BioCentury This Week

The proposed $5.4 billion takeout of sickle cell company Global Blood Therapeutics by Pfizer is the latest sign of life in biotech M&A, BioCentury Associate Editor Paul Bonanos says on the BioCentury This Week podcast. Bonanos and colleagues explain how Pfizer plans to use its global reach to get Oxbryta to parts of the globe most affected by sickle cell disease, which disproportionately affec...

Acquisition target Seagen has carved out such a differentiated portfolio of antibody-drug candidates that the company may not see much direct competition from other ADCs in the near term, BioCentury’s Lauren Martz says on the latest edition of the BioCentury This Week podcast. Martz and the BioCentury podcast team analyze how Seagen has built a pipeline around almost entirely first-in-class target...

As Severin Schwan’s steady hand on the tiller of Roche passes to another insider, BioCentury’s podcast team examines how initiatives during the outgoing CEO’s tenure, including those related to digital and data science, handed a solid deck of cards to diagnostics head Thomas Schinecker as he takes on the top job at the Swiss pharma. Plus: Washington Editor Steve Usdin assesses Sen. Richard Burr’s...

Sen. Richard Burr’s new approach to a critical medical products user fee bill funding FDA must be taken seriously because the clock is ticking, and it’s ticking loudly, Washington Editor Steve Usdin said on the latest BioCentury This Week podcast. Usdin explains why Burr has introduced the bare-bones legislation and what’s at stake for industry in the weeks ahead. BioCentury's editors also di...

Even with signs that the biotech winter may be starting to thaw, buysiders continue to expect more near-term pain for the sector as consolidation continues for smaller companies with limited cash and few options for raising more, Associate Editor Stephen Hansen says on the latest edition of the BioCentury This Week podcast. Hansen sums up the takeaway messages from BioCentury's 3Q22 Financial...

AstraZeneca’s takeout of single-asset spinout TeneoTwo for $100 million up front is but the latest payout to shareholders in TeneoBio, who could stand to see even more upside in the years ahead, says Associate Editor Paul Bonanos on the latest edition of the BioCentury This Week podcast. Bonanos and the BioCentury editors also discuss how TeneoTwo investor Lightspeed Venture Partners has deepened...

On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, a pair of deals demonstrates how Galapagos CEO Paul Stoffels is shifting the Belgian biotech’s strategic focus from small molecules toward a diversified portfolio. Plus: why Friday’s Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade sets the stage for legal and legislative battles that could have broad implications for biopharma and how a new crop of Indian...

On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, Washington Editor Steve Usdin details how the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health is taking shape as the new U.S. agency seeks to deliver transformative science and the latest moves by Rep. Anna Eshoo to change its structure via legislation. The podcast team also explores the U.K. NHS’s deal with Pfizer Inc. and Shionogi & Co. Ltd. on a subs...

Stellar data for Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics could set a high bar for the next generation of gene editing players to beat in β thalassemia and sickle cell disease, indications that had previously been considered as the best disease to show proof-of-concept for the modality, said Executive Director of Biopharma Intelligence Lauren Martz on the latest edition of BioCentury This We...

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 Stellar ASCO data for Enhertu show how there’s “massive ground” that can still be covered and improved upon by applying new modalities against older targets, said Editor in Chief Simone Fishburn on the latest edition of BioCentury This Week. Fishburn and the BioCentury podcast team dig into the data for antibody-drug conjugate Enhertu from AstraZeneca and partner Daiichi Sankyo for previously tre...

The latest data cut for KRAS G12C inhibitor adagrasib from Mirati Therapeutics underwhelmed investors. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discussed the readout, which came in an abstract ahead of this week’s American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, and previewed some of ASCO’s most anticipated data, which will emerge in “late-breaker” presentations. The podcast...

On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors explore how biotechs are turning to tumor targeting, IL-15 expression and alternate cell sourcing to enhance the potency and longevity of NK cell therapies. The podcast team also discusses Janet Woodcock’s new remit at FDA, Bristol Myers Squibb's pullout from Russia and the bipartisan effort moving medical product user fee reaut...

