Startup Orbital Therapeutics brings Bristol Myers Squibb an in vivo cell therapy in development for treating autoimmune disease. With the deal, BMS joins AstraZeneca, AbbVie, and Gilead Sciences in turning to M&A as a way to get in vivo cell therapy assets and technologies.

The post BMS Joins the In Vivo Cell Therapy Chase With $1.5B Orbital Therapeutics Acquisition appeared first on MedCity News.

In 2023, Johnson & Johnson announced it had stopped research and development on therapeutics for many infectious diseases, including hepatitis and tuberculosis. Less visibly, AbbVie shuttered last year its pro bono technical R&D support on infectious diseases such as malaria and Chagas disease.

These are not isolated cases. An increasing number of large pharmaceutical companies from the Global North are leaving the field of R&D for infectious disease therapeutics to move to more lucrative areas, particularly cancer, obesity, diabetes, autoimmune, and rare (but highly profitable) diseases. This trend is not new — it has been consistent over the past two decades — but it is accelerating.

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Is George Tidmarsh, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s top drug regulator, trying to exact revenge on a prominent Wall Street investor after a run-in with him six years ago? STAT asks. This is the question biotech investors were wagging about all Monday after Tidmarsh used his personal LinkedIn page to raise questions about the safety of voclosporin, a rather obscure drug the FDA approved in 2021 to treat patients with lupus nephritis, a type of autoimmune disease that damages the kidneys. Voclosporin has “significant toxicity,” Tidmarsh wrote in his LinkedIn post, adding that the drug “has not been shown to provide a direct clinical benefit for patients.” Aurinia Pharmaceuticals is the Canadian drugmaker that sells voclosporin under the brand name Lupkynis. Its stock price sank 16% on the Tidmarsh comments. It is highly unusual, if not unheard of, for a top FDA official to use a personal social media account to criticize a specific drug, particularly without providing evidence to back up such a claim. 

The Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America plans to launch a new website in January to help patients buy prescription drugs directly from manufacturers, bypassing pharmacy benefit managers and other middlemen, Reuters says. The website, to be called AmericasMedicines.com, will allow drugmakers to list medicines available for direct purchase and connect patients with programs that offer lower prices and fewer barriers to access. The move is part of a broader push by the industry to simplify how Americans get their medicines and reduce out-of-pocket costs following mounting pressure from the Trump administration. President Trump has urged pharmaceutical companies to bring down U.S. drug prices, and in July sent letters to 17 major drugmakers demanding they slash U.S. prescription drug prices to match those paid in other developed nations. The White House has also floated the idea of a government-run website, possibly named TrumpRx, to help Americans shop for cheaper medicines.

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Pharmalot, where the rotation may include this, this, this, this and this. And what about you? This is a lovely time of year to enjoy just about anything involving the great outdoors, weather permitting. So perhaps you can stock up on apples and pumpkins, or traipse through gnarly woods in search of hidden streams and existential moments. Or if you find yourself indoors, there are books and moving picture shows to absorb. The choices are seemingly endless, yes? Well, whatever you do, have a grand time. But be safe. Enjoy, and see you soon. …

President Trump threatened pharmaceutical companies with a 100% tariff unless they build manufacturing plants in the U.S., STAT notes. The tariff would begin on Oct. 1 and could affect all “branded or patented” drugs, the president said in a social media post. Companies could avoid it by building manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Trump said, defining “building” as “‘breaking ground’ and/or ‘under construction.’” The post comes days before a deadline he set for drug companies to lower their prices. The Trump administration made lowering drug prices through a so-called most-favored nation policy, in which the U.S. is charged the same prices other countries pay, a top priority. The administration opened a probe into the national security rationale for tariffs on drug companies, known as a Section 232 investigation. The results, expected in the coming months, could offer the president a pathway to levy tariffs on the pharmaceutical industry. Drug companies are in the middle of months-long talks with the administration about lowering their prices in the U.S., but no deals have been publicly announced.

