Why UnitedHealth Group is offering 30,000 voluntary buyouts to its employees
An executive for UnitedHealth Group’s insurance arm told employees that not enough people are leaving the company, leading to plans for voluntary buyouts, Endpoints News has learned. The healthcare...
View ArticleIn single case, spinal muscular atrophy drug given before birth spared baby...
A mother took the spinal muscular atrophy drug Evrysdi before giving birth to a baby with the devastating genetic disease. The baby, who went on to receive gene therapy months before they turned 2, has...
View ArticleHow Keymed steered the China-to-US NewCo model in biotech
Keymed Biosciences is a prime example of a young Chinese biotech churning out pipeline candidates ripe for out-licensing to Western drugmakers. The Chengdu-based company, which already markets its own...
View ArticleFirst meeting of CDC vaccine advisors in the Kennedy era is postponed
A meeting of CDC vaccine advisors has been postponed, according to a senior HHS official. "The ACIP meeting will be postponed to accommodate public comment in advance of the meeting," HHS...
View ArticleRoche unveils plans for its DNA sequencer that's been 18 years in the making
Has drug giant Roche finally cracked DNA sequencing? Roche has recently claimed it can quickly and accurately decode the genome, potentially a major step forward for an industry that’s vital for...
View ArticleDrugmakers tell court to keep hospitals out of their 340B rebate suits
Eli Lilly, Bristol Myers Squibb, Sanofi and Novartis are seeking to block a major hospital trade group from intervening in court cases over their proposed 340B drug rebate models. 340B Health and two...
View ArticleTrump’s HHS defends drug price negotiations in Novartis suit
Lawyers for the government gave the first substantive signal that the Trump administration will continue to defend Medicare drug price negotiations in court. In a Wednesday court brief, attorneys for...
View ArticleKevin Tang's Concentra tries to disrupt proposed Acelyrin-Alumis merger
Concentra Biosciences, the shell company from Tang Capital that tries to buy out struggling biotechs, has found another target, this time trying to throw a wrench in Acelyrin's merger plans with...
View ArticleMerck KGaA tees up changes to leadership team; Ex-CVS Health CEO joins Thermo...
→ Peter Guenter will retire as CEO of Merck KGaA’s healthcare business on June 1, one of several personnel moves that the German pharma announced earlier this week. Global R&D chief ...
View ArticlePfizer ends rollout of Beqvez, putting another dent in hemophilia gene...
Pfizer is ending the development and commercialization of its hemophilia B gene therapy Beqvez, the company confirmed in an emailed statement to Endpoints News. The company cited “limited interest...
View ArticleAchira raises $33M Nvidia-backed seed round, blending AI and physics in biotech
As he was testing new antivirals to halt a future pandemic, John Chodera encountered an unlikely set of new problems that ultimately helped lead to his new job. The computational chemist won
View ArticleFDA says Ozempic, Wegovy shortage is over
The FDA said Friday that the shortage of semaglutide, the main ingredient in Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1 drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, has been resolved after more than two years. The move could ...
View ArticleEli Lilly stockpiles $548M of oral weight loss drug ahead of launch
Eli Lilly has amassed a stockpile of soon-to-be-launched drugs and related materials, primarily its oral GLP-1 candidate orforglipron, worth more than half a billion dollars. Orforglipron will be ready...
View ArticleMore biotechs announce share buybacks; Cosette to buy Mayne Pharma
Plus, news about MeiraGTx, Hookipa and Poolbeg Pharma: A pair of $500M share buybacks: Exelixis and Neurocrine Biosciences each laid out plans to buy back half a ...
View ArticleBluebird bio to sell to investment funds after struggling to make money from...
A pair of investors will acquire bluebird bio in a deal worth only $29 million upfront after the gene therapy maker ran out of time and options. The company has struggled financially even as it ...
View ArticleTeva launches Stelara biosimilar at 85% discount as wider field emerges
Teva and its partner Alvotech on Friday followed Amgen in launching a biosimilar to Johnson & Johnson's blockbuster immunosuppressive biologic Stelara, offering a steep discount. The Stelara...
View ArticleCBER's deputy director departs as staff shakeup continues
Celia Witten, deputy director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, has left the FDA, adding to a wave of departures at the agency and across the federal health infrastructure as...
View ArticleFDA approves first drug to treat ultra-rare lipid storage disease
The FDA on Friday approved Mirum Pharmaceuticals' Ctexli to treat adults with cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis (CTX), a rare, progressive and genetic disease. The approval is based on the...
View ArticleBourla praises Trump as RFK Jr. preps vaccine review; Will CRISPR matter?;...
Good morning, and welcome back to Endpoints Weekly. Some of our biggest news this week came out of DC, where Pfizer CEO and incoming PhRMA chair Albert Bourla spoke in support of the Trump...
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