The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is taking action to improve the nation’s ability to conduct clinical trials safely, quickly, and equitably and to improve clinical trial access for people in communities across the country as the first initiative within the recently […]

A group of international scientists have mapped the genetic, cellular, and structural makeup of the human brain and the nonhuman primate brain. This understanding of brain structure allows for a deeper knowledge of the cellular basis of brain function and dysfunction, helping pave the way for a new generation of precision therapeutics for people with […]

Three Vertex researchers have been awarded the 2024 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences “for developing life-transforming drug combinations that repair the defective chloride channel protein in patients with cystic fibrosis.” The award celebrates the work of Paul Negulescu, Ph.D., Fredrick Van Goor, Ph.D., and Sabine Hadida, Ph.D., who have worked together to lead cystic fibrosis […]

Sanofi and Teva Pharmaceuticals have entered into a collaboration to co-develop and co-commercialize TEV’574, currently in Phase 2b clinical trials for the treatment of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, two types of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) characterized by chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. An estimated 10 million people worldwide live with IBD. According to […]

RNAi therapeutics company Alnylam Pharmaceuticals welcomed the positive outcome of the FDA advisory committee meeting. On Wednesday the Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee (CRDAC) voted 9:3 that the benefits of RNAi therapeutic patisiran outweigh its risks for the treatment of the cardiomyopathy of ATTR amyloidosis. The CRDAC provides the FDA with independent, expert advice and recommendations […]

Biopharma BioLineRx, headquartered in Israel with a Waltham presence, has announced FDA approval for Aphexda, the company’s first approved therapeutic. The drug helps physicians harvest stem cells for the treatment of multiple myeloma, the second most-common hematologic malignancy. Autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) is part of the standard of care treatment for multiple myeloma and […]

Moderna has announced it will partner with German biotech Immatics in a strategic research and development collaboration to pioneer novel and transformative therapies for cancer patients with high unmet medical need. This broad multi-platform collaboration will leverage the deep scientific expertise and core operational capabilities of both companies, combining Immatics’ TCR platform with Moderna’s cutting-edge […]

MassBio’s newly released 2023 Industry Snapshot shows significant job growth across the life sciences industry with Massachusetts outpacing nearly all competitor states for both research and development and biomanufacturing jobs added. At the close of 2022, Massachusetts employed nearly 114,000 people in the biopharma industry. “Even amidst challenging times for biotech companies, we still saw […]

Ginkgo Bioworks and Google Cloud have inked a five-year strategic cloud and AI partnership, intended to enable Ginkgo to develop and deploy AI tools for biology and biosecurity. Under the strategic partnership, Ginkgo will work to develop new, state-of-the-art large language models (LLMs) running on Google Cloud’s Vertex AI platform across genomics, protein function, and synthetic biology, helping […]

Sage Therapeutics plans to reorganize its business operations and pipeline priorities to support goals for long-term business growth, including the planned commercial launch of Zurzuvae for women with postpartum depression in late 2023. Following a strategic review, the company will refine pipeline development efforts with the goal of making evidence-driven investments; implement a 40% workforce […]