Deep Dive
Industry insights from our journalists
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Permission granted by Vertex Pharmaceuticals
A new, non-opioid pain drug is here. Getting it to patients could be agony.
After decades of research, Vertex Pharmaceuticals now has an approved pain medication. Can one of the world’s most powerful biotechs contend with a healthcare system that’s long favored opioids?
Jacob Bell • Jan. 31, 2025 -
Nikida via Getty Images
‘The bar has risen’: China’s biotech gains push US companies to adapt
Pharma dealmaking for drugs invented in China is putting pressure on U.S. biotechs to compete harder, according to investors and executives interviewed by BioPharma Dive.
Ben Fidler • Jan. 16, 2025 -
Pony Wang via Getty Images
Endometriosis drug research, long underfunded, confronts familiar problems in women’s health
Despite the disease’s prevalence, endometriosis remains misunderstood, and research into drugs that might treat it draws scant funding — problems that have deep roots.
Delilah Alvarado • Dec. 9, 2024 -
Adeline Kon/BioPharma Dive/BioPharma Dive
Biotech startups are built on venture capital. Track funding rounds here.
Atalanta is at least the third neuroscience-focused RNA drug developer to raise funds since October, while Helicore is the latest in a series of obesity investments by Versant Ventures.
Gwendolyn Wu, Ben Fidler, Ned Pagliarulo and Julia Himmel • Updated Jan. 28, 2025 -
George Frey/Reuters
A decade of cancer immunotherapy: Keytruda, Opdivo and the drugs that changed oncology
Over the past 10 years, PD1-blocking medicines have transformed cancer care. But the steady expansion of their use has slowed and, despite much trying, pharmaceutical companies have largely failed to top the drugs’ successes.
Jonathan Gardner • Sept. 4, 2024 -
Anna Moneymaker / Staff via Getty Images
FDA’s lab-developed test rule could be first test of agency’s power post-Chevron
The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Chevron doctrine would make it easier to challenge agency regulations, such as the LDT final rule.
Susan Kelly and Elise Reuter • July 11, 2024 -
Kendall Davis/BioPharma Dive
10 clinical trials to watch in the second half of 2024
Study results are expected for two closely watched obesity drugs, while key tests await for a high-priced AbbVie acquisition and one of 2023’s largest IPOs.
BioPharma Dive staff • July 1, 2024 -
Permission granted by Biohaven Ltd.
These microscopic tunnels are a goldmine for new medicines
A growing cohort of biotechs, from Biohaven to Neurocrine to Jazz, hope research on ion channels will bring them new drugs and big business — much like it has done for Vertex.
Jacob Bell • June 27, 2024 -
Adeline Kon / BioPharma Dive/BioPharma Dive
Drug patents protect pharma profits. Track when they’ll expire.
Patents protecting Ibrance and Xtandi, two of the next 15 drugs Medicare selected for price talks, are set to expire by 2027, when any negotiated discount would take effect.
Jonathan Gardner • Updated May 13, 2024 -
SDI Productions via Getty Images
New postpartum depression drugs are here. Diagnosis, treatment hurdles still stand in the way.
The first medicine approved for PPD, Sage’s Zulresso, never gained traction. The company is in the midst of launching its second, but long-standing challenges could slow uptake.
Delilah Alvarado • April 10, 2024 -
Permission granted by Bristol Myers Squibb
Psychiatry drugs finally have pharma’s attention. Can they keep it?
Recent biotech company acquisitions have put emerging schizophrenia treatments in focus. But many development hurdles still stand in the way of new medicines for the brain.
Jacob Bell • April 8, 2024 -
Win McNamee via Getty Images
Women’s health companies, battling under-investment in research, see growing opportunity
While investment remains lower than in other areas of drug R&D, executives and VCs speak of progress for a field that’s been overlooked in the past.
Delilah Alvarado • Jan. 16, 2024 -
Kendall Davis/BioPharma Dive
10 clinical trials to watch in the first half of 2024
A non-addictive pain pill faces its definitive test, while study results in ALS and for a Duchenne gene therapy could have far-reaching implications.
