The Top Line
Biopharma and medtech explained. Every week, journalists from Fierce Biotech, Fierce Medtech, and Fierce Pharma recount the latest industry trends and why they matter. We'll analyze the week's biggest business news, from mergers and marketing to drug R&D and device development. Available every Friday morning.
Episodes
With a new president of U.S. pharma at the helm—and two key FDA approvals now in the books—Boehringer Ingelheim is sharpening its focus on the lucrative American market.
In this week’s episode of “The Top Line,” we dive into Boehringer Ingelheim’s latest regulatory successes, two crucial launches, and the German company’s...
Artificial intelligence is reshaping drug safety, but governance is just as critical as innovation, according to Marie Flanagan of IQVIA Safety Technologies. Speaking on The Top Line podcast, Flanagan said responsibility for AI in healthcare must be shared across compliance, technology, business teams and regulators. Strong governance, she said, ensures AI systems are ethically designed, technically validated, transparent and adapt...
Tariffs, drug pricing reform, a government shutdown and a major turnover at one of the world’s largest drugmakers all converged this week, leaving plenty to unpack for the industry as it heads into fall. Greater clarity on President Donald Trump’s tariff and pricing strategies has likely come as something of a relief for those companies operating in the U.S., but that news was tempered by a shutdown of the federal gover...
Despite a challenging year, the biotech industry has continued to push boundaries, taking bold risks in pursuit of groundbreaking science. If anything, this year has only strengthened our conviction in the rising stars leading the next wave of innovation.
Fierce Biotech’s Fierce 15 class of 2025 is defined by their resilience, diversity in both strategy and leadership, and treatments that hold life-changing potent...
Trust in pharma has always been fragile, and the rise of misinformation has made it even more precarious.
In this episode of "The Top Line," recorded at Fierce Pharma Week in Philadelphia, Freda Lewis-Hall, M.D., joins us to share how she has worked to put a human face on the industry. A psychiatrist, longtime patient advocate and former Pfizer chief medical offic...
Robert Abel, chief scientific officer at Schrödinger, says advanced computational tools are changing the pace and accuracy of drug discovery. In a recent episode of The Top Line podcast, Abel outlined three areas where AI and machine learning are making the greatest impact: understanding disease biology, predicting protein structures and designing drug molecules. Schrödinger’s platform uses physics-based simulations...
With Pfizer discontinuing Beqvez and BioMarin scaling back the commercial focus of Roctavian, the curative promise of hemophilia gene therapies is tempered by significant barriers that discourage widespread adoption.
In this week’s episode of “The Top Line,” Fierce Pharma’s Zoey Becker speaks with Glenn Pierce, M.D., Ph.D., vice president o...
Hope, when applied with purpose and action, can be a powerful force for driving change in healthcare.
That’s the philosophy of Eugene Woods, CEO of Advocate Health and a 2025 Fierce 50 honoree, who joins Ayla Ellison, Editor-in-Chief of Fierce Life Sciences & Healthcare, to share how he puts “Applied Hope” into practice. Woods explains how t...
In the latest episode of the Health Matters podcast, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb joins WPP’s Wendy Lund, GCI Health’s Ryan Kuresman and Burson’s Judy Stecker to discuss the forces reshaping U.S. health policy. Gottlieb warns that while new laws such as the Inflation Reduction Act may lower government spending on drugs, consumers are unlikely to see significant relief at the phar...
After many U.S. biopharma companies posted sales declines in the first quarter, the domestic pharma industry largely bounced back to growth in the second quarter.
In this episode of "The Top Line," Fierce Pharma's Eric Sagonowsky and Kevin Dunleavy break down the numbers behind the industry’s second-quarter performance.
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While it’s been easy to grow a bit desensitized to the seemingly unstoppable sales growth of Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly’s GLP-1s quarter after quarter, this most recent earnings season delivered a few surprises. It’s a good moment to jump back in and assess where the two rivals stand in the market and where their pipelines are headed in the near term.
In this week’s episode of "The Top Line," we break down t...
Following a barrage of letters from President Donald Trump urging 17 large pharmaceutical companies to implement Most Favored Nation drug pricing reforms in the U.S., analysts and industry watchers are questioning how far the president’s authority extends, while several drugmakers have signaled a willingness to negotiate.
In this week’s episode of "The...
In the latest episode of Health Matters, vaccine expert Dr. Paul Offit joins host Wendy Lund to discuss the growing crisis of vaccine hesitancy and what can be done to rebuild trust. Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, points to the COVID-19 pandemic as a turning point, citing perceived government overreach and widespread misinformation as key drivers of public distrust. He ...
Over a whirlwind three weeks, Sarepta Therapeutics has faced tough safety questions around its commercial gene therapy Elevidys and growing scrutiny over the company’s transparency following multiple patient deaths.
In this week’s episode of "The Top Line," we explore Sarepta’s brief standoff with the FDA over Elevidys, a short-lived marketing pause, and the regulator’s surprise reversal on the treatme...
With an uptick in licensing deals and promising data emerging from China-based biopharmas, especially in oncology, it’s clear the country is poised to play a major role in life sciences for the foreseeable future.
In this week’s episode of "The Top Line," we trace China’s ascent in R&D and drug discovery and examine how U.S. and European dru...
In this episode of "The Top Line," Ayla Ellison, Editor-in-Chief of Fierce Life Sciences and Healthcare, sits down with two longtime industry leaders to talk about what it takes to stand out and grow in today’s pharma marketing landscape.
Zoe Dunn, president and CEO of Hale Advisors, and Paul Murasko, head of digital innovation and marketing operations at Azurity Pharmaceuticals, reflect on how the industry has evolved&...
Layoffs in biopharma show no signs of slowing, with workforce reductions holding steady across the first two quarters of 2025.
In this week’s episode of "The Top Line," Fierce Deputy Editor Andrea Park and Fierce Biotech Senior Editor Gabrielle Masson break down the latest layoff trends and how they compare to last year.
Tu...
In the latest episode of the Health Matters podcast, Wendy Lund sits down with Peter Pitts, former FDA associate commissioner and current president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, to discuss the state of regulatory science and communication in health care. Pitts shares a cautiously optimistic outlook for the FDA under Commissioner Makary, noting the agency's renewed focus on innovation, patient engagement and mod...
Two and a half years into his tenure as Teva’s CEO, Richard Francis is breaking down the strategy that’s powered the company through nine consecutive quarters of growth.
On this week’s episode of "The Top Line," Fierce Pharma’s Fraiser Kansteiner sits down with Francis to talk about the progress ma...
Antibody drug conjugates, or ADCs, are still holding on to their spot as one of the hottest areas in cancer care—and AbbVie, like many of its peers, has embraced the trend head-on.
In this week’s episode of "The Top Line," Fierce Pharma’s Zoey Becker speaks with Daejin Abidoye, M.D., AbbVie’s vice president and therapeutic area head for so...
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