Vote for your favorite drug ads in #FierceMadness 2025

Today’s Big News

Mar 19, 2025

Director of NIH's National Human Genome Research Institute departs: Stat


Amid Trump's push to abolish DEI, Roche and Novartis adjust hiring initiatives: reports 


#FierceMadness returns: Get your picks in for the first round of the 2025 Drug Ad Tournament


UK cell therapy biotech lays off 25% of staff, turns to tool development over therapeutics


Immunovant won't seek approval for autoimmune drug despite phase 3 win


Synchron and Nvidia set sights on AI model trained by direct brain activity


Novartis details intrathecal Zolgensma data in bid to reach more SMA patients with gene therapy

 

Featured

Director of NIH's National Human Genome Research Institute departs: Stat

After serving as the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute for more than 15 years, Eric Green, M.D., Ph.D., has suddenly departed.
 

Top Stories

Amid Trump's push to abolish DEI, Roche and Novartis adjust hiring initiatives: reports

Two months after U.S. President Donald Trump proclaimed DEI programs “illegal and immoral,” Roche has reportedly scrapped its high-profile five-year plan to increase the diversity of its leadership. Meanwhile, fellow Swiss company Novartis will no longer use diverse panels in its hiring process for U.S.-based employees, according to Reuters.

#FierceMadness returns: Get your picks in for the first round of the 2025 Drug Ad Tournament

As the college basketball March Madness tournament tips off this week, so too does Fierce Pharma Marketing’s annual #FierceMadness competition.

UK cell therapy biotech lays off 25% of staff, turns to tool development over therapeutics

Cell therapy biotech bit.bio is slimming its workforce down by 25% as the company pivots to focus on biomedical tools instead of drug development.

Immunovant won't seek approval for autoimmune drug despite phase 3 win

A phase 3 trial of Immunovant’s FcRn inhibitor batoclimab has hit its primary endpoint. But, having made a second-generation molecule its lead candidate last year, the biotech isn’t currently planning to file for batoclimab approval in myasthenia gravis or chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy.

Synchron and Nvidia set sights on AI model trained by direct brain activity

The brain-computer interface developer Synchron has laid out plans to build an AI model trained on the language of cognition.

Novartis details intrathecal Zolgensma data in bid to reach more SMA patients with gene therapy

A pair of clinical data sets gives Novartis confidence in a new formulation of the company’s gene therapy Zolgensma for the treatment of older patients with spinal muscular atrophy.

Roche continues ADC dealmaking spree with $1B biobucks pact with Oxford BioTherapeutics

Roche has secured its third antibody-drug conjugate deal of the year, this time agreeing to hand $36 million in upfront payments to Oxford BioTherapeutics.

Dexcom survey shows healthcare providers opt for CGM tech over new medications in Type 2 diabetes

Dexcom found that just over half of healthcare providers ranked technology and education as having larger impacts when it comes to treating people with Type 2 diabetes, placing them ahead of new medications.

Pfizer pockets roughly £2.5B as it shaves off final stake in consumer health spinoff Haleon

After charting similar moves throughout 2024, Pfizer this week completed a sale of its remaining shares in Haleon, taking home around 2.5 billion pounds sterling ($3.2 billion) for its stake in the standalone consumer health giant. GSK, which owned a 13% stake in Haleon after the unit's 2022 demerger, sold the remainder of its position in the company last May.

Cargo jettisons remaining assets and 90% of workforce as it looks for reverse merger

Just a few months after dumping its lead asset and cutting its workforce in half, Cargo Therapeutics is jettisoning even more of its load. The CAR-T firm is dropping its B-cell disease prospect CRG-023 and suspending development of its allogeneic platform, along with cutting about 90% of its workforce.

Aadi Bioscience takes flight with new moniker: Whitehawk Therapeutics

Fresh off a pivot from commercial pharma business to preclinical biotech, Aadi Bioscience has rebranded to better match its strategic reboot.

WuXi AppTec offers rosy 2025 guidance despite threat of US-China trade tensions

With the fate of the BIOSECURE Act currently in limbo, WuXi AppTec is looking on the brighter side for 2025. Still, geopolitical uncertainties under the second Trump administration loom large over the Chinese contract research and manufacturing giant’s future.

Newfound bacterial compound kills fungi that are resistant to multiple antifungals

As fungi resistant to traditional treatments continue to spread around the globe, researchers from China Pharmaceutical University in Nanjing have identified a bacterial compound that can kill infectious fungi even if they’re resistant to other antifungals.

Purdue Pharma files new $7.4B bankruptcy reorganization plan to settle opioid claims

After a federal guilty plea in 2020, the former OxyContin drugmaker is required to reemerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a public benefit company.

‘Pick Up Your Poop’: A potty-mouthed dog flips the script in Exact-backed cancer screening PSA

The campaign asks why people readily pick up their dogs’ poop while putting off handling their own stools to get tested for colorectal cancer.

HHS may cut HIV prevention efforts at the CDC. Advocates fear changes will spike infections

Top officials first aimed to slash everything within 48 hours. It has since backtracked and says the HIV Prevention program may be reorganized into HRSA, or less drastically cut.
 
Fierce podcasts

Don’t miss an episode

'The Top Line': Breaking down pharma’s fourth-quarter sales boom

This week on "The Top Line," we dissect the unprecedented revenue growth enjoyed by many major pharma companies in 2024’s fourth quarter.

 

Resources

Whitepaper

The Oncology Market: 2025 Outlook

Read about four trends that will shape the innovations, therapies, & market landscape in oncology during 2025 & beyond.
Whitepaper

Redefining vaccine trial recruitment

Discover how to revolutionize your vaccine trials with Avacare's latest white paper. Gain exclusive access to innovative, data-driven recruitment strategies that ensure diverse, efficient, and high-quality vaccine trials.
Whitepaper

Solutions for CAR-Engineered Cell Characterization

Develop your CAR molecule faster
 

Upcoming Fierce Events

3-10
Mar-Apr
Submissions Open March 3
3-10
Mar-Apr
Submissions Open March 3
29-1
Apr-May
San Diego, CA
7-9
May
Free Virtual Event
14
May
Free Virtual Event

View all events