Sanofi Adds HBV Vaccine, Shingles Candidate via Dynavax Takeout: Deals Report
Sanofi has agreed to acquire two vaccine assets from Dynavax, including an approved hepatitis B vaccine and a late‑stage shingles candidate. The transaction, announced in late December 2025, adds to Sanofi’s existing vaccine portfolio and broadens its reach in both mature and emerging markets. The HBV vaccine provides a ready‑to‑market product, while the shingles candidate is positioned to address an aging population with unmet needs. Financial terms were not disclosed, but analysts anticipate the deal will contribute several billion dollars to Sanofi’s revenue over the next decade.
Right Blood Pressure Drug Can Reduce Healthcare Costs
Researchers analyzed over 340,000 Swedish hypertension patients and found that initiating treatment with angiotensin‑receptor blockers (ARBs) leads to markedly higher long‑term medication persistence. After five years, 80 % of ARB starters remained adherent, versus 65 % for calcium‑channel blockers, the next best...
AI-Driven Breeding Strategy Aims to Boost Orphan Crops for Food Security
A team led by Prof. Xu Cao at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has proposed an AI‑empowered breeding framework, dubbed DSAP, to accelerate the domestication of orphan crops such as fonio, tef, and cowpea. The strategy integrates de novo genome editing,...
BioCentury’s 2025-26 Picks and Predictions. Plus: BioMarin and More Biotech ICYMI — a BioCentury Podcast
BioCentury’s year‑end podcast highlights 2025 as a turning point for biotech, with revived market sentiment, robust M&A activity and a more assertive FDA under new leadership. Analysts spotlight the $4.8 billion acquisition of Amicus Therapeutics by BioMarin as a marquee deal,...
2025 Was an Inflection Point. Will 2026 Show the Impact?
2025 emerged as a turning point for biotech, marked by a surge in follow‑on financings that lifted market sentiment. Mid‑year, capital markets revived, driven by stronger late‑stage pipeline data and the appointment of new leaders at the FDA and NIH....
Bone Disease Readout Sinks Mereo, Ultragenyx Shares: Clinical Roundup
Mereo BioPharma and Ultragenyx reported disappointing readouts from their bone disease programs, triggering sharp declines in both stocks. Mereo’s trial failed to meet its primary endpoint, while Ultragenyx showed only modest efficacy signals. The market reaction erased roughly 15% of...
Full Autonomy Is a ‘No-Go Zone’: Setting Parameters for Agentic AI in Pharma
ArisGlobal senior VP Jason Bryant explains that full autonomy for AI agents is off‑limits in pharmacovigilance, citing ethical and legal concerns. Instead, he advocates bounded autonomy managed by an orchestrator that can hand control to humans when needed. The discussion...
The Natural Human Protein Drug May Halt Neuron Death in Alzheimer's Disease
University of Colorado researchers found that the FDA‑approved drug sargramostim, a synthetic GM‑CSF protein, reduced the blood biomarker UCH‑L1 of neuronal death by 40% in Alzheimer’s patients, bringing levels down to those seen in early life. The study also documented...
Structural Covariance, Regional Topology, and Volumetric Aspects of Amygdala Subnuclei in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Using Ultra-High Field Imaging
Using ultra‑high‑field 7 T MRI, researchers examined amygdala subnuclei volumes, network topology, and structural covariance in 73 PTSD patients, 78 trauma‑exposed controls, and 59 non‑trauma controls. Whole‑amygdala size was unchanged, but the lateral nucleus showed opposite volume shifts: larger left lateral...
Navigating Digitalization, QRM Maturity, and Global Compliance Convergence Into 2026
Henrik Johanning of Epista Life Sciences outlines the European regulatory and manufacturing roadmap for 2026, emphasizing the operationalisation of modern quality risk management (QRM) and the need for tangible upgrades to meet EU GMP Annex 1 requirements. He highlights rising digital...
The Top 10 PharmTech Videos of 2025
The PharmTech roundup reviews the ten most‑watched videos of 2025, revealing a industry pivot toward complex modalities such as AAV‑based gene therapies, high‑concentration biologics, and radiopharmaceuticals. Across the series, manufacturers stress the "CGT 2.0" model—flexible, automated, data‑driven production—to overcome scale‑up bottlenecks....
