24 July 2025 Hospitals are rationing cancer treatments. Pharmacies are scrambling to fill routine antibiotic prescriptions. And across the USA, patients are facing growing delays, substitutions, or outright denials of essential medicines, not because the drugs don’t exist, but because the supply chains behind them have buckled.
The European Commission (EC) has approved a label extension for Evrysdi (risdiplam) to include a new, room-temperature stable tablet for people living with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), Swiss pharma giant Roche revealed today 4 June 2025
The American medicines regulator has committed to reviewing the safety of the abortion pill mifepristone, amid renewed political scrutiny and pressure from conservative lawmakers. 4 June 2025
Sogroya (somapacitan injection) has been recommended by UK health technology assessor the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) as a treatment for people aged 3 to 17 years with pediatric growth hormone deficiency, the UK subsidiary of Denmark’s Novo Nordisk revealed yesterday. 4 June 2025
Sweden’s Karolinska Development today revealed that its portfolio company OssDsign has carried out a directed share issue through an accelerated book-building procedure that brought the company approximately 158 million kronor ($16.5 million). 4 June 2025
US pharma major Eli Lilly has struck a deal worth up to $870 million with Swedish biotech Camurus, securing global rights to apply the latter’s extended-release delivery platform to a set of its own metabolic disease compounds. 4 June 2025
The American medicines regulator has approved Bayer’s Nubeqa (darolutamide) for broader use in patients with metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer (mCSPC), marking a step forward for the drugmakeFood and Drug Administraton,r’s prostate cancer franchise. 4 June 2025
The UK risks losing £11 billion ($14 billion) in pharmaceutical R&D investment by 2033 unless urgent reforms are made to high and unpredictable clawback payments imposed on medicine sales to the National Health Service, according to a new report commissioned by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI). 3 June 2025
Japanese biotech Nxera Pharma has received a $15 million payment from Neurocrine Biosciences after the first patient was dosed in a Phase III study of NBI-1117568, a potential new treatment for schizophrenia. 3 June 2025
Detailed results from the Phase III OASIS-4 study have found that Bayer’s elinzanetant showed a statistically significant reduction in the frequency of moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms (VMS, also known as hot flushes) from baseline to week four and 12 compared to placebo, in women taking endocrine therapy to prevent hormone receptor (HR+) breast cancer. 2 June 2025
Positive results from the SERENA-6 Phase III trial have shown that AstraZeneca’s camizestrant alongside a cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitor (palbociclib, ribociclib or abemaciclib) led to a highly statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival (PFS). 2 June 2025
US biotech Regeneron Pharmaceutical today announced a strategic in-licensing agreement with China’s Hansoh Pharmaceuticals for exclusive clinical development and commercial rights outside of the Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong and Macau for a dual GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist currently in Phase III testing. 2 June 2025
Arcus Biosciences is setting the stage for a high-stakes Phase III showdown in kidney cancer, after early results showed that nearly half of patients treated with its experimental therapy had a confirmed response. 2 June 2025
US drugmaker Protagonist Therapeutics and Japan’s Takeda Pharma announced detailed results from the Phase III, randomized, placebo-controlled VERIFY study evaluating rusfertide in patients with polycythemia vera (PV), which met the primary and all key secondary endpoints. 2 June 2025
Arvinas and Pfizer today announced detailed results from the Phase III VERITAC-2 clinical trial (NCT05654623) evaluating vepdegestrant monotherapy versus fulvestrant in adults with estrogen receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (ER+/HER2-) advanced or metastatic breast cancer (MBC) whose disease progressed following prior treatment with cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitors and endocrine therapy. 2 June 2025
US pharma giant Pfizer on Saturday announced statistically-significant and clinically-meaningful survival results from the Phase III BREAKWATER trial evaluating Braftovi (encorafenib) in combination with cetuximab (marketed as Erbitux) and mFOLFOX6 (fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin) in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) with a BRAF V600E mutation. 2 June 2025
