BioCentury

Current Editions

August 11, 2025
Senators are trying to revive the Biosecure Act

Amendment seeks disengagement with Chinese biotechs, attempts to address concerns that killed Biosecure

Politics, Policy & Law

Revamping Acadia

Can the long-time neuropsych company couple its new management with a pivot to rare disease to climb back up the market cap tiers?

Product Development

Despite missing expectations in obesity, Lilly’s oral GLP-1 should have leg-up in market

Orforglipron delivers 11.5% placebo-adjusted weight loss, clean safety profile for first-in-class small molecule GLP-1R agonist

Product Development

Product Development

Pipeline setbacks add to Novo’s challenges

Five discontinuations include two assets tied to recent M&A deals

Emerging Company Profile

Tessellate Bio: Identifying new synthetic lethality pairs

Netherlands-based newco aims to extend the concept beyond patients with homologous recombination deficiency

Guest Commentary

FDA delays mean more deaths: Ultrarare diseases need a fit-for-purpose pathway 

The agency must act with urgency and not be trapped by standards that can only be met in large indications

Data Byte

Sizing up first-in-class dealmaking in Asia

41% of deals analyzed by BioCentury involved a first-in-class asset

FDA approved six NMEs in July

Twice the approvals of any other other month this year, bringing tally to 22

Most FDA decisions still on time

Despite some recent delays, median response time is one day before PDUFA

Discovery & Translation

Science Spotlight: Espervita’s tumor metabolism target

BioCentury’s roundup of translational innovations also includes a new immunotherapy target and a strategy for programmable protein activation

Regulation

Tiny biotech warns patients it is running out of time 

It will take FDA at least 24 months to review a dataset of 12 patients. Stealth doesn’t know if it can stay in business that long

Politics, Policy & Law

U.S. policy favors orphans for cancer, well-defined diseases

Haystack Project calls for Congress to reduce regulatory barriers to developing drugs for very rare, heterogeneous conditions 

Finance

More venture money for PD-1 x VEGF, new modalities: Finance Report

Plus: Public raises for Assembly, Sana and Shattuck

Management Tracks

Pioneering geneticist Altshuler retiring from Vertex

A founding core member of the Broad Institute, David Altshuler will step aside next year

Biopharma Stock Performers

Use BioCentury's interactive dashboard to view top-performing biopharma stocks for the day and the week.

Management Tracks

BioCentury ISSN 1097-7201