Top 10 game-changing layoffs in H1
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Today's Rundown

Featured Story

Gilmore O'Neill picked a bad time to become a biotech CEO. He's confident Editas has the goods

Editas' new CEO Gilmore O'Neill has already checked off a few items on his to do list in his first six weeks, including hiring a chief medical officer. Fierce Biotech caught up with him and his new CMO to find out what's next.

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Top Stories

Axel Hoos wants to take small molecules further at Scorpion, leaving Big Pharma in the dust

Axel Hoos, M.D., Ph.D., left GSK almost a year ago, setting off to reinvent small-molecule drugs as CEO of Scorpion Therapeutics. It's a type of drug that's ripe for innovation, he figures, as other companies shift to new, hotter treatments like CAR-T. 

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Top 10 game-changing biotech layoffs in H1

At the halfway point for the year, Fierce Biotech looks back at some of the most important layoff events that have hit the industry in 2021.

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Inovio cuts workforce as COVID program weighs down future growth

Inovio is reducing its workforce by 18% in a restructuring that will extend the biotech’s cash runway into 2024 and allow for prioritization of its lead DNA medicine programs. The cuts are in concert with previously announced changes to the biotech’s troubled COVID program.

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Viking relaunches longship for phase 1b metabolic disorder study as FDA hold lifted

Viking Therapeutics is relaunching the longship for a phase 1b metabolic disorder study six months after the FDA sidelined the vessel with a clinical hold.

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Novartis looking for new homes for midphase asthma, eye disease and NASH assets after pipeline review

Novartis has put a trio of midphase drugs up for partnering. After performing its annual portfolio review, the Swiss Big Pharma decided to bring in outside support to drive development of treatments for retinitis pigmentosa, asthma and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

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Roche tasks Avista with scAAVenging for better eye disease gene therapy vectors

Roche’s hunt for better eye disease gene therapy vectors has led it to Avista Therapeutics. In a heavily backloaded deal, the Swiss Big Pharma has offered up $1 billion to secure the right to assess and license AAV capsids developed by Avista.

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With data for 11 patients in, Ultragenyx ready to sign away $75M for Angelman partner GeneTx

A glimpse at data for just 11 patients was enough to convince Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical that GeneTx Biotherapeutics is worth $75 million. After an interim data drop late Monday afternoon, Ultragenyx  is exercising its right to acquire partner GeneTx.

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Sanofi walks away from kidney disease therapy, leaving $25M in milestones out of reach for Regulus

Sanofi is letting go of a genetic kidney disease therapy under development with Regulus Therapeutics after getting a peak at an interim analysis. Development will be shut down for the anti-microRNA 21 oligonucleotide lademirsen, which was being tested in patients with a genetic disease called Alport syndrome.

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Cartography Biosciences gets on the map with $57M and an itinerary for next-gen cancer therapies

Cartography Biosciences is putting its name on the map, exiting stealth mode with $57 million for an antigen atlas designed to direct scientists to more precise and effective immunotherapies.

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Personalized cancer therapy biotech PACT Pharma lets go of nearly 100 staffers

PACT Pharma has let go of 94 employees, leaving remaining staff to work on two clinical stage assets in immuno-oncology, according to a state workforce report in California.

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J&J's new CEO Joaquin Duato talks M&A opportunism amid a major biotech depression

Johnson & Johnson is no stranger to buyouts, with around half of the healthcare conglomerate’s pharma innovation sourced from outside the company, new CEO Joaquin Duato said on a call with analysts Tuesday. Now, as a consumer health spinoff looms, the helmsman is talking up M&A opportunities amid a sweeping biotech depression.

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GE Healthcare to retain its household corporate name in 2023 spinoff

General Electric took another step forward in its plan to split up its businesses among a trio of independent, publicly traded companies. It has set out a road map into early 2024 and announced the brand names of its new scions focused on medical products, aviation and energy.

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Officials fret over highly infectious BA.5 as national COVID-19 hospitalizations tick upward

New COVID-19 admissions numbers have been steadily increasing since early April and have doubled since early May, according to the CDC.

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