Ensuring that a biotech reaches its key inflection points as effectively as possible during the ongoing capital crunch affects a company across the board, including its people, pipeline and financing toolkit, Shorla’s Sharon Cunningham said on a special Bio€quity Europe edition of the BioCentury This Week podcast. Cunningham and BII’s Bobby Soni joined the BioCentury podcast team to discuss naviga...

Even as industry is facing a global talent crunch, Europe’s biotechs have it better than ever, Medicxi’s Francesco De Rubertis said on a special edition of the BioCentury This Week podcast recapping the first two days of the Bio€quity Europe conference in Milan. He and MSD’s Khatereh Ahmadi joined the BioCentury podcast team to discuss the battle for top talent and the state of deal-making amid th...

The sale of a minority stake in Sofinnova Partners to PE firm Apollo will allow the European VC to grow while retaining its independence. Fresh off a conversation with Sofinnova’s Antoine Papiernik, Associate Editor Stephen Hansen explains the 50-year-old firm’s proactive approach to finding a partner among private equity firms and what’s next for the firm now that it has more financial firepower....

Industry’s dueling headwinds of capital and talent are the focus of this year’s Bio€quity Europe meeting, and in a special episode of BioCentury This Week, two veterans of the burgeoning Italian life sciences ecosystem, Sofinnova Partners' Graziano Seghezzi & Ambrosetti's Corrado Panzeri, say the country’s biotech sector now has the capital and networks to weather the storm. Reach us...

The House Energy & Commerce Committee has a bipartisan deal on reauthorizing FDA user fees that sets the parameters for FDA reforms, including enhancing accelerated approval and improving clinical trial diversity — but how much will the legislation change in the coming months and how? On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discuss the requirements for FDA, HHS, sponso...

Chinese biotechs face regulatory delays for their therapies due to pandemic-related barriers to inspections by Western regulators and FDA’s reluctance to accept China-only data. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discuss why a setback for surufatinib from Hutchmed could be a sign of things to come for its China peers. The podcast team also analyzes a flurry of FDA act...

The first clinical data from Nkarta’s CAR natural killer cell platform add to the growing evidence that a CAR may provide the efficacy boost NK cell therapies have needed. BioCentury's editors analyze the significance of the data, which drove a 141% gain in the biotech's stock. They also discuss the biopharma legacy of the late Sen. Orrin Hatch, how biopharma companies are coping with th...

Long-awaited proof of concept for AstraZeneca’s PARP-1-selective therapy opens the door to combination strategies previously limited by hematopoietic toxicity, Senior Editor Karen Tkach Tuzman says on the latest edition of BioCentury This Week. Tkach Tuzman surveys data from the growing DNA damage repair (DDR) field from this year’s American Association for Cancer Research meeting, and the team al...

Positive fund flows and modestly better performance by biotech indexes offer hints that the beginnings of a recovery could be possible in the near term, even as the financing drought grinds on. On a BioCentury This Week Special Report, BioCentury’s editors discuss the conditions, including clinical catalysts and M&A, that could spark a recovery for the biopharma sector. This week’s podcast is...

BioCentury's editors break down CMS’s final coverage decision on amyloid mAbs for Alzheimer’s disease, focusing on what the lessons are from Aduhelm’s journey through FDA and CMS, and what sponsors of the next crop of Alzheimer's therapies should expect when seeking approval of their programs. Plus: highlights from the latest translational coverage in BioCentury’s Distillery, a call from...

Novartis is prioritizing “high-value,” multibillion-dollar assets as it reorganizes. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discuss the Swiss pharma’s plans to reunite its oncology unit with the rest of its pharma business and carve out a new C-suite post to oversee strategy and growth. Plus: how Merck KGaA is changing the way it is building its pipeline following late-st...

AACR is just around the corner, and new data being presented at the conference details how stakeholders are improving the specificity of CAR T therapies in solid tumors and improving their ability to penetrate the tumor microenvironment. Plus, BioCentury’s editors discuss the upcoming FDA advisory committee for ALS therapy AMX0035 from Amylyx, including FDA’s stance on the efficacy data and the ch...