Aldeyra Therapeutics Inc. is hoping that research already underway will satisfy the U.S. FDA, which delivered to the company another complete response letter (CRL) related to the NDA for reproxalap in dry eye disease (DED). Read More
The U.S. FDA’s accelerated approval of Vanrafia (atrasentan) from Novartis AG for primary immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) is the company’s second approval for the indication in the past year and a half. The nod also came without a required safety program through a black box warning. Read More
Sumitomo Pharma Co. Ltd. announced that it will sell off two more of its subsidiaries, Sumitomo Pharma (China) Co. Ltd. and Sumitomo Pharma Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. (and their subsidiaries), to Marubeni Global Pharma Corp. April 1, as the Japanese pharma continues restructuring efforts from last year. Read More
The latest obesity contender, Antag Therapeutics A/S, has dosed the first participants in a phase I trial of a glucose-dependent insulinotrophic polypeptide (GIP) agonist it said will address key gaps in the current treatment options, not least the gastrointestinal side effects seen with GLP-1 agonists. Read More
The biopharma sector is still trying to get its wind and resume its once-powerful investment ways. Medical technology has sidestepped much of biopharma’s issues by being more flexible along the development path, according to BioWorld MedTech Editor Annette Boyle in this edition of the podcast. Boyle described the current financing climate on the newest BioWorld Insider podcast and explained why the sector is performing well year to date.
Clinical updates, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: AC Immune, Arctic, Biomarin, Desentum, Edgewise, Ena Respiratory, Greenwich, Quoin, Senhwa. Read More
Biopharma happenings, including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Allakos, Alloy, Concentra, Intra-Cellular Therapies, Johnson & Johnson, Multiomic Health, Nurix, Sanofi, Tenaya. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Accord, Averoa, Biogen, Connect, Denali, Helsinn, Valneva, Yingli. Read More