A collaboration between the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO), and NVIDIA will establish a national AI Innovation Centre in Denmark focused on accelerating research and innovation in fields including healthcare, life science, and quantum computing. The initiative is led on the Danish side by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, which…
Iambic Therapeutics and NVIDIA partner to slash cancer drug development timelines
Using generative AI in drug discovery, Iambic Therapeutics (formerly Entos) has advanced its IAM1363 drug candidate from program launch to clinical studies in fewer than 24 months — a process that often takes several years. Iambic Therapeutics’ AI drug development milestone relied on an alliance with NVIDIA researchers and engineers and through the use of…
Q&A: How Insilico Medicine’s AI identified a new IPF drug target in record time
Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), a devastating lung disease affecting millions with increasing incidence, may have a new treatment hope thanks to a novel inhibitor of TNIK, a kinase newly implicated in fibrosis, identified using generative AI drug discovery platforms in just 18 months. Researchers at Insilico Medicine, along with international collaborators, harnessed the power of…
In 2023, Roche and Novartis led the pack in drug pipeline scale
When reviewing R&D spending trends for 2023, Merck & Co. is a clear outlier given its decision to count its $10.3 billion Prometheus acquisition as an R&D charge. In all, the company committed more than half of its revenue to R&D. But Swiss giants Roche and Novartis remain frontrunners in terms of their pipeline of…
FDA fast-tracks psilocybin-based CYB003 for depression
The FDA continues to signal openness to psychedelic-based therapies. Following its recent Breakthrough Therapy Designation (BTD) for a potential LSD-based anxiety treatment, the agency has extended the same status to Cybin Inc.‘s CYB003 for major depressive disorder (MDD). The move marks the first FDA Breakthrough Therapy Designation for an adjunctive, psychedelic-based Major Depressive Disorder treatment.…
Best-selling pharmaceuticals of 2023 reveal a shift in pharma landscape
Note: This feature on the best-selling pharmaceuticals of 2023 was updated on March 13, but some of the details in the table below are subject to change as more companies release annual reports. 2023 may not go down as the brightest year for the pharma sector, but the entry of Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic (semaglutide) into…
Novo Nordisk achieves 74% growth surge, clinching fastest-growing pharma title
No longer just a diabetes company, Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide-based therapies have fueled its rise to pharma powerhouse status. From 2021 to 2023, the company cemented its position as the fastest-growing Big Pharma player, reaching a 35% year-over-year growth rate in 2023 and 74% growth from 2020 to 2023 when measured in U.S. dollars. While Pfizer…
Top pharma companies ranked by 2023 R&D spend
Which major pharmaceutical company leads the way in research and development? Data reveals that the top R&D spender in 2023 was Merck & Co., by a wide margin. While Pfizer had almost as much revenue as Merck ($60.1 billion vs. $58.5 billion), its R&D ratio was on the lower end at 18.29%, or $10.7 billion.…
Why Merck shelled out $30B+ on R&D in 2023
In 2023, Merck & Co. made a considerable investment in research and development, spending more than $30 billion. This figure represents more than double the company’s R&D spending ($13.5 billion) in 2022. The closest competitor in terms of R&D investment was Roche Pharmaceuticals, with a 2023 R&D expenditure of roughly $14.7 billion. This sum is…
Are Big Pharma giants getting the right ROI on their R&D investments? A visual exploration
While annual reports show broadly similar R&D strategies among Merck & Co., Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and AbbVie, their 2020–2023 financial metrics reveal a concerning trend. Merck & Co. may be the new top dog of Big Pharma, but the firm’s 1.4% revenue growth in 2023 represents a significant slowdown. Pfizer’s 41.7% revenue decline from…
Debiopharm’s multilink technology and partnerships drive oncology pipeline strategy
Debiopharm, an independent Swiss biopharmaceutical company based in Lausanne, seeks to carve a niche in the competitive oncology and infectious disease markets. Its business model focuses on in-licensing promising drug candidates from universities and smaller biotechs, aiming to add value through development. (The company is also partnering with AI-focused firms like VeriSIM Life.) Sandra von…
Biotech layoffs in 2024: Identifying common threads among affected companies
Companies across the industry have contributed to biotech layoffs in early 2024, driven by factors ranging from operational restructuring to strategic pivots and clinical trial failures, with major hubs like California and Massachusetts bearing the brunt of the impact. A recent analysis assembled with the help a machine learning technique known as clustering reveals a pattern of job…
Moving the needle on diversity in clinical trials: Where do we go from here?
