As the 2024 U.S. presidential election nears, the choice between Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican nominee former President Donald Trump will shape the future of drug pricing policy.   While both candidates have pledged to reduce drug costs, their approaches are likely to differ significantly.   In this week's episode of "The Top Line," Fierce Pharma's Zoey Becker chats with John Barkett, managing director of BRG’s healthcare transactions and strategy practice...

Explore how Turbine AI is revolutionizing drug development by tackling biases in data for more effective cancer treatments.

EY recently published their 18th annual Pulse of the MedTech Industry report, highlighting how—despite steadily rising profits year-over-year—devicemakers large and small are still being squeezed by the cost of doing business and waning investor enthusiasm.   During AdvaMed’s MedTech Conference this month in Toronto, John Babbitt, partner on the life sciences team at EY, chatted with Fierce Medtech’s Conor Hale about the team's findings and shared what he heard from other executive attendees...

At this year’s Fierce Biotech Summit in Boston, we caught up with leaders in the biotech industry who have been recognized as past Fierce 15 honorees.  These private biotechs have made significant contributions to their field, and their groundbreaking work is shaping the industry's future. Fierce Biotech’s Gabrielle Masson sat down with Liang Schweizer, Ph.D. founder, chairperson and CEO of HiFiBiO Therapeutics; Adam Friedman, M.D., Ph.D., CEO of Scorpion Therapeutics; and Debanjan Ray CEO...

Cryoport Systems unveils its Elite Ultra Cold shipping system, which is designed to address critical needs in gene therapy transportation.

The neuroscience sector has seen a surge in investment over the past year, leading to breakthroughs and high-stakes deals, especially in the closing months of 2023. This momentum shows no signs of slowing, as companies continue to push boundaries in neuroscience and psychiatric disease research. At this year's Fierce Biotech Summit on Oct. 1, pharma staff writer, Fraiser Kansteiner, sat down with a panel of industry leaders to explore the latest trends, groundbreaking discoveries and the...

Since the introduction of the BIOSECURE Act in January, named companies and U.S.-based biopharmas alike have speculated on what the legislation could mean for the life sciences industry.  In this week's episode of "The Top Line," Fierce Pharma staff writer Fraiser Kansteiner sits down with Arnold & Porter’s Life Sciences practice chair Dan Kracov to discuss the broader implications of the bill, and what the likely next steps are for the legislation to become law.  Kracov also breaks...

At the recent World Conference on Lung Cancer and European Society for Medical Oncology annual meetings, two packages of lung cancer data from a partnership between Akeso and Summit Therapeutics and another collaboration between iTeos Therapeutics and GSK showed much promise of disrupting the current standard of care. But they also drew some questions and debate.  In this week's episode of “The Top Line,” Angus Liu from Fierce Pharma and Gabrielle Masson from Fierce Biotech discuss the key...

In this week's episode of "The Top Line," we’re recapping and discussing the major trends from Digitial Pharma East, which took place in Philadelphia last week. The event brought together marketing experts from across the life sciences industry.  Fierce Pharma Marketing's Andrea Park and Ben Adams talk about major trends from the event that came up in conversations, including the complicated current attitudes toward artificial intelligence in this space.  They also highlight some winners of...

In this week's episode of "The Top Line," we will dive into the annual Fierce 50 special report.  We share the stories of a select few 2024 Fierce 50 honorees and interesting highlights from this year's special report.  To learn more about the topics in this episode:  Fierce 50 of 2024  Innovation Honorees Health Equity Honorees Social Impact Honorees Breakthroughs Honorees Patient Advocacy Honorees See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this week's episode of "The Top Line," we’re looking at what goes into manufacturing and supply of flu vaccines.  Fierce Pharma’s Zoey Becker chats with Stefan Merlo, vice president of commercial operations, North America at CSL Seqirus. He discusses the company's differentiated flu vaccine portfolio and how its manufacturing process has evolved over the decades to create and distribute vaccines offering targeted protection each year. To learn more about the topics in this episode:  ...

In this week's episode of "The Top Line," we look at factors driving the continuing decline of flu vaccination rates in the U.S. and beyond.  Fierce Pharma’s Zoey Becker chats with Gregg Sylvester, M.D., Chief Health Officer at CSL Seqirus, to get insight on what we might expect to see from this upcoming flu season. He also explains efforts to increase vaccine uptake through awareness and education campaigns.   To learn more about the topics in this episode:  Flu vaccine makers CSL...

