| |   | Hello, everyone. Damian here with the latest fallout on Aduhelm, a look at biotech's record on diversity, and what could be a shakeup in the market for insulin. | | | With Aduhelm in limbo, Biogen starts laying off employees Biogen has begun its largest-ever restructuring, informing employees around the world they will be laid off as the company deals with Aduhelm’s poor commercial performance.
The notices started going out Wednesday, according to people familiar with the process, and the cutbacks will ultimately eliminate more than 1,000 jobs, exceeding 10% of Biogen’s workforce. A company spokesperson confirmed the layoffs but declined to say how many employees would be affected.
Biogen’s share price has fallen by more than 50% since Aduhelm won Food and Drug Administration approval in June, as backlash to the drug’s equivocal supporting data have kept it from reaching Wall Street’s once-lofty revenue estimates.
Read more. | Everyone talks about diversity, but Black entrepreneurs still struggle for funding Despite countless odes to the importance of diversity from the powers that be in biotech, Black entrepreneurs still struggle to fund their ideas in an industry whose upper ranks remain stubbornly homogenous.
As STAT’s Jonathan Wosen reports, a tiny fraction of venture capital dollars ends up in the pockets of companies with Black founders, and the investors making key decisions are overwhelmingly white and male.
“As a Black entrepreneur or an atypical entrepreneur, because you’re not getting the ‘smart money’ in early, you’re not set up for success,” said Paul Mola, whose firm, Roswell Biotechnologies, had to lay off nearly half its staff after failing to raise enough money. “You go into this loop of hoping that they’ll come through, and you end up here.”
Read more. | On March 31, take an inside look at the technologies and procedures set to redefine medicine, and change patient care in the years to come. You’ll hear from the CEOs, scientists, entrepreneurs at the forefront of these efforts. Get your pass now, and use your STAT+ subscriber login to unlock a 20% discount. | Does it really matter who gets credit for CRISPR? Is “test to treat” too good to be true? And what’s the offramp for Covid-19?
We cover all that and more this week on “The Readout LOUD,” STAT’s biotech podcast. Physician and researcher Kavita Patel joins us to explain why President Biden’s plans for Covid-19 — including an ambitious idea to distribute antiviral treatments — might not be so simple. We also discuss some milestone data in the quest to turn CRISPR into medicine and the latest twist in the quest to figure out who invented it.
Listen here. | Here comes off-brand insulin Civica Rx, a nonprofit founded to lower the cost of medicine, plans to launch cheaper versions of widely prescribed brands of insulin, aiming to fix what economists have derided as a broken market.
As STAT’s Ed Silverman reports, Civica’s insulins would cost no more than $30 a vial, or $55 for a box of five pen cartridges, for people with or without insurance. The products will be available in early 2024, the company said, while a manufacturing facility is completed and regulatory approvals are obtained.
What remains to be seen is whether a low-cost competitor can change the dynamics of the insulin market. The big three manufacturers — Eli Lilly, Sanofi, and Novo Nordisk — pay escalating rebates to pharmacy benefit managers, which dictate formularies. “People don’t understand the convoluted supply chain of getting insulin from manufacturers to patients,” said David Kliff, who runs the Diabetic Investor newsletter.
Read more. | More reads - Lilly, Incyte arthritis drug reduced deaths from Covid in study. Bloomberg
- Illumina's remedies on Grail bid unconvincing to EU antitrust regulators, sources say. Reuters
- Sacklers agree to $6 billion Purdue bankruptcy settlement over opioid crisis. STAT
| Thanks for reading! Until next week,  | | | |
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