Ben Fidler, Jacob Bell, Ned Pagliarulo, Jonathan Gardner and Delilah Alvarado • Jan. 2, 2024 -
Massachusetts General Hospital
As ALS research booms, one treatment center finds itself in the spotlight
The Healey center is at the front of ALS research and care, earning acclaim from patients, doctors and scientists. Still, the complexities of the disease and of drug development have brought hard-felt losses.
Jacob Bell • Dec. 20, 2023 -
Photo illustration: Shaun Lucas/Industry Dive; CRISPR Therapeutics; Gregor Fischer/DPA/Newscom
‘No tolerance for failure’: An oral history of the first CRISPR medicine
A new sickle cell disease therapy developed by CRISPR Therapeutics and Vertex Pharmaceuticals is now approved in the U.S. and U.K. This is the story of how it came to be.
Ned Pagliarulo and Shaun Lucas • Dec. 10, 2023 -
Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images
Pharma benefited from basing business overseas. An international tax effort could spur a rethink.
U.S. tax law changes six years ago slashed large pharma companies' rates and saved them billions. Now, a push for an international floor could disrupt their R&D accounting.
Jonathan Gardner • Nov. 28, 2023 -
Janice Haney Carr/CDC/Sickle Cell Foundation of Georgia/AP
What if a CRISPR cure isn’t such an easy choice?
Casgevy can mute sickle cell disease’s most damaging symptoms. Yet treatment may not be as simple as its dramatic benefit makes it seem.
Ned Pagliarulo and Shaun Lucas • Nov. 8, 2023 -
Gregor Fischer/DPA/Newscom
A decade later, biotech’s CRISPR revolution is still going strong
Once the specialty of a few select drugmakers, CRISPR gene editing is now an essential technology for a growing group of biotechs, many led by former students of the field's pioneering scientists.
Gwendolyn Wu, Shaun Lucas and Julia Himmel • Oct. 11, 2023 -
Carol Highsmith. (2005). "The Apex Building" [Photo]. Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.
New antitrust merger guidelines could have chilling effect on healthcare deals
Regulators have historically struggled to halt complex and non-traditional tie-ups. That could change with new guidelines, as the Biden administration scrutinizes healthcare M&A, antitrust experts said.
Rebecca Pifer • July 21, 2023 -
Kendall Davis/BioPharma Dive
10 clinical trials to watch in the second half of 2023
A Duchenne gene therapy faces a crucial test, while highly anticipated study results are expected in lung cancer, obesity and heart disease.
BioPharma Dive Staff • June 28, 2023 -
Permission granted by Susan and Chris Finazzo
‘The luckiest of the unlucky’: A Duchenne gene therapy brings hope to families — and tests the FDA
The FDA in June approved a treatment that patient advocates and doctors believe to be a breakthrough for a deadly disease, but hasn’t yet proven that it works.
Ben Fidler and Shaun Lucas • May 7, 2023 -
Sarah Silbiger via Getty Images
FDA decision on preterm birth drug’s withdrawal nears, putting spotlight on patients, agency
A yearslong regulatory battle over the hormonal shot Makena is approaching its end, with consequences for both preterm birth prevention and the agency’s authority to withdraw drugs shown to be ineffective in follow-up testing.
Delilah Alvarado • March 6, 2023 -
Courtesy of AbbVie
Big pharma’s looming threat: a patent cliff of ‘tectonic magnitude’
Many top-selling products will lose patent protection by the end of the decade, putting pressure on companies to replace lost revenue with new medicines.
Jonathan Gardner • Feb. 21, 2023 -
Illustration: Xavier Lalanne-Tauzia for Industry Dive
A new generation of biotech leaders is emerging. Can they change how drug startups are built?
Through social media, virtual meetings and mentorship programs, a community of entrepreneurs is looking for new ways to build drug companies.
Gwendolyn Wu • Feb. 14, 2023 -
Kendall Davis/BioPharma Dive
10 clinical trials to watch in the first half of 2023
Highly anticipated study results are expected in Alzheimer’s, obesity and Huntington’s, while a pair of high-priced acquisitions could be put to the test.
BioPharma Dive staff • Jan. 3, 2023
