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Weekly Digest

Editor's Note: The Fierce Life Sci weekly digest will not publish next Friday, for the holiday season. We'll see you in the new year, and be back in your inboxes January 3, 2025.

This Week

Dec 20, 2024

SPECIAL REPORT—Fierce Biotech's Rotten Tomatoes of 2024

After studies flag possible link between Novo's Ozempic and rare eye disorder, EU plans to investigate: Reuters

BMS keeps axing deals inked under old leadership, this time culling cell therapy pacts with Century, Immatics

FDA rejects J&J's subcutaneous Rybrevant filing and AZ's full approval bid for Andexxa

AbbVie buys Roche spinout Nimble Therapeutics for $200M

Pfizer expects $1B hit from IRA's Part D redesign and no major M&A in 2025

Featured

Fierce Biotech's Rotten Tomatoes of 2024

By James Waldron

Fierce Biotech recounts the biggest biotech blunders and one inspiring intervention in the 2024 edition of Rotten Tomatoes.

After studies flag possible link between Novo's Ozempic and rare eye disorder, EU plans to investigate: Reuters

By Kevin Dunleavy

After the recent release of two independent studies suggested the use of Ozempic increases patients' chances of developing a rare eye disorder, the European Union has decided to investigate the issue, according to a report from Reuters.

BMS keeps axing deals inked under old leadership, this time culling cell therapy pacts with Century, Immatics

By Gabrielle Masson

Bristol Myers Squibb has terminated cell therapy pacts with two biotechs amid "ongoing portfolio prioritization efforts” within the Big Pharma, one of the affected companies said.

FDA rejects J&J's subcutaneous Rybrevant filing and AZ's full approval bid for Andexxa

By Kevin Dunleavy

The FDA has sent complete response letters to Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca, rejecting J&J's application for subcutaneous Rybrevant and AZ's bid for a full approval of Andexxa.

AbbVie buys Roche spinout Nimble Therapeutics for $200M

By Gabrielle Masson

AbbVie is paying $200 million to snap up Nimble Therapeutics, a Roche spinout working to develop oral peptide treatments in the autoimmune space.

Pfizer expects $1B hit from IRA's Part D redesign and no major M&A in 2025

By Angus Liu

After pulling off a surprise third-quarter beat and full-year guidance raise amid shareholder activism earlier this year, Pfizer now expects its 2025 revenues to come in the same range as in 2024.

Merck drops TIGIT asset and LAG-3 program, discontinuing several phase 3 trials

By Gabrielle Masson

In a day that already included discontinuations from Roche and Foghorn Therapeutics, Merck & Co. rounded out Monday with the termination of two late-stage cancer assets.

Doctors weigh in on GLP-1s: The impact of celeb endorsements, the indications they’re hoping for and more

By Andrea Park

The ubiquity of GLP-1 agonists in popular culture may be negatively affecting patients’ perceptions and use of the medications for weight management, according to a new survey of doctors around the world.

Boston Scientific recalls pacemakers at risk of triggering permanent safety mode

By Conor Hale

Boston Scientific said it has seen two reported patient deaths linked to the issue.

Bavarian Nordic inks mpox vaccine pact with Serum Institute of India, expands global reach of the shot

By Joseph Keenan

As Bavarian Nordic works to increase global access to its mpox vaccine, the company has inked a manufacturing licensing pact with the Serum Institute of India (SII) to produce MVA-BN for the Indian market.

mRNA vaccine from CDC and Moderna protects ferrets from current avian influenza strain

By Darren Incorvaia

As human cases of avian influenza slowly tick up amid the outbreak in U.S. dairy cattle, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Moderna have teamed up to design an mRNA vaccine for the current variant that successfully protected ferrets from succumbing to the virus.

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Building a “Best Practice” R&D Organization in Biopharma

We interviewed 14 R&D biopharma leaders on the critical success factors for building a Best Practice R&D organization. This report shares what we learned.

Presented by Blue Matter, strategic consultants in the life sciences

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