What Pfizer’s decision to pull its sickle cell drug means for patients, the company, and the FDA

Taking stock of the drug industry, from the lab to the medicine chest

September 26, 2024 Check out STAT+

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By Ed Silverman Pharmalot Columnist, Senior Writer

Lee Klafczynski for STAT STAT+ | What the withdrawal of its sickle cell drug means for Pfizer, patients, and the FDA The move, based on safety concerns, embarrassed Pfizer, and raised questions about decisions by Global Blood Therapeutics, which developed Oxbryta. By Matthew Herper, Eric Boodman, Andrew Joseph, Lizzy Lawrence, Adam Feuerstein, and Jason Mast STAT+ | ARCH Venture Partners raises $3 billion for a new biotech fund The Chicago-based firm is sticking to its long-running strategy, making investments based on the team's curiosity and frustrations.  By Allison DeAngelis STAT+ | Why Biohaven will test the FDA's regulatory limits   If the FDA accepts the company's application for a rare disease drug, the review next year will be a fascinating exercise in regulatory navel gazing. By Adam Feuerstein Mark Lennihan/AP STAT+ | Pfizer pulls sickle cell treatment Oxbryta off global markets Pfizer said Oxbryta's benefits no longer outweighed the risks, with data suggesting the drug might increase the risk of pain crises and "fatal events." By Adam Feuerstein and Jason Mast STAT+ | Gene therapy for sickle cell disease remains a tough business model — and may never work Bluebird Bio has struggled financially, as we were reminded this week. But so has Vertex, as fiscally flush as any drugmaker, with its gene therapy. By Adam Feuerstein

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