Also including deals between EpimAb/Vignette, Allist/Jacobio, Rigel/Kissei, Simcere/TargetRx, Altamira/Nuance, PharmaEssentia/Forus and Chugai/LTL.

Recent moves in the industry include changes at the top at LakeShore Biopharma, Atara Biotherapeutics and Defence Therapeutics, plus Transgene gets new chief medical and scientific officers.

Private Company Edition: Bain will invest across private and public drug, device, diagnostic and tool companies. Also, Candid debuted with $370m in initial funding, Superluminal closed a $120m series A round, PanTera raised €93m ($102.4m) in series A cash and F2G brought in $100m.

As it navigates product transition in ophthalmology against biosimilar and branded rivals, Regeneron seems to have a simpler challenge in another major therapeutic area.

A redistribution of pharma outsourcing activities, both ex-China and also a wider shift in CDMO work from North America down the line may be in store. A senior McKinsey executive discusses with Scrip these trends in the CDMO sector amid geopolitical tensions, the spurt in customer queries at Indian firms and also facets of the deals scenario.

Human milk could have a role in preventing Alzheimer’s disease and other ailments linked to the gut microbiome, says former Pfizer VP and Hilleman CEO Davinder Gill. He also talks about a halal meningitis vaccine, and tailwinds for an oral cholera vaccine now launched by Bharat Biotech in this fascinating interview

“For 20 or 30 years, we were not seen as a scientific leader,” the French major’s CEO tells Scrip. Now, things have started to change with several positive readouts coming out of its immunology portfolio.

Following the pivotal data on Alnylam’s Amvuttra, all eyes turn to the next amyloidosis readout – that of AstraZeneca and Ionis’ Wainua. And the UK major’s ambitions do not stop there.

After 10 years of promised investment following its Nobel Prize for iPS cell research, Japan is cautiously narrowing regulations around the conditional approval of cell therapies and cutting some reimbursement prices. Commercial success remains mixed and some products have been withdrawn from the market.

Lilly and Novo Nordisk were top performers among large-cap pharma stocks, while the stock prices of Bristol Myers and Gilead declined the most.

Six biopharma companies have filed to list their shares on US exchanges so far this year, but the sums they are seeking are small.

Without a mega-merger like 2023’s Pfizer/Seagan takeout, M&A deals grew smaller during the first half of 2024, while volume rose. In alliance deals, H1 2024 activity somewhat mirrored activity from H1 2023.

Also including deals between EpimAb/Vignette, Allist/Jacobio, Rigel/Kissei, Simcere/TargetRx, Altamira/Nuance, PharmaEssentia/Forus and Chugai/LTL.

Phase II data at the ESMO meeting showed promising efficacy for the drug beyond NSCLC, particularly in certain indications of colorectal and head-and-neck cancers.

The Danish company released pivotal data for TransCon CNP in children with achondroplasia that appears competitive with BioMarin’s big growth driver.

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Two similarly named companies, Nuvation and Nuvalent, are racing to see who can claim best-in-class status in next-generation lung cancer therapies.

Merck & Co has presented lots of data on its huge-earning checkpoint inhibitor at the Barcelona congress, the highlights being impressive first-time overall survival results for Keytruda in cervical cancer and early-stage triple-negative breast cancer.

Persistence has paid off for Incyte’s Zynyz in anal cancer with a Phase III win that should make up for a previous disappointment at the FDA and give a boost to the firm’s pipeline prospects for a post-Jakafi era.

While oncology heavyweights Roche and Merck & Co have failed to make much headway with their in-house TIGIT offerings, hopes are high for iTeos's belrestotug in combination with GSK's checkpoint inhibitor, Jemperli, which has demonstrated promising response rates for non-small cell lung cancer in the Phase II GALAXIES Lung-201 study.

At the 2024 LSX USA conference, panelists provided advice on how to approach companies in dealmaking and to make their value proposition fit with what the company is looking for.

A subcutaneous formulation of Roche’s best-selling drug will offer an alternative to a lengthy intravenous infusion. Both versions will be priced the same.

The company stands a strong chance of winning approval for lenacapavir as a twice-yearly injectable drug for preventing HIV infection, though market challenges remain.

The US company believes it can not only beat Keytruda at its own game, but also achieve success where Merck & Co's blockbuster and other immunotherapies have failed.