Researchers Develop Graphene Oxide Hybrid Electrodes for Real-Time Dopamine Monitoring
Researchers at SKKU, HKUST and Jeonbuk University unveiled SIDNEY, a graphene‑oxide‑wrapped hybrid electrode that enables real‑time, label‑free dopamine detection in living neurons and brain organoids. The nanostructured platform combines gold nanopillars with a thin graphene‑oxide coating, achieving a detection limit...
When Biotech Makes Christmas Miracles Happen — Second Edition
The article revisits three recent biotech breakthroughs that felt like miracles: base‑edited CAR‑T cells (BE‑CAR7) delivering remission for relapsed T‑ALL, ex vivo gene‑corrected skin grafts curing severe junctional epidermolysis bullosa, and prenatal enzyme replacement therapy mitigating infantile Pompe disease. Each case...
The Gut Bacteria that Put the Brakes on Weight Gain in Mice
University of Utah researchers identified the gut bacterium Turicibacter as a potent modulator of metabolic health, showing it markedly reduces weight gain, blood sugar, and blood lipids in mice fed a high‑fat diet. The microbe’s effect stems from a suite...
Groundbreaking Discovery Turns Household Plastic Recycling Into Anti-Cancer Medication
University of St Andrews researchers have demonstrated a ruthenium‑catalysed semi‑hydrogenation that depolymerises household PET waste into ethyl‑4‑hydroxymethyl benzoate (EHMB). EHMB is a versatile intermediate for high‑value drugs such as the cancer therapy Imatinib, as well as tranexamic acid and the...
A DIY, Fly-Powered Food Waste Recycling System
University of California‑Riverside researchers have engineered a DIY black‑soldier fly bioreactor that converts on‑site food waste into high‑protein larvae and nutrient‑dense frass. The system uses off‑the‑shelf materials, operates under a single caretaker, and yields roughly one pound of larvae per...
Accelerated Cancer Drug Approvals Deliver Limited Survival Gains at High Cost
A BMJ Medicine study examined Medicare’s use of FDA accelerated‑approval cancer drugs from 2012‑2020. Of the 178,000 beneficiaries treated, only 45% received drugs that later proved to extend survival, adding an estimated 76,000 life‑years. The three most beneficial drugs accounted...
New Microfluidics Technology Enables Highly Uniform DNA Condensate Formation
Researchers at Chuo University introduced a vibration‑induced local vortex (VILV) platform that creates highly uniform DNA condensate droplets using a low‑cost piezoelectric vibrator. The system replaces traditional microfluidic pumps with stable micro‑vortex arrays generated on a simple micropillar device, enabling...
Artificial Metabolism Turns Waste CO₂ Into Useful Chemicals
Northwestern and Stanford researchers have engineered a fully synthetic, cell‑free metabolism called the Reductive Formate Pathway (ReForm) that converts CO₂‑derived formate into acetyl‑CoA and subsequently into malate, a high‑value chemical. The pathway relies on five engineered enzymes arranged in six...
Tiny Viral Switch Offers Hope Against Drug-Resistant Bacteria
Researchers at Hebrew University identified a tiny phage‑encoded RNA, PreS, that reprograms bacterial host cells during infection. PreS binds to the folded region of the bacterial dnaN mRNA, unfolding it and boosting production of the DnaN replication protein. The resulting...
Brinsupri Setback Slices Insmed Market Cap — Clinical Report
Insmed’s experimental therapy Brinsupri failed to meet its primary efficacy endpoint in a Phase 2 trial involving 150 patients with rare lung disease, triggering a sharp market reaction. The company announced the setback on Dec. 19, 2025, and its market...
A Non-Profit Brought an Abandoned Rare Disease Gene Therapy to Market. Can the Model Scale?
A non‑profit, Fondazione Telethon, partnered with a U.S. charity to bring a lentiviral stem‑cell gene therapy for Wiskott‑Aldrich syndrome to market. The FDA approved the product, Waskyra etuvetidigene autotemcel, marking the first time a non‑profit acted as the regulatory applicant. The therapy...
Raising the Sun: Japan Biotech Looks to Level Up
Japan’s biotech industry is entering a growth phase as the government unveils a ¥200 billion fund and regulatory sandbox to speed drug development. Venture capital activity surged 45% year‑over‑year, fueling a wave of startups focused on gene therapy and rare‑disease platforms....
Seeking ‘Continuous’ Run of Deals, BioMarin Adds Fabry, Pompe Drugs via $4.8B Amicus Takeout
BioMarin Pharmaceutical announced a $4.8 billion acquisition of Amicus Therapeutics, a move designed to fuel a continuous stream of strategic deals. The transaction will bring two marketed orphan drugs—one for Fabry disease and another for Pompe disease—into BioMarin’s portfolio, together projected...
