Swiss pharma giants Novartis and Roche consistently rank among the top pharma companies in terms of revenue. In 2024, the two companies are also leading in total international patent volume. Meanwhile, smaller firms like Incyte and Vertex Pharma are punching above their weight in market impact. For instance, Incyte, with a market cap of just…
Preparing for the golden age of small molecule oncology drugs
Small-molecule drugs have been a mainstay of medicine for over a century, including many of the most impactful pharmaceuticals in human history, such as aspirin and penicillin. Recently, though, biologics—or large-molecule drugs—have become more popular. In fact, in 2016, eight out of 10 of the best-selling drugs globally were biologics. However, small-molecule drugs are experiencing…
Caribou Biosciences’ CEO discusses CRISPR progress, future goals, and gender equality in biotech
Founded in 2011, Caribou Biosciences is a pioneer in the development of CRISPR genome editing technologies, a field honored with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020. Co-founded by Jennifer Doudna, Ph.D., one of the Nobel laureates, and CEO Rachel Haurwitz, and two other CRISPR pioneers, the company has raised over $800 million in funding,…
Using AI to unlock new uses for existing cancer medicines
Repurposing is a drug development strategy that has been widely applied in cancer. This strategy, sometimes called label expansion, involves obtaining FDA approval to market a drug for the treatment of new indications, alone or in combination with other drugs. Not only can this approach extend the window of patent protection for a commercialized drug,…
50 of the best-funded biotechs of 2023
As the year draws to a close, it is clear that molecular science and diagnostics is the hottest funding area in the biotech industry. In an analysis of 50 of the best-funded biotechs of 2023 focused on human health, molecular and science and diagnostics startups collectively attracting roughly $945 million, dwarfing the figures in other…
Insilico Medicine taps AI to nominate small molecule inhibitor ISM9274 as a preclinical cancer therapy
Clinical-stage AI company Insilico Medicine has nominated a novel small molecule inhibitor known as ISM9274 as a preclinical candidate for cancer treatment. The company used its PandaOmics AI platform to analyze genomic data from more than 90 tumor types and identified CDK12 as a promising target for multiple cancers including triple-negative breast cancer, lung cancer,…
AbbVie and Janssen receive positive CHMP opinions for novel cancer therapies
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) could soon change the face of cancer treatment with its potential approval of two novel bispecific antibodies, epcoritamab and talquetamab. The EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has recommended granting conditional marketing authorization for two novel cancer therapies — AbbVie’s epcoritamab and Janssen’s talquetamab. Epcoritamab for relapsed/refractory…
AdAPT-001 oncolytic adenovirus shows promising phase 1 cancer treatment results
Oncolytic adenoviruses have won significant attention in recent years as a novel approach to cancer treatment. One example of the trend is AdAPT-001 TGF-ß Trap, an engineered variant of the common cold virus equipped with a transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) “trap.” This mechanism is designed to latch onto and neutralize TGF-β, an immunosuppressive cytokine involved…