Endpoints News

Editas Medicine will eliminate about 180 roles, 65% of its staff, after failing to find a commercial partner for its experimental sickle cell therapy, and will halt development of the treatment. 

Dietmar Berger is set to replace Merdad Parsey as Gilead's new Chief Medical Officer. A hematologist and oncologist by training, Berger has helped bring several new cancer drugs to market, as well as medicines for infectious, immunological and inflammatory diseases. https://lnkd.in/exqSfhka

The FDA has flagged concerns based on severe cases of RSV seen in vaccinated children in Moderna’s Phase 1 study of two experimental vaccines. It is a stark reminder of clinical studies in the 60s, when two toddlers died in a clinical trial, stalling pediatric RSV work for decades. https://lnkd.in/eyGg2icH

Join us at #JPM25 for a conversation with former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb. Investor, policy expert, and former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb will share his insights on how the Trump administration's new priorities will affect the biopharma industry. Reserve your spot today or register for our free livestream.  https://lnkd.in/ezzWPnFp #biopharma #healthcare #policy #JPMorganChase #JPMorganHealthcareConference

Former shareholders of Padlock Therapeutics, an autoimmune biotech that Bristol Myers Squibb bought for up to $600M in 2016, are suing the large pharma over disputes about a milestone payment and claims of maneuvers to discredit the biotech’s work. “The larger issue here is that the success of our whole industry is built on deals like this,” Michael Gilman, the founder of Padlock (currently CEO of Arrakis), said in an emailed statement to Endpoints News. He said he's "thrilled BMS is taking one of the Padlock antibodies into the clinic," and the work his team did at the startup is still "the most important piece of biology I've worked on in my career." But BMS disagrees over a milestone payment that former Padlock shareholders believe they're owed. A spokesperson for the pharma giant told Endpoints it "has always complied with its obligations in connection with its acquisition of Padlock" and "will respond to these allegations in court.” BMS is also being sued by former shareholders of another biotech it bought, Celgene, over claims of delayed approval filings to avoid having to make payments. #padlocktherapeutics #padlock #bristolmyerssquibb #bms #pharmalawsuit #autoimmunediseases

For the last week, since the killing of UnitedHealth Group executive Brian Thompson, I've been thinking about violence in our public discourse and how we react to it. More than a decade ago, I covered the shooting of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, and there are pieces of that story, and how we experience it (and what that says about us) that still haunt me. I wrote for Endpoints News about some of that in the context of last week, and I hope you'll read it. https://lnkd.in/eEpDQfyV

In its three-year history, Isomorphic Labs has become one of the most discussed and debated names from Kendall Square to Sand Hill. The startup is led by Demis Hassabis, the recent Nobel Prize winner who also leads all of Alphabet's AI efforts as CEO of Google DeepMind. Part of the intrigue stems from Isomorphic's secrecy — until now. I got an exclusive first look inside Isomorphic's London headquarters, sitting down with their leadership team and scientists. From not building a laboratory to showcasing a demo of its molecule-designing software, you can see Hassabis starting to build out his vision of the AI future for biotech. One hint in the piece below: it goes far beyond AlphaFold, the AI model that earned this year's Nobel Prize. My latest feature on the AI bio space for Endpoints News:

Keros Therapeutics said Thursday morning it has voluntarily halted two of three dosing arms of its experimental drug in a Phase 2 trial due to a safety concern.

Want to know what biotech and pharma CEOs think about Trump 2.0? We surveyed dozens of them on the FDA, China, the new administration and more.

Shelby Livingston totally called it this summer. When talking about the cold war between GLP-1 drugmakers and the many companies selling copycat versions, she predicted one of the routes drugmakers might take is by working with some of the DTC leaders out there. Flash forward to Wednesday, when Ro and Lilly announced an agreement that gives Ro patients access to Lilly's discounted, cash-pay Zepbound vials. Read more of her thoughts on the news in today's Endpoints News Health Tech newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eaSjhmW5