The drug slowed eye lesion growth in people with geographic atrophy, positioning it to become the second treatment for the disease to reach the FDA.

The biotech will expand patient monitoring in response to a previously reported serious adverse reaction that had led the FDA in June to suspend testing.

A handful of startups have formed in recent years with plans to target RNA with small molecules. Many have caught the attention of big drugmakers.

The company will cut 50 full-time positions and halt preclinical work on a pill for symptoms of autism in its second restructuring effort since April.  

One day after the FDA’s authorization, the CDC recommended the companies’ omicron-targeted vaccines for most adults and children over 12 years old.

The ruling makes it more likely Illumina can retain its former subsidiary, which makes cancer diagnostics. The dispute is an important test case for the agency’s plans to more closely scrutinize life sciences mergers. 

Preliminary results from a Phase 1 study show Sangamo’s treatment to be safe and suggest it is working as intended, leading the biotech to move into the trial’s next phase.

The target company, Forma Therapeutics, started as a developer of cancer drugs but has made the most progress in rare blood disorders, attracting Novo’s attention.

Approval of Xenpozyme, a treatment for a form of Niemann-Pick disease, comes with a valuable priority review voucher for Sanofi.

A well-known physician-scientist who joined Novartis from Harvard, Jay Bradner spent over six years steering the company’s research hub. He will be replaced by Merck executive Fiona Marshall.

The blank-check deal gives Ocean another route to public markets after it struggled to price an initial public offering it revealed back in June 2021.

But the company offered no details on the closely watched trial, which is meant to confirm the effectiveness of Lumakras in non-small cell lung cancer.