More than 100 biopharma executives and experts told Scrip their predictions for therapeutic area advances in the coming year. The recent commercial success of GLP-1s in diabetes and obesity and their potential in further disease areas fuelled excitement around the metabolic space. Expectations were also positive in neurology following the launch of Leqembi for Alzheimer’s disease in 2023, while the multiple opportunities to improve cancer treatment kept oncology top of the pile overall.

Cidara gets $30m up front for US rights to the weekly echinocandin candidate for candidemia and invasive candidiasis. Takeda walks away from oncolytic virus candidate licensed from Turnstone.

A US decision to grant a CRISPR Cas9 patent to The Broad Institute lifts Editas but adds uncertainty to the IP estate of Intellia and CRISPR Therapeutics.

Astellas inks agreement with Dyno Therapeutics for access to its CapsidMap platform for novel AAV vectors. Taiho takes option to Arcus TIGIT-targeted antibody candidates.