Syneos Health inks $7.1B sale

This Week

May 12, 2023

The most influential people in biopharma in 2023 


Next-gen Lilly obesity drug slashes weight in Innovent study—but is it enough to rival Mounjaro? 


All the rumors are true: Syneos Health inks $7.1B acquisition with investment firm trio 


Protalix, Chiesi challenge Sanofi with EU approval for Fabry disease med as FDA decision looms 


'The Top Line': The final installment of a series on Narcan, plus this week's headlines 

 

Featured

The most influential people in biopharma in 2023

The times are changing in biopharma. We hope our selections for this year's Most Influential People in Biopharma special report reflect the trends many of our readers are seeing in the industry.
 

Top Stories

Next-gen Lilly obesity drug slashes weight in Innovent study—but is it enough to rival Mounjaro?

Innovent Biologics has strengthened its pitch for the Chinese obesity market with fresh phase 2 data. The update shows giving mazdutide, a molecule from Eli Lilly’s deep bench of obesity assets, at a higher dose dialed up the placebo-adjusted weight loss to 15.4% after 24 weeks.

All the rumors are true: Syneos Health inks $7.1B acquisition with investment firm trio

All the rumors are true. After months of sale speculation, Syneos Health has officially been snapped up by three private investment firm affiliates for the eye-watering sum of $7.1 billion.

Protalix, Chiesi challenge Sanofi with EU approval for Fabry disease med as FDA decision looms

Ahead of a decision from the FDA on a resubmission, Protalix and Chiesi have scored marketing approval in Europe for their challenger to Sanofi's Fabry disease therapy Fabrazyme.

'The Top Line': The final installment of a series on Narcan, plus this week's headlines

This week on "The Top Line," we're concluding our miniseries on Narcan the nasal spray. It is the first naloxone product to be approved for use without a prescription.

Takeda confirms fallout from gene therapy R&D refocus: up to 186 layoffs

Last month, Fierce Biotech told you about an unknown number of layoffs due to hit Takeda employees as the Japanese pharma moves away from early-stage R&D work in adeno-associated virus-based gene therapies and rare hematology. Now, we’ve got a better sense of the workforce impact.

Eli Lilly damages tripled to $184M in Medicaid rebate fraud case

Instead of Lilly receiving the outcome it wanted, a federal judge in Illinois has tripled the amount Eli Lilly owes in damages in a long-running False Claims Act case.

NGM hunts for light at end of tunnel as midphase NASH trial hits primary goal

If at first you don’t succeed, try again. That’s what NGM Biopharma has done with a previously failed nonalcoholic steatohepatitis candidate, in hopes that it could provide some light at the end of a dark time in the clinic.

Twist Bioscience cuts a quarter of workforce amid record-high revenues

As Twist Bioscience aims to untangle its operations and focus only on its most potentially profitable work, the synthetic DNA maker is cutting down its workforce.

BMS, after last year's West Coast purge, lays off 48 in New Jersey

Starting at the end of May, BMS will roll out job cuts for 48 employees in Princeton, New Jersey, according to a new Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification alert filed with the state. The BMS site in question is a 650,000-square-foot facility that houses employees from the commercial team, plus commercialization and late-stage development partners from the R&D unit.

After production problems, Catalent delays earnings and plans to slash guidance

After an April communique warning of reduced sales and productivity issues at three- plants, Catalent delayed the release of its earnings for the third fiscal quarter. The report was originally scheduled to roll out Tuesday. Catalent said in a release Monday it’s now angling to unveil its quarterly report on May 15.

Pfizer, AstraZeneca run it back in IDEA Pharma's annual innovation rankings

Pfizer and AstraZeneca have retained their crowns as the most transformative companies in the industry, according to IDEA Pharma. On IDEA’s annual Innovation and Invention Index, Pfizer and AZ held the top spots for the second straight year.

SNAPing together a universal receptor system for T-cell therapies

A new universal receptor system designed by a research team from the University of Pittsburgh could make engineering custom T-cell therapies far more efficient.
 
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'The Top Line': The final installment of a series on Narcan

This week on "The Top Line," we're concluding our miniseries on Narcan the nasal spray. It is the first naloxone product to be approved for use without a prescription.

 

Resources

Whitepaper

ChatGPT in Drug Discovery: Rise of Large Language Models

ChatGPT shows promise in drug discovery for information extraction, scientific text authoring, hypothesis prediction, and chemical entity prediction. This whitepaper explores its potential to streamline research, delving into its technology, applications, and limitations.
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Discovering High-Affinity, Functional Anti-GLP-1R Antibodies

Learn how a GPCR-focused library with a cell-based biopanning strategy led to the discovery of 13 high-affinity and selective anti-GLP-1R antibodies with highly developable therapeutic properties.
Whitepaper

Discover a New Way to Measure Potency for Gene Therapy Protein Expression

Discover the new gold standard for gene therapy protein expression potency measurements.
eBook

Decentralized Clinical Trials: The Complete Guide for 2023

Discover a game-changing approach to clinical research with Hybrid and Decentralized Clinical Trials (DCTs). Learn about the benefits, challenges, and key elements for success.
Research

How Lilly’s Legal and Library Services Empower Teams Across the Drug Development Pipeline

What role do the Library and Legal teams play in the drug development pipeline at Lilly? An import one – find out how.
Whitepaper

Medical Affairs Metamorphosis VI: The Changing Face of Stakeholder Engagement

This paper focuses on stakeholder engagement and how Medical Affairs teams’ responsibilities, goals, tools, and techniques are changing.
Research

Maximizing Clinical Trial Success

Strategies for Optimal Site Selection and Feasibility Research in Novel Therapies and Geographies
Whitepaper

eConsent: Flexible Consent Through Enabling Technologies

How can eConsent provide a more flexible approach to informed consent?

Whitepaper

Plan for scalable process liquid and buffer preparation

Preparation of critical process liquids and buffer components shifts resources away from core activities and can be filled with inefficiencies and risks that can increase time and costs across your workflow. Learn about the framework to help reduce your total costs beyond capital and operational expenditures and set a solid foundation for successful scale-up of buffer preparation.
Whitepaper

Clinical Supply Solutions for the Asia-Pacific Region

Learn how Catalent’s extensive network across APAC can meet a wide range of clinical supply needs for sponsors conducting trials within the region.
Whitepaper

Supply Services to Support Clinical Trials in Japan & Beyond

Explore Catalent’s newest clinical supply facility in Japan, including the comprehensive services & solutions it offers to help support trials both in-country & around the world.
 

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