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This Week

May 30, 2025

Rocket crashes as gene therapy patient dies, FDA imposes hold

7 top pharmas posted revenue declines in Q1. The common thread? All are US firms

5 people charged in $600K insider trading scheme tied to Novartis' Chinook acquisition: DOJ

AbbVie's Allergan Aesthetics unit plots 202 layoffs after recent sales slide

Gene editing leaders call for 10-year suspension of heritable human genome editing

After Keytruda combo win, Gilead's Trodelvy meets the mark in solo breast cancer trial

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Rocket crashes as gene therapy patient dies, FDA imposes hold

By Nick Paul Taylor

The FDA has slapped a clinical hold on Rocket Pharmaceuticals’ pivotal gene therapy trial in response to a death. Rocket, which was aiming to report data in mid-2026, dropped its targeted trial completion date and outlined actions to extend its cash runway after suffering the setback.

7 top pharmas posted revenue declines in Q1. The common thread? All are US firms

By Kevin Dunleavy

After a fourth quarter in which revenue boomed throughout the biopharma industry, there were reversals for several drugmakers in the first three months of 2025. In the first quarter, seven large pharma companies saw their revenue decrease year over year, all from the United States.

5 people charged in $600K insider trading scheme tied to Novartis' Chinook acquisition: DOJ

By Gabrielle Masson

Five people have been charged for allegedly participating in an insider trading scheme tied to Novartis’ $3.2 billion acquisition of Chinook, including a former director of the biotech’s board.

AbbVie's Allergan Aesthetics unit plots 202 layoffs after recent sales slide

By Zoey Becker

The layoffs at Allergan's Irvine, California, headquarters are effective on July 22, according to a recent filing with the state.

Gene editing leaders call for 10-year suspension of heritable human genome editing

By Darren Incorvaia

An international group of gene editing leaders has put out a call for a 10-year ban on heritable human genome editing (HHGE), extending a moratorium that was first proposed in the fallout of a Chinese researcher’s widely decried use of CRISPR on human embryos.

After Keytruda combo win, Gilead's Trodelvy meets the mark in solo breast cancer trial

By Fraiser Kansteiner

In the ASCENT-03 trial, Gilead's Trodelvy bested chemotherapy at extending the time before disease worsening or death in certain patients with previously untreated metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. The results help pad the case for Trodelvy in first-line breast cancer following positive results for a Trodelvy-Keytruda cocktail in a similar indication last month.

Merus hails 'unprecedented' survival on solid tumor bispecific, sparking stock jump

By Nick Paul Taylor

Merus has reported a 79% 12-month survival rate in cancer patients on its bispecific antibody, cementing William Blair analysts' belief the candidate has a “best-in-disease profile.”

Olympic flame-out: Sanofi scorched for giving Paris 2024 tickets to UK patients

By Nick Paul Taylor

Sanofi’s sponsorship of the Olympics and Paralympics has led to a breach of the U.K. marketing code. Self-regulatory body the PMCPA ruled that the company brought discredit on the pharma industry by giving 21 tickets to the games, worth a combined 2,190 euros ($2,488), to patients in the U.K.

Roche taps Broad Institute to test SBX sequencing in the clinic

By Conor Hale

Roche tapped a subsidiary of the MIT and Harvard research center to apply sequencing-by-expansion tech in screening newborns and their parents.

FDA calls for additional manufacturing data in refusal letter for Savara's respiratory asset

By Fraiser Kansteiner

The FDA has slapped Savara with a refuse to file letter after the biotech in March applied for approval of its inhaled respiratory disease candidate molgramostim in autoimmune pulmonary alveolar proteinosis.

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How Grow Therapy hopes to prevent patient dropout during referrals

Though some mental health patients need referrals to higher levels of care, the process is often inefficient and risks patients dropping out of treatment. Grow Therapy's new care coordination program aims to prevent that.