Fierce Biotech

‘We’re not afraid of competition’: BioCryst CEO sets out strategy after scrapping internal discovery

BioCryst CEO Charlie Gayer told Fierce the company is “not getting away from science and R&D” despite shutting down its ...
FierceBiotech

Skye and Redx form new entity with $125M to advance fibrosis assets

After its last attempt at a merger failed in 2023, Redx Pharma seems to have found a willing partner in Skye Bioscience, which experienced a couple of trial failures in recent years. The public ...
FierceBiotech

Cullinan tees up J&J fight—and $100M payday—as Taiho-partnered drug hits phase 3 cancer goal

Taiho Pharmaceutical and Cullinan Therapeutics have scored a second phase 3 victory for their small molecule EGFR inhibitor, teeing the partners up to challenge Johnson & Johnson for a lung cancer ...
FierceBiotech

MapLight dims preclinical programs to make phase 3-ready schizophrenia drug shine brighter

Despite mixed results for its experimental schizophrenia treatment last month, MapLight Therapeutics is going all-in on the asset—at the expense of its preclinical programs. In its second-quarter ...
FierceBiotech

PTC’s $211M bid wins Sangamo auction, teeing up ‘special opportunity’ to enter Fabry market

PTC Therapeutics has struck a deal to buy Sangamo Therapeutics’ Fabry disease program for $111 million upfront, outbidding Astellas and TerSera Therapeutics for the near-approval gene therapy. Sangamo ...
FierceBiotech

Zealand sells its rights to Takeda’s blood cancer drug for $100M ahead of FDA approval decision

As the FDA mulls whether to approve Takeda and Protagonist Therapeutics’ rusfertide, Zealand Pharma has sold its own rights to the blood cancer drug in return for $100 million. Takeda and Protagonist ...
FierceBiotech

Pfizer’s former chemistry whiz debuts Khartis Therapeutics with $95M for thyroid eye disease pill

Three years after Robert Hoffman sold XinThera to Gilead, the veteran Pfizer chemist has unveiled his latest venture. Hoffman co-founded Khartis Therapeutics in 2024 with other former leaders of ...
FierceBiotech

aTyr lays off 60% of workforce to fund 2nd attempt at phase 3 success for lung disease drug

Sixty per cent of aTyr Pharma’s workforce are heading for the exits as the biotech conserves resources for a second shot at phase 3 success in a type of lung disease. Last year, aTyr revealed that its ...
Fierce Biotech

‘It’s making a difference’: Madrigal CEO talks strategy behind MASH shopping spree

“The question early on was what mechanisms we wanted,” Madrigal CEO Bill Sibold told Fierce in an interview at the company’s ...
Fierce Biotech

Sionna’s cystic fibrosis flop sends stock down 90%, but a ‘significant positive’ for Vertex

Sionna Therapeutics has axed a cystic fibrosis add-on program after flunking a phase 2 trial, eliminating a would-be challenger to Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ empire. The biotech plans to “take actions to ...
Fierce Biotech

Jazz pays $820M to buy Actio, adding clinical-stage asset to orchestra of epilepsy therapies

Jazz Pharmaceuticals is adding to its orchestra of epilepsy treatments with the acquisition of Actio Biosciences for $820 million upfront. | Jazz Pharmaceuticals is adding to its orchestra of epilepsy ...