Several global drugmakers have announced large U.S. investments in recent months in response to pressure from President Trump, although it is not clear from public disclosures how far those projects have progressed, Bloomberg News adds. For instance, Merck, Novo Nordisk, and Eli Lilly are among the companies that have started U.S. building since 2023, with construction sites in Delaware, North Carolina, and Texas. The projects are aimed at anchoring supply chains inside U.S. borders and supporting blockbuster medicines. AbbVie has said it will begin expanding its Illinois facilities this fall. The new duties could hit about $220 billion of U.S. pharmaceutical imports and lift the average tariff rate by 3.3 percentage points, Bloomberg Intelligence economists estimate. Still, substantial uncertainty remains, including whether countries or regions that have struck trade deals with the U.S. will avoid the new levy. For example, the European Union’s trade agreement from late July specified that tariffs on medicines would be 15%, and it is unclear if that arrangement cancels out the latest levy.

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So far, the rotation will include this, this, this, this and this. And what about you? Summer may be nearing an end but time still remains to enjoy the great outdoors. If weather does not permit, perhaps this is an opportunity to get a head start and winterize your castle. You could also lounge about and stream a moving picture or two. Or catch up with someone special. Well, whatever you do, have a grand time. But be safe. Enjoy, and see you soon. …

U.S. Food and Drug Administration leaders are moving to abandon a decades-old policy of asking outside experts to review drug applications, a move critics say would shield agency decisions from public scrutiny, KFF Health News tells us. The agency “would like to get away” from assembling panels of experts to examine and vote on individual drugs, because “I don’t think they’re needed,” said George Tidmarsh, head of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. He relayed the message Tuesday at a meeting of health care product makers and Wednesday to an FDA advocacy group. In addition to being redundant, Tidmarsh said advisory meetings on specific drugs were “a tremendous amount of work for the company and for the FDA. We want to use that work and our time to focus on the big questions.” Tidmarsh said committees would still be consulted on general issues like how to regulate different classes of drugs. But meetings on specific drugs were mainly useful, he said, because they allowed the public to see how the FDA worked.

Novo Nordisk’s new chief executive officer Maziar Mike Doustdar is calling workers back to the office as the Ozempic maker struggles to catch up with Eli Lilly in the hyper-competitive obesity market, Bloomberg News says. Office-based employees will need to come in five days a week starting Jan. 1. The move comes a day after Doustdar announced the drugmaker, which is headquartered in Denmark, would slash its workforce by 11%. Novo did not previously have a global policy on working from home, a common perk for Danish employees. The company had prized work-life balance, with employees in its home market frequently taking much of the month of July off and leaving the office by 4 p.m. to see to personal obligations. Before this week’s layoffs announcement, Doustdar also fired newly hired employees who had not yet started their jobs — some within days of when they were scheduled to begin — cut bonuses, and began a hiring freeze. Doustdar has called for a “performance culture” to catch up with Lilly, which has taken the lead in the U.S. obesity market.

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Morning. Today, we note that psychedelics are suddenly a hot topic for larger pharmaceutical companies, dissect Patrick Soon-Shiong’s claims on his lung cancer drug, and more.

Pharma is quickly warming to psychedelics

AbbVie’s $1.2 billion move to buy Gilgamesh’s psychedelic candidate is the first time a traditional drugmaker has snapped up an investigational psychedelic — a milestone that analysts say could trigger a wave of follow-on deals, STAT’s Olivia Goldhill writes.

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AbbVie’s purchase of Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals’ psychedelic compound bretisilocin for up to $1.2 billion last month marked the first time a traditional pharma company has bought an investigational psychedelic drug. The deal suggests pharma is getting more comfortable with psychedelic drugs, despite the Food and Drug Administration’s rejection of MDMA last year. 

Following the success of Janssen’s depression treatment Spravato, which had $780 million in sales in the first three quarters of 2024 and is currently the only legal psychedelic psychiatric treatment, other pharma companies are increasingly eyeing the space for potential future deals, according to biotech executives and consultants. “It’s clearly validation for our sector,” said Kabir Nath, chief executive of Compass Pathways, which is developing psilocybin to treat depression.

Psychedelics present both a risk and an opportunity, especially for companies with an interest in psychiatry. Currently there are a handful of biotechs with psychedelic compounds in Phase 2 or later trials and, similarly, a handful of larger pharmaceutical companies that are circling the field. “There’s a huge amount of interest coming in suddenly from pharma,” said Josh Hardman, founder of the media and consulting firm Psychedelic Alpha. “We’ve seen a huge uptick in the last six months of larger pharma companies joining the mailing list, taking out paid subscriptions.”