Cai Succeeding Zhang as Head of CSPC
Cai has been appointed to replace Zhang as head of China Starch & Pharmaceutical Co. (CSPC), the country’s largest generic drug manufacturer. The transition was announced in December 2025 and is effective immediately. Cai brings a background in AI-driven drug...
U.S. Vaccine Approvals to Undergo Overhaul: What Do the Changes Mean?
The U.S. FDA has disclosed a draft overhaul that would tighten vaccine approval standards, requiring developers to submit expanded safety and efficacy data and potentially subject annual flu shots to large‑scale trials. Simultaneously, the CDC withdrew its universal hepatitis B vaccination...
Johnson & Johnson’s Hematology Portfolio: Breakthroughs to Watch
Johnson & Johnson showcased a robust hematology pipeline at the ASH 2025 meeting, unveiling more than 60 new abstracts. The company highlighted real‑world evidence from thousands of patients, underscoring the efficacy of its CAR‑T, bispecific and gene‑editing therapies. Notably, the...
NU-9 Halts Alzheimer's Disease in Animal Model Before Symptoms Begin
Northwestern researchers report that the small‑molecule NU‑9 eliminates a newly identified toxic amyloid‑beta oligomer subtype in a pre‑symptomatic mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. Daily oral administration for 60 days dramatically reduced reactive astrogliosis, neuroinflammation, and associated TDP‑43 pathology across multiple...
Using AI In Patent Practice: Practical and Ethical Issues
At the BIO International Convention’s IP Counsels Committee panel, experts outlined how AI is reshaping patent practice. They classified tools into traditional, generative, and patent‑specific solutions, stressing secure enterprise versions for confidential data. Ethical pitfalls—including AI hallucinations and potential public...
Stelios Papadopoulos Brings the Long View on Biotech on The BioCentury Show
Stelios Papadopoulos, former Biogen chair and current Exelixis leader, warned that biotech faces heightened pricing pressure and rising competition from China despite a surge of over $3 billion in capital in a single day. He argued that the sector can no...
How Alphamab Is Differentiating in Crowded Cancer Targets
Alphamab is launching a next‑generation bispecific antibody‑drug conjugate (ADC) platform that simultaneously engages two tumor antigens while employing a lower drug‑to‑antibody ratio (DAR). The company argues that this design improves the therapeutic index by delivering potent payloads more selectively and...
Third Rock Backs Steve Paul’s Latest Schizophrenia Spinout in $165M Round: Venture Report
Third Rock Ventures led a $165 million financing round for Steve Paul’s newest schizophrenia‑focused biotech, marking a significant venture capital commitment to neuropsychiatric innovation. Paul, a serial biotech founder, will use the capital to move novel mechanisms from discovery into early...
Early Signals Stack Up: Two Small Molecules Activate GCase in Parkinson’s
Gain Therapeutics reported Phase Ib data showing that its small‑molecule program reduces glucosylceramide substrate in the central nervous system, confirming target engagement of glucocerebrosidase (GCase). In parallel, Vanqua Bio presented early evidence that its distinct compound activates peripheral GCase while...
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells: From Dish to Freezer and Back
Kobe University researchers have devised a cryopreservation protocol that freezes induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) directly in their 2‑dimensional culture dishes. The method uses the inexpensive amino acid D‑proline combined with a synthetic polymer and a brief enzymatic step to...
Spray-On Antibacterial Coating Offers New Protection for Plants Against Disease and Drought
UC San Diego engineers have created a water‑based spray polymer coating that shields plant leaves from bacterial infection and improves drought tolerance. The polynorbornene polymer carries positive charges that disrupt bacterial membranes while remaining gas‑permeable for normal leaf respiration. Laboratory...
Researchers Co-Develop New Deep Learning Platform to Advance Precision Medicine
Researchers from Marshall University and the University of Missouri unveiled G2PDeep, a web‑based deep‑learning platform that fuses six major omics data streams to predict complex health outcomes. The peer‑reviewed study in *Biomolecules* demonstrates the tool’s ability to identify molecular markers,...