Treating greater numbers of Danish patients with rare diseases requires a more open and shared dialogue about handling uncertainty around the effects of the medicines used. 2 June 2025
Privately-held German drugmaker Grünenthal has acquired commercial rights to erectile dysfunction drug Cialis (tadalafil) in Mexico, Brazil and Colombia from US pharma major Eli Lilly. 2 June 2025
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has notified Bayer that it has extended the review period for the New Drug Application (NDA) for elinzanetant, the first neurokinin 1 and neurokinin 3 receptor antagonist for the treatment of moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms (VMS; also known as hot flashes) due to menopause. 26 July 2025
US pharma major Bristol Myers Squibb revealed it has appointed Dr Cristian Massacesi as executive vice president, chief medical officer and head of development, effective August 1, 2025. 26 July 2025
French diabetes and obesity specialist Adocia was trading 45% higher late Friday following its partner Tonghua Dongbao’s release of positive topline results from the Phase III trial of BioChaperone Lispro (THDB0206 injection), a novel ultra-rapid insulin formulation. 25 July 2025
The European Medicines’ (EMA) human medicines committee (CHMP) has recommended seven novel medicines for approval at its July 2025 meeting. 25 July 2025
Semaglutide, a GLP-1R agonist developed by Denmark’s Novo Nordisk as Ozempic, initially for type 2 diabetes, and marketed under the trade name Wegovy for obesity, is emerging as a promising candidate for neurological conditions. 25 July 2025
The Trump administration has asked the US Supreme Court to allow the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to resume canceling hundreds of research grants supporting work on health equity, racial disparities, and other diversity-related public health initiatives. 25 July 2025
Swiss pharma major Novartis has entered into an exclusive option and license deal with Matchpoint Therapeutics to develop oral covalent inhibitors for inflammatory diseases, the companies said on July 24. The privately held biotech could receive as much as $1 billion in total payments if milestones are met. 25 July 2025
Privately-held Danish dermatology specialist LEO Pharma today revealed that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Anzupgo (delgocitinib) cream (20 mg/g) for the topical treatment of moderate-to-severe chronic hand eczema (CHE) in adults who have had an inadequate response to, or for whom topical corticosteroids are not advisable. 24 July 2025
The number of new pharmaceutical companies being set up in Russia is steadily declining due to sanctions and the ever-growing isolation of the country in the international arena, reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent. 24 July 2025
China remains the most popular country for clinical trials outside North America and Europe in the second quarter (Q2) of 2025, according to a report by the data and analytics company GlobalData. 24 July 2025
Swiss pharma giant Roche this morning released financial results for the first half of 2025, showing that sales grew 7% (+4% in Swiss francs) to 30.9 billion francs ($35.1 billion) due to strong demand for pharmaceutical products. Sales were in line with Visible Alpha consensus of 30.80 billion francs. 24 July 2025
Russian nano giant Rusnano is cutting its pharmaceutical business by beginning a search for buyers for its major pharmaceutical asset – the local drugmaker Novamedica, The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent reports 23 July 2025
Privately-held Spanish CNS specialist Minoryx Therapeutics and Germany’s Neuraxpharm Group today announced that the marketing authorization application (MAA) for Minoryx’ lead candidate Nezglyal (leriglitazone) has been submitted to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for the treatment of pediatric and adult male patients with cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy (cALD). 23 July 2025
Swiss contract development and manufacturing group Lonza posted a 19% rise in revenue at constant currencies to 3.6 billion Swiss francs ($4.5 billion) for the first half of 2025, driven by strong demand across its core CDMO operations. Core earnings per share rose 7% to 7.52 francs ($9.01). 23 July 2025
Neuraxpharm Group, a privately-held German specialty pharma focused on central nervous system (CNS) disorders, today announced the launch of a new affiliate, Neuraxpharm Australia, led by newly appointed head of commercial, Avendran Naidu, as the company continues to expand globally. 22 July 2025
Ireland-based Alkermes has announced positive topline results from the randomized double-blind treatment period of the Vibrance-1 Phase II study evaluating alixorexton in patients with narcolepsy type 1 (NT1). 22 July 2025