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Biogen, Eli Lilly, Merck and Novartis spent more than $20 billion to absorb biotechs with promising or approved drugs; the rare disease space notched approvals for therapies from Denali Therapeutics, Rocket Pharmaceuticals and Biogen; and Wave’s stock lost half its value after its RNA-based obesity candidate failed to impress investors. > Listen on Spotify > Listen on Apple Products > Listen on Amazon Music > Listen on iHeart Biogen, Eli Lilly and Merck spent more than $20 billion in the past week to swallow biotechs with approved products or promising drug candidates—representing three of this year’s four biggest takeovers. First, Merck picked up Terns Pharmaceuticals and its mid-stage leukemia drug for $6.7 billion; for the record, BioSpace called this one back in December. Then, on Tuesday, Lilly and Biogen struck, acquiring Centessa Pharmaceuticals and Apellis Pharmaceuticals respectively. Those big-ticket deals aren’t the only recent transactions, however. Others include Novartis’ up to $2 billion pick up of Excellergy and Gilead’s $2.1 billion purchase of Ouro Medicines. Meanwhile, Kevin Tang—the newly minted CEO of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals—again has his sights set on Kezar Life Sciences , which he previously targeted in 2024. This time, biopharma’s “clean-up” man is offering $50 million for the chronic disease–focused biotech. We’ve spent a lot of time this past year writing about challenges facing rare disease drug developers, but this week, we saw some wins as the FDA approved three new therapies. Last week saw nods for Denali Therapeutics’ Avlayah, the first treatment for Hunter syndrome to target the disease’s neurological complications, and Rocket Pharmaceuticals’ Kresladi for leukocyte adhesion deficiency-I. And it’s been a big week for Biogen, which besides moving on Apellis, won approval of a high-dose formulation of spinal muscular atrophy drug Spinraza and scored a Phase 2 win for lupus candidate litifilimab in cutaneous lupus erythematosus. On the weight loss front, Wave Life Sciences ’ stock was cut in half after its obesity candidate WVE-007 failed to impress investors in a Phase 1 trial. And all eyes are trained on the FDA, which is expected to render a verdict on Lilly’s oral obesity drug orforglipron by April 10. And don’t forget to check out—or sign up for —BioPharm Executive, where we take a deep dive into delayed pharmaceutical launches in Europe and how AI is shaping the biotech IPO landscape.

Plus, news about Almirall, Biogen, Aurinia, Day One, Alamar and more: 🏢 Takeda’s workforce cuts: In connection with the company’s extended restructuring that was announced last week, it will cut 634 roles in the US, which includes 247 positions in Massachusetts and 387 more in other states. The move is intended to “further standardize and simplify ways of working” as well as to focus on its late-stage clinical pipeline and prepare for future commercial launches, a Takeda spokesperson said. “As new roles are created, we will prioritize filling them with internal candidates,” the spokesperson said. — Reynald Castaneda 📈 United Therapeutics’ shares pop on IPF data : The company reported that its inhaled drug was successful in a late-stage trial to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, improving patients’ exhale strength. Tyvaso also achieved statistical significance for reducing clinical worsening, United said. Investors appear impressed, with shares of the biotech $UTHR up about 15% before the market opened. — Max Bayer 🇨🇳 Almirall’s monoclonal antibody pact with Chinese biotech: Almirall said Friday it will kick-start an R&D program with Shanghai Huaota Biopharmaceutical for a monoclonal antibody in a variety of conditions, including skin diseases. The deal is worth up to $340 million, which includes upfront and certain milestone payments from Almirall, plus tiered royalties on net sales. Huaota will drive preclinical work on the asset up to clinical proof of concept and it will take development and commercial rights to the candidate in China, while Almirall will do so everywhere else. — Reynald Castaneda 🟢 FDA approves higher dose of Spinraza : The new regimen of Biogen’s spinal muscular atrophy treatment includes two 50 mg doses delivered two weeks apart, followed by a 28 mg dose given every four months thereafter. The new US nod was based on data that showed the higher dose led to statistically significant improvements in motor function in symptomatic, treatment-naïve infants compared to a prespecified, matched control group. — Max Bayer Kevin Tang returns for Kezar: After overhauling Aurinia Pharmaceuticals’ C-suite, Kevin Tang is forging an M&A deal. Tang, who now leads Aurinia , has inked a $6.95 per share $KZR buyout of Kezar, plus one contingent value right. Kezar began hunting for alternatives in October after it was “unable to align” with the FDA on a registrational trial of its autoimmune hepatitis drug candidate. Tang tried acquiring Kezar for $1.10 per share in October 2024 via Concentra Biosciences, a shell company from his investment shop Tang Capital. — Kyle LaHucik Day One’s path to Servier buyout: Prior to its $2.5 billion exit to Servier, the rare oncology drugmaker had received acquisition offers from two other unnamed companies. Companies “A” and “C” submitted offers during the bidding process, Day One revealed in an SEC filing . Servier went from an $18 per share pitch on Feb. 9 to the final, signed deal of $21.50 per share. — Kyle LaHucik Alamar’s IPO pitch: The precision proteomics company filed for an IPO on Friday afternoon. The company generated $74 million in 2025 revenues. Its antibody engineering platform was licensed out to biologics startup Attovia Therapeutics in 2023. Alamar submitted its Nasdaq pitch the same day as obesity drug developer Kailera Therapeutics. — Kyle LaHucik Idorsia shares Phase 2 data in children with insomnia: As it searches for a CEO , the Swiss biotech’s daridorexant significantly improved total sleep time from baseline on day one of treatment. The drug is a dual orexin receptor antagonist. Idorsia said it will discuss next steps for the pediatric daridorexant program with regulators. — Ayisha Sharma Royalty Pharma supports J&J: The large royalty aggregator is pumping $500 million into Johnson & Johnson’s autoimmune drug candidate JNJ-4804 over the course of this year and 2027. Royalty didn’t disclose what kind of returns it could gain from the co-funding agreement. The medicine — a combination of Tremfya and Simponi — is in Phase 2 trials for ulcerative colitis, psoriatic arthritis and Crohn’s disease. — Kyle LaHucik Neumora delays obesity trial: The biotech has pushed back its clinical foray into obesity to the first quarter of 2027. It’s a long setback for NMRA-215 and Neumora’s entry into the hot NLRP3 inhibitor space. The move came after a 13-week rat toxicology study had “unexpected adverse findings” in five of 142 animals. The biotech had planned to send NMRA-215 into the clinic early this year and have Phase 1 data by the end of 2026. Neumora said the findings were not dose-dependent and the company “believes these findings may be related to a study conduct issue.” The biotech will now run a repeat of the study with a different contract research organization. — Kyle LaHucik Three biotechs win funding from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine: CIRM awarded over $111 million in its latest grant announcement . That included grants for $8 million or $15 million to fund clinical studies from Mahzi Therapeutics, Cellio Therapeutics and Immusoft. Mahzi is developing a gene therapy for a rare condition called Pitt-Hopkins syndrome, while Cellio is developing a stem cell-derived therapy to restore vision. Immusoft is developing an engineered B cell therapy for the rare lysosomal storage disorder called MPS I, where it previously shared early but promising clinical data. — Lei Lei Wu