In this episode sponsored by Bio-Rad, Dipika Gurnani of Digital Biology Group outlines the challenges and innovations for quantifying HEK 293 DNA.

For the last 40 years, when federal legislation was ambiguous or left an administrative gap, courts were required to defer to the interpretation of agencies. This stipulation, called the Chevron deference, gave agencies room to advance their regulatory priorities.  The Supreme Court overturned the doctrine in June, bringing significant implications for the healthcare industry and federal regulators like the FDA.  In this week's episode of "The Top Line," Fierce Pharma’s Kevin Dunleavy chats...

The TROP2 antibody-drug conjugate race has heated up among three Big Pharma companies: Gilead Sciences, AstraZeneca and Merck.  Fierce Pharma’s Angus Liu recently took a deep dive into the three TROP2 front-runners. In a feature article, he examined the strengths and potential challenges facing each candidate, as well as the considerations behind their extensive phase 3 programs and their various development strategies. In this week’s episode of “The Top Line,” Fierce executive editor Eric...

In this week's episode of "The Top Line," we’re diving into Fierce Biotech’s annual Fierce 15 special report.  Fierce Biotech's Annalee Armstrong and Gabrielle Masson take you behind the scenes to explore the meticulous selection process and share interesting highlights from this year’s honorees.  To learn more about the topics in this episode:  Introducing Fierce Biotech's 2024 Fierce 15 Fierce Biotech's Gabrielle Masson presents Fierce 15 at NYSE Fierce 15: Where are they now? See...

This week on “The Top Line,” we discuss two studies in HIV research that were presented at the 25th International AIDS Conference in Germany. One of them is the report of a 7th person who has likely been cured of HIV. And there’s something unique about this case that has sparked excitement among scientists. The other one is the report of a long-acting injection that showed 100% efficacy in preventing HIV infection in a phase 3 trial. Some experts have hailed the PrEP candidate as a...

In this week’s episode of "The Top Line," Fierce Biotech’s Annalee Armstrong highlights some of the most promising companies that made our prestigious Fierce 15 list back in 2014.  A decade later, she revisits these trailblazers to see how they’ve navigated the biotech landscape.   To learn more about the topics in this episode:  Fierce Biotech's Fierce 15 of 2014 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Back in February, Novo Holdings laid out a $16.5 billion deal to snap up contract manufacturing giant Catalent. In this week's episode of "The Top Line," we dive into the current state and implications of the proposed buyout.   Fierce Pharma’s Fraiser Kansteiner is joined by former FTC policy director David Balto. They discuss the likelihood of the deal going through, potential regulatory hurdles and what the transaction could mean for the greater CDMO landscape. To learn more about the...

Co-Chair Janeen Skutnik-Wilkinson gives us an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at what’s in store for this essential CGMP event.

Pharmaceutical CEOs often earn pay packages worth tens of millions of dollars for leading the top drugmaking companies in the industry. Every year, some new faces enter the rankings while others leave.  In this week's episode of "The Top Line," Fierce Pharma’s Eric Sagonowsky and Fraiser Kansteiner discuss Fierce’s annual special report, “Big Pharma's 10 highest-paid CEOs.”  Aside from digging into the specific numbers surrounding CEO pay packages, the discussion also touches on...

At Fierce Biotech, we love a big M&A deal, but valuation does not always equal the most exciting.   In this week's episode of "The Top Line," Fierce Biotech’s Annalee Armstrong and James Waldron discuss what they think are the best and smartest acquisitions in recent years.   From obesity to radiopharmaceuticals, they give you the Fierce Biotech team’s thoughts on who got the best deal.  To learn more about the topics in this episode:   Top 10 smartest deals in biopharma  See...

In this week’s episode of “The Top Line,” Fierce Pharma’s Zoey Becker sits down with Bobby Sheng, the CEO of Bora Pharmaceuticals, to discuss the concept of “friend-shoring” in drug manufacturing. "Friend-shoring" involves conducting manufacturing processes in countries considered friendly or allied. Sheng discusses the criteria for deeming a country “friendly” and explores whether this strategy could help address drug supply shortages. To learn more about the topics in this episode: Bora...

Each June, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) hosts a conference that gathers physicians, researchers and the cancer community to share their latest research on treatments, technologies and more.  The Fierce team is always on the ground at the ASCO meeting, and this year, Fierce Biotech’s Gabrielle Masson and Fierce Pharma’s Angus Liu covered the event.  In this week's episode of "The Top Line," they discuss the most talked-about data drops at ASCO and share on-the-ground...