Plus 2022’s approvals and rotten tomatoes

This Week

Jan 6, 2023

Pfizer, GSK, AbbVie and many more celebrate New Year with price hikes: report


Third patient death potentially tied to Eisai's Alzheimer's drug reported


2022 drug approvals: After Aduhelm fiasco, FDA endorsements drop to 37


Fierce Biotech's Rotten Tomatoes of 2022


Fierce Biotech Layoff Tracker: Layoffs strike 119 companies in 2022


Novartis prunes nearly 300 jobs in Garden State as corporate slimdown rolls on


Merck puts eye-popping $9.3B on the line in lopsided ADC deal with Kelun-Biotech


After Novo's Wegovy supply woes, rival Lilly sees shortages for Mounjaro, Trulicity


ECG-equipped Apple Watches found to violate AliveCor patents, teeing up possible sales ban


Roche's Genentech hires Gilead, Novartis alums for brand-new marketing roles


Merck KGaA hands over IL-12-targeting cancer med to PDS Biotech in $121M deal


Protein seen in dry eye disease injuries could have therapeutic potential


Lilly, Merck double down on peptide-targeted drug delivery, betting billions in biobucks on PeptiDream pacts

 

Featured

Pfizer, GSK, AbbVie and many more celebrate New Year with price hikes: report

As many in the U.S. struggle with rising costs of living, large pharmaceutical companies have opted to ring in the New Year with price hikes.
 

Top Stories

3rd patient death potentially tied to Eisai's Alzheimer's drug reported

A third patient death potentially tied to Eisai and Biogen’s Alzheimer’s disease drug lecanemab has been reported in a phase 3 extension study, according to a report from Science.

2022 drug approvals: After Aduhelm fiasco, FDA endorsements drop to 37

Each year, many scientists and other experts working in the biopharma industry see years of their work culminate in FDA approvals. In 2022, however, fewer drugs were approved than was typical in recent years. Is this the result of the FDA becoming gun-shy after its much-criticized sanction of Biogen's Alzheimer's disease treatment, Aduhelm, in 2021? Or was 2022 just a cyclical blip on the approval landscape?

Fierce Biotech's Rotten Tomatoes of 2022

Fierce Biotech recounts the biggest biotech blunders and one refreshing reparation in the 2022 edition of Rotten Tomatoes.

Fierce Biotech Layoff Tracker: Layoffs strike 119 companies in 2022

Layoffs hit biotech fast and furious in 2022. The Fierce Biotech Layoff Tracker lists the reported events from January to December.

Novartis prunes nearly 300 jobs in Garden State as corporate slimdown rolls on

Novartis is cutting 285 jobs across three New Jersey sites, according to a local Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice.

Merck puts eye-popping $9.3B on the line in lopsided ADC deal with Kelun-Biotech

In one of the most lopsided biobucks deals this publication has ever seen, Merck & Co. is offering $175 million upfront to Kelun-Biotech for seven antibody-drug conjugates, plus an eye-popping $9.3 billion in potential milestones on the tail end.

After Novo's Wegovy supply woes, rival Lilly sees shortages for Mounjaro, Trulicity

It’s been nearly a year since Novo Nordisk revealed a supply shortfall for its obesity blockbuster-to-be Wegovy. Now, it appears history is repeating for the company’s chief rival, Eli Lilly.

ECG-equipped Apple Watches found to violate AliveCor patents, teeing up possible sales ban

Right after a major win for Apple in its patent dispute with fellow wearable device maker AliveCor, the tech giant has hit a roadblock.

Roche's Genentech hires Gilead, Novartis alums for brand-new marketing roles

Roche’s biotech unit Genentech is making major moves in marketing for 2023 as it creates two new roles aimed at boosting engagement with patients and healthcare professionals.

Merck KGaA hands over IL-12-targeting cancer med to PDS Biotech in $121M deal

Merck KGaA is continuing its recent run of dealmaking, handing over an IL-12-targeting cancer med to PDS Biotech in a deal worth more than $120 million. The med is being tested as part of a triple combo therapy that also includes PDS Biotech's lead immunotherapy asset.

Protein seen in dry eye disease injuries could have therapeutic potential

Dry eye disease isn’t just uncomfortable—it also puts patients at greater risk of corneal injury. Now, scientists may have identified a new approach to protecting them.

Lilly, Merck double down on peptide-targeted drug delivery, betting billions in biobucks on PeptiDream pacts

Eli Lilly and Merck & Co. have identified PeptiDream’s peptides as a way to deliver therapeutic payloads to targets, leading them both to lay down more than $1 billion in milestones to work with the biotech.
 
Fierce podcasts

Don't miss an episode

'The Top Line': 2022's rotten tomatoes, plus this week's headlines

This week on “The Top Line,” we discuss the biotech industry’s rotten tomatoes. Plus, we cover the drug approvals of last year, a congressional report on Biogen's "inappropriate" communications with the FDA and other top headlines from this week.
 

Resources

On-Demand Webinar

Writing the Future of Antibody Discovery Solutions

See how high-throughput DNA synthesis combined with antibody engineering expertise provides end-to-end antibody discovery solutions.

Whitepaper

Medical Affairs Metamorphosis V: The (R)evolution in Medical Communications

This paper explores how Medical Affairs is adapting medical communications to meet the demands of a new environment (part 5 in a series).
Executive Summary

Scale-Up Strategies for Late-Stage Cell Therapies

Readers will learn manufacturing by Design Builds on Quality by Design, De-risking the Tech Transfer Process, and more.

Whitepaper

Lipid-Based Drug Delivery System to Bring Poorly Soluble Drugs to Market

How can Lipid-Based Drug Delivery System help bring poorly soluble drugs to market?
Whitepaper

Linear Compression vs. Parallel Processing: Speeding Biologics Through Development and Into Clinical Trials

Download this paper to learn considerations on how to move a biologic through clinical trials faster, advantages of Parallel Processing, and more.

eBook

Orally Inhaled & Nasal Drug Delivery: A Pipeline of Opportunities

Catalent’s Carla Vozone discusses the significant trends in the Orally Inhaled & Nasal Drug Delivery (OINDP) segment including large molecules and novel indications.

eBook

The keys to success when switching from vials to prefilled syringes and intravenous to subcutaneous formulations for Biologics

Download now to learn about the benefits of transitioning from intravenous to subcutaneously administration, the advantages of using prefilled syringes, and explore challenges and solutions for transitioning from vials to prefilled syringes.

Whitepaper

Clinical Supply Solutions for the Asia-Pacific Region

Learn how Catalent’s extensive network across APAC can meet a wide range of clinical supply needs for sponsors conducting trials within the region.
Whitepaper

Supply Services to Support Clinical Trials in Japan & Beyond

Explore Catalent’s newest clinical supply facility in Japan, including the comprehensive services & solutions it offers to help support trials both in-country & around the world.
Case Study

A Strategy to Standardize Process Characterization & Late Phase Development

Learn more on an approach for process characterization for the production of a monoclonal antibody, which will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the process by targeting the right design and number of experiments.

 

Industry Events

 

Upcoming Fierce Events

10
Jan
San Francisco, CA
17-19
Jan
Virtual Event
27-28
Feb
Arlington, VA
14-15
Mar
San Francisco, CA
20-22
Mar
West Palm Beach, FL

View all events