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Our choice today is salted caramel, which offers a whiff of the Jersey shore. Sounds appetizing, yes? As always, we invite you to join us. Meanwhile, here is the latest menu of tidbits to help you get started on your journey. We hope that your day is simply smashing and that you conquer the world. And of course, do keep in touch. We appreciate suggestions, criticism, and juicy tips. …

AbbVie agreed to pay up to $1.2 billion to buy Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals’ investigational psychedelic drug to treat major depression, a sign that pharmaceutical companies are warming up to the burgeoning field, STAT writes. The move builds on AbbVie’s growing focus on neuroscience. Last year, it also acquired Cerevel Therapeutics for $9 billion, but after the deal closed, the schizophrenia drug at the center of the acquisition failed to show benefits in key trials. A growing number of biotech companies have emerged to study psychedelics for psychiatric disorders, but the field suffered a major setback last year when regulators rejected a Lykos Therapeutics MDMA candidate for post-traumatic stress disorder. Companies are now hoping the Trump administration will be supportive of psychedelics after U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vowed to end the “aggressive suppression of psychedelics.” 

The European Commission granted marketing authorization for Gilead Sciences’ twice-yearly injection for preventing HIV infection, Reuters notes. The drug, known as lenacapavir, will be sold in Europe under the brand name Yeytuo. It was approved in June by regulators in the U.S., where it is marketed as Yeztugo. The EC approval applies to the European Union’s 27 member states, as well as Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein. Before the drug can be made available to patients, Gilead will need to establish pricing and reimbursement terms with health systems in each country. In the U.S., the list price is over $28,000 a year, prompting some insurers to postpone coverage. Meanwhile, Gilead said it also filed for regulatory review with authorities in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and Switzerland and is preparing filings in Argentina, Mexico, and Peru. The company intends to pursue submissions to regulatory authorities in low- and middle-income countries, including priority registrations covering 18 countries that represent 70% of the HIV burden of 120 countries named in voluntary licensing agreements.

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Gilead Sciences, whose Kite subsidiary was one of the pioneers of ex vivo cancer cell therapy, is joining the pursuit of in vivo therapies with the acquisition of startup Interius BioTherapeutics. The deal follows AstraZeneca and AbbVie acquisitions this year for in vivo cell therapy developers.

The post Gilead Sciences Gains In Vivo Cell Therapy Capability With $350M Interius Bio Acquisition appeared first on MedCity News.

Have a wonderful day and do drop us a line when you hear something juicy. …

Insmed received U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance for the first treatment for a chronic lung disease, opening the biotech up to what could be a multibillion-dollar product, STAT writes. The company will sell the daily pill, brensocatib, under the brand name Brinsupri for bronchiectasis. The approval comes after the treatment succeeded in one of last year’s most closely watched Phase 3 trials. Insmed, which will sell the drug at an annual list price of $88,000, estimates the drug can deliver peak sales of $5 billion, making it a growth driver that could help propel it into becoming a major biotech. The company has also filed for the drug to be approved in Europe and the U.K. and plans to file in Japan. Bronchiectasis affects about 350,000 to 500,000 adults in the U.S., according to the American Lung Association. 

A clutch of Western drugmakers are looking to boost sales of their most innovative and expensive medicines in China, the world’s second-largest pharmaceuticals market, by trying to get their treatments included in Beijing’s new catalog for commercial health insurance, Bloomberg News explains. Eli Lilly, Pfizer, and Novo Nordisk are among those who have applied for a place in the catalog, according to documents released by the National Health Security Administration. The idea of the list, incorporating innovative drugs that are far too expensive to be covered by the state insurance program but recommended for reimbursement by private health insurers, was first touted this year. With state-backed insurance unable to afford their treatments, drugmakers until now had to choose between offering steep discounts in exchange for a spot on the national drug reimbursement list, or limit themselves to a much smaller private market. The commercial catalog, which could allow these drugs to be reimbursed at a smaller discount, will open a new door for multinational companies to expand sales.

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