The US biotech is facing yet another setback on its journey to proof-of-concept for its proprietary gene editing technology as two pharma firms back out of collaborations in the neurological space.

A long-anticipated pruning back of the ev vivo gene therapy pipeline for sickle cell disease has arrived with Novartis, Graphite Bio and Sangamo each dropping projects, but some challengers are looking ahead to a future of in vivo approaches to the condition.

FDA chief scientist encourages Intarcia to request advisory committee review of CDER’s proposal to refuse approval of its drug-device diabetes treatment. CDER again denies Lexicon request for hearing on proposal to deny approval of its SGLT2 inhibitor.

Many of the same factors that held down large M&A transactions in 2021 carried over to 2022, which saw eight buyouts valued at $2bn+, headlined by Amgen’s $27.8bn purchase of Horizon.