The Antibiotic Delafloxacin Emerges as a Potential Therapeutic Alternative Against Legionella
Researchers at the IGTP demonstrated that delafloxacin inhibits intracellular Legionella replication more effectively than levofloxacin in a macrophage model. The fluoroquinolone achieved bacterial killing at concentrations five to ten times lower than the current standard, except for L. longbeachae where...
New Role for Tam Man Hong at Xtalpi
Xtalpi announced that veteran biotech executive Tam Man Hong will assume the role of President, Business Development, effective immediately. The appointment comes as the company finalizes a $150 million Series B financing round to expand its AI‑driven protein therapeutics platform. Hong, who...
Science Spotlight: Dialing in Pathway Balance in Friedreich Ataxia
Two independent research groups have pinpointed reduced expression of the mitochondrial protein FDX2 as a novel therapeutic axis for Friedreich ataxia, publishing their findings in Nature. The studies argue that frataxin (FXN) and FDX2 function as a stoichiometric pair, and...
Addition Therapeutics: One Genomic Safe Site, Many DNA Insertions
Addition Therapeutics, a newly launched biotech, is deploying engineered retrotransposons to insert therapeutic payloads into a single ribosomal DNA (rDNA) locus, a recognized genomic safe harbor. By concentrating multiple genes at this highly transcribed, repetitive site, the platform promises stable...
Eight of the Biggest Immunology and Inflammation (I&I) Deals in 2025
In 2025 the immunology and inflammation sector saw eight blockbuster partnerships, each worth between $1.7 billion and $4 billion. Deals ranged from AstraZeneca’s $175 million upfront, $4.4 billion‑potential collaboration with Harbour BioMed to Vor Bio’s surprising $4 billion licensing of telitacicept despite a massive wind‑down....
Accelerating Drug Combination Discovery with Machine Learning
St. Jude researchers unveiled Combocat, an open‑source platform that merges acoustic liquid handling with machine‑learning models to screen drug combinations at unprecedented scale. The system tested 9,045 drug pairs on a neuroblastoma cell line, identifying multiple synergistic hits that were...
BIO IP Conference Looks at Academics and Perceptions of IP
The BIO IP Counsel Committee Conference addressed growing skepticism toward patents in biopharma, amplified by pandemic‑era messaging that frames IP as a barrier to care. Panelists argued that patents remain vital incentives for costly research and development, despite public concerns...
Patient Advocates Urge Action on PPRV to Help Fight Rare Disease
Patient advocates at BIO’s December Coffee Chat urged Congress to reauthorize the Pediatric Priority Review Voucher (PPRV) program before year‑end. The voucher scheme, which expired in 2024, has awarded 63 vouchers for 47 rare pediatric diseases, turning four treated conditions...
RTW Leans Into NewCo Model with GenSci Deal for Ocular Autoimmune Therapy: Deals Report
RTW Therapeutics announced a strategic partnership with GenSci to form a new joint‑venture focused on developing an ocular autoimmune therapy. The collaboration adopts a NewCo model, with both parties contributing capital and expertise to accelerate drug discovery for non‑infectious uveitis....
The Evolving BTK Story in Multiple Sclerosis: Clinical Report
Sanofi’s Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor failed to meet its primary endpoint in a pivotal trial for primary progressive multiple sclerosis, while the company awaits an FDA decision on a secondary progressive indication. Roche, meanwhile, reported encouraging efficacy and safety...
Measuring Drug Target Success
The episode explores how drug targets are identified and validated, highlighting genetic, animal, and in‑vitro evidence as key sources. It discusses the limited predictive power of pre‑clinical data, noting that genetically validated targets double the odds of clinical success while...
$12B-Plus in New Life Sciences Funds This Year
Venture capital activity in life sciences has surged in 2025, with at least 27 firms announcing new funds. Collectively, these vehicles have attracted more than $12 billion in capital, marking a record inflow for the sector. Notably, four of the funds...
Who Invented What? BIO IP Panel Tackles Joint Inventorship
The BIO IP panel highlighted that joint inventorship is now the norm in biotech, replacing the lone‑inventor myth. It outlined the legal elements—conception, collaboration, corroboration—and illustrated them with real and hypothetical cases, including AI‑driven research. Panelists warned that mis‑attributing inventors...
VIDO – Five Ways Our Research Strengthened Animal Health in 2025
In 2025 the University of Saskatchewan’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) tackled five critical animal‑health challenges, from a first‑record H5N1 outbreak in dairy cattle to a world‑first chlamydia vaccine for endangered koalas. Researchers demonstrated natural immunity in infected cows,...