Verona Pharma’s Phase III ensifentrine, if approved, would be the first new dual-mechanism treatment class for COPD patients in decades. It could propel the UK-based biotech toward profitability, or into the arms of a larger partner.

Germany is drastically squeezing orphan drug pricing while new US laws protect rare diseases drugs from price negotiations. These contrasting moves fuel the longstanding debate over whether orphans still deserve special incentives.

Deals show large investors’ appetite for early-stage biotech, but can VC and PE rub along?

Over 100 biopharma companies piled onto public markets in 2021, raising a combined $21bn. A sharp cool off has left many trading well below their listing price. What does it mean for biotech financing in 2022?

When Novo Nordisk’s anti-obesity medicine Wegovy launched in June 2021, patients and physicians could not get enough. As COVID-19 underscored the risks of obesity, along came the most effective drug yet – on a par with surgery, in terms of weight loss achieved. Pharma’s interest in this disease has reawakened, and Wegovy may be just the first of a new generation of more powerful anti-obesity medicines.

The pandemic has brightened pharma’s image, but drug pricing is still high on the political agenda. For US and European politicians, the health crisis has heightened the tension between supporting innovation and controlling rising costs.