Enhancing patient diversity in clinical trials has become a key priority in drug development. The main concern is that critical data that includes underrepresented patient populations is being left out as many clinical trials do not reflect all populations that may eventually take a therapy. These underrepresented groups consist of women, including those who are…
GLP-1s, ADCs, AI and the future of pharma
Pharma’s potential breakthroughs in AI, ADCs, and GLP-1 receptor agonists raise a critical question: can innovation outpace the relentless rise of chronic disease? The IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science sheds light on this theme, among many others, in its 80-page Global Trends in R&D 2024 report. Pillar 1: GLP-1 receptor agonists targeting metabolic disease…
From gatekeeper to strategist: The evolution of the CISO role in drug development
There’s an old joke about chief information security officers (CISOs) being gatekeepers of new technologies and initiatives – the infamous “Department of No.” Imagine a bouncer who, strangely, doesn’t let anyone in, saying the club is already too full, even when it’s clearly empty. But that image is outdated — especially in risk-focused industries like…
Gain Therapeutics’ supercomputer-driven therapy offers potential Parkinson’s breakthrough
The Bethesda biotech Gain Therapeutics, armed with supercomputer firepower, aims to disrupt Parkinson’s disease treatment. Their GCase regulator, named GT-02287, completely restored motor function in a recent animal study. GCase, short for glucocerebrosidase, targets both lysosomal and mitochondrial dysfunction. In Parkinson’s, the failure of cellular powerhouses (mitochondria) and recycling centers (lysosomes) disrupts essential functions. This…
Beyond diabetes and obesity: Can GLP-1 therapies also transform chronic disease treatment?
Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists like semaglutide and tirzepatide have cemented their status as two of the most successful drugs in recent memory. Recent projections have estimated that the drug class could fetch $44 billion by 2030 and $71 billion by 2032. But GLP-1 sales could potentially reach greater heights as these therapies move beyond…
Unifying disparate data in clinical trial management with advanced data technology
The increasing complexities in clinical trials, including expanded patient populations, decentralized trials and new technologies, are directly impacting the amount of data and information available to clinical trial sponsors. Though this provides significant value to the industry, it presents a new challenge of consolidating disparate and siloed systems, improving standardization and unifying the explosion of…
Off with the training wheels: AI-based patient characterization can improve clinical trial performance without large data sets
Only 12% of new drug candidates that enter phase 1 clinical development ultimately receive FDA approval. This dismal success rate leaves millions of patients with unmet medical needs and drives up the costs for the small number of drugs that make it to market. More frustratingly, it leaves untold numbers of potentially transformative therapies back-burnered…
BIOiSIM assigns ‘credit scores’ to drug candidates
VeriSIM Life, a San Francisco-based startup, has created BIOiSIM, an AI-powered platform that simulates drug compound behavior in the human body by acting like a virtual laboratory. It assigns each a predictive “credit score” predicting its viability for drug development. “It’s like a FICO score for drug development,” founder and CEO Dr. Jo Varshney said.…
Bridging the gap: How resource sheets translate complex clinical trial data into patient empowerment
As patients take a more active role in managing their health, they can find navigating the complexities of clinical trial results daunting. Having access to clear, accurate information is crucial for informed decision-making. This is where patient-reported data from clinical trials has real value, offering key insights into the real world experiences of participants, both…
GLP-1 drugs could open a new frontier in NASH treatment
This morning, Eli Lilly reported positive phase 2 results for its dual GLP-1 and GIP receptor agonist tirzepatide in patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). In the SYNERGY-NASH trial, the therapy achieved NASH resolution without worsening fibrosis in 61.3% of patients. That is considerably higher than data for semaglutide. Picturing tirzepatide’s NASH resolution in a phase…
After withdrawal, GSK’s Blenrep shows promise in phase 3 DREAMM-7 study
In November 2022, GSK began the process of withdrawing Blenrep’s U.S. marketing authorization after the phase 3 DREAMM-3 trial failed to show an overall survival benefit compared to standard therapy. But GSK has signaled its hope that the B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) antibody-drug conjugate could have a new lease on life with new data from…
Fixed-dose macitentan-tadalafil polypill outperforms monotherapies in PAH
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a relatively rare disorder, affecting roughly 15 to 50 people per million within the U.S. and Europe. Treating it with a single therapy can be challenging, and medication adherence often presents a common hurdle for the condition. Combination therapy has thus become a widely used option in the treatment of…
Fauna Bio CEO on tapping extreme mammals for human disease breakthroughs
Could the genetic secrets of “extreme mammals” help unlock treatments for myriad human diseases? The Emeryville, California–based startup Fauna Bio is betting on that premise. One of the animals the firm is studying include the 13-lined ground squirrel, which can double its body weight in fat accumulation in summer before entering hibernation in an obese…