Scrip - Pharma News And Expert Analysis For Commercial Decision Makers since 1972

Interviews

Kris Joshi Named Norstella CEO, Prioritizes AI Innovation

 
• By Aakash Babu

Joshi joins the parent company of Citeline, which houses flagship publications Scrip and Pink Sheet, to focus on AI, business harmonization and long-term growth.

Eolo Pharma Advances In Obesity With Thermogenesis Approach

 
• By Aakash Babu

Emerging Company Profile: Early-stage biotech Eolo will seek cash and deals for its novel obesity drug SANA after positive Phase I results for weight loss, lean muscle mass preservation and fat mass reduction.

Beyond AI Hype: Tokyo-1’s Real Answer On How To Innovate Pharma R&D

 
• By Lisa Takagi

Bringing supercomputing power to bear on large-scale calculations for pharma R&D, Tokyo-based Xeureka explains the practical use of AI to empower innovation beyond the hype.

Watch This Space: Miltenyi‘s ‘Brain-To-Vein,’ Point-Of-Care CAR-T Efforts In India

 
• By Anju Ghangurde

From a letter of intent with BIRAC sealed at BIO 2025 to supporting Immuneel’s CAR-T efforts and a study for point-of-care manufactured anti-CD19 CAR-T cell therapy, Miltenyi Biotec is moving on multiple fronts in India. The German group also expects to advance its own CAR-T candidates.

Ireland’s Got Biopharma Talent To Keep Leading The Pack

 
• By Kevin Grogan

The country’s life sciences investment head tells Scrip that it is business as usual for the sector despite the rumblings from across the Atlantic.

Focus On Asia

Lupin’s Cimzia Biosimilar Candidate Reflects Strategy To Separate Wheat From Chaff

 
• By Vibha Ravi

Taiho’s Oral, Mutation-Agnostic DMD Candidate Misses Phase III Endpoint

 
• By Lisa Takagi

Wave of Biopharma Licensing Deals in India: ‘The Model Is Working’

 
• By Anju Ghangurde

Beyond AI Hype: Tokyo-1’s Real Answer On How To Innovate Pharma R&D

 
• By Lisa Takagi

BlissBio Goes Solo On HER2-Targeting ADC After Eisai Exit

 
• By Dexter Jie Yan

Data Analysis

Venture Funding Plummets In Q2 As Mega-Rounds Falter

 
• By Mandy Jackson

Evaluate’s second quarter data show that VC rounds of $100m or more totaled $2.36bn, down from $5.25bn in Q2 of 2024. Overall, the Q2 total dropped year-over-year to $4.92bn from $7.95bn.

Empty Promises: Five Drugs That Fell Short Of Their Sales Forecasts

 
• By Edwin Elmhirst

Many assets underperform their pre-launch sales predictions, which can be disastrous to their developers and marketers. In this article, Scrip highlights several historic examples and the factors that influenced their poorer-than-expected performance.

Snapshot Of India’s Pharma Manufacturing Network Amid ‘Trumponomics’

 
• By Anju Ghangurde

Scrip collates data on the global manufacturing network of leading Indian drug makers, the markets serviced and production hubs for active pharmaceutical ingredients. Will ongoing geopolitical tensions and policy shifts have a bearing on some of these down the line?

Pharma Growth And Biotech Squeeze Will Shape Sector To 2030, Evaluate Forecasts

 
• By Andrew McConaghie

Evaluate’s five-year forecast sees steady growth for big pharma despite recent political turmoil but tougher times ahead for the ‘have nots’ of biotech.

Shigella Vaccine Pipeline And Why It Matters

 
• By Vibha Ravi

A GSK-Bharat Biotech deal on a shigella vaccine candidate has cast a spotlight on the disease, which is the second leading cause of diarrheal deaths in children below five. Scrip looks at data from Pharmaprojects, WHO and other sources to highlight why a vaccine matters and what pharma is doing.

R&D

Ultragenyx and Mereo Still Confident Despite Setrusumab Slip Up

 
• By Kevin Grogan

The osteogenesis imperfecta drug stumbled in a second interim analysis.

Investors Back Nuclidium’s Next-Gen Copper-Based Radiopharmaceuticals

 
• By Andrew McConaghie

The Swiss company believes its platform can make radiopharmaceuticals easier to produce and more accessible to patients.

Lupin’s Cimzia Biosimilar Candidate Reflects Strategy To Separate Wheat From Chaff

 
• By Vibha Ravi

Lupin's choice of a Cimzia biosimilar candidate and partnering with Zentiva reflect a strategy to sort the wheat from the chaff. Of 118 biologics to lose patent protection between 2025 and 2034 as per IQVIA, it’s going for a biosimilar with a single competitor though there could be other spoilers

Taiho’s Oral, Mutation-Agnostic DMD Candidate Misses Phase III Endpoint

 
• By Lisa Takagi

The oral, twice-daily candidate was expected to control decline in motor function in DMD patients regardless of their gene mutations.

Business

AbbVie Licenses IGI’s ISB 2001 In Second Myeloma Trispecific Deal For 2025

 
• By Alaric DeArment

IGI CEO Cyril Konto said in an interview that his company picked AbbVie for its agility, drug development acumen and expertise in areas like intellectual property and legal affairs.

Merck & Co. Remains In The BD Game After Verona Takeout

 
• By Jessica Merrill

CEO Rob Davis said the company is in pursuit of more deals as it looks to close the revenue gap looming from the loss of Keytruda in 2028.

Asia Deal Watch: JXR And Alexion Build Upon Existing Gene Therapy Alliances

 
• By Joseph Haas, Lisa Takagi, Sushmita Panda, and Anju Ghangurde

Plus deals involving TandemAI/Perpetual Medicines, Biocytogen/BeOne, Chugai/Gero, CStone/Istituto Gentili, Alembic/Utility, Brii/Joincare, HanchorBio/Henlius, Rakuten/Cyntec and more.

Investors Back Nuclidium’s Next-Gen Copper-Based Radiopharmaceuticals

 
• By Andrew McConaghie

The Swiss company believes its platform can make radiopharmaceuticals easier to produce and more accessible to patients.

Scrip Originals

Asia Deal Watch: JXR And Alexion Build Upon Existing Gene Therapy Alliances

 
• By Joseph Haas, Lisa Takagi, Sushmita Panda, and Anju Ghangurde

Plus deals involving TandemAI/Perpetual Medicines, Biocytogen/BeOne, Chugai/Gero, CStone/Istituto Gentili, Alembic/Utility, Brii/Joincare, HanchorBio/Henlius, Rakuten/Cyntec and more.

Executives On The Move: New CEOs At Outlook Therapeutics And Peptomyc

Recent moves in the industry include C-suite changes at Essential Pharma, plus Kyverna Therapeutics gets new chief financial officer from Alector.

Finance Watch: Two New Venture Capital Funds Provide $600m For Biopharma

 
• By Mandy Jackson

Private Company Edition: Catalio raised more than $400m for its fourth health care-focused VC fund, while AN Venture Partners raised $200m for Japan and beyond. In VC financings, among a dearth of mega rounds, Neuron23’s $96.5m series D is the largest round in recent weeks.

Merck & Co.’s Verona Acquisition Marks A Return To Respiratory

 
• By Jessica Merrill

With the $10bn acquisition of Verona, Merck gains the marketed COPD drug Ohtuvayre, reentering respiratory, where it was once a leader with Singulair.