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.

Pipeline Watch is a weekly snapshot of selected late-stage clinical trial events and approvals announced by pharmaceutical and biotech companies at medical and industry conferences, in financial and company presentations, and in company releases and statements.

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 Commercial success remains mixed and some products have been withdrawn from the market.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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Its vaccine candidate will now proceed to Phase III, but might be hard pressed to compete against Moderna’s flu plus COVID-19 combination shot.

The Duchenne drug Agamree has started so well in Germany and Austria that the Swiss company is expanding its self-marketing strategy in the top five European markets to include the Nordics, Portugal and Ireland.

The IL-23 inhibitor was approved by the US FDA for ulcerative colitis, joining AbbVie’s Skyrizi and Lilly’s Omvoh.

Newly public company ArriVent BioPharma presented Phase Ib results at WCLC for its kinase inhibitor, which could be the first drug available specifically for hard-to-treat PACC mutations.

The company said the results did not meet the threshold for continued capital investment, giving a boost to Spruce Biosciences and its competing congenital adrenal hyperplasia program.

Failure of GSK’s targeted immunotherapy leaves field open for Moderna and BioNTech candidates.

New pivotal data on Regeneron and Sanofi’s antibody in chronic urticaria are underwhelming, though probably sufficient for approval. A green light may beckon in bullous pemphigoid, too.