RFK Axes CDC Vaccine Advisors ; Metsera’s Weight Loss Win; FDA Supports CGT

This week the BioSpace team was sent into an after-hours scramble by the news that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had fired the remaining members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The secretary argued in an op-ed that accompanied the announcement that the “clean sweep” was necessary to “reestablish public confidence in vaccine science.”

The move came amid heightening rhetoric from Kennedy about the safety of vaccines and sparked concerns that the Secretary will replace the committee with people who sympathize with his anti-vaccine positions.

On the drug development front, Metsera once again made waves with new data for an amylin drug candidate showing weight loss of 8.4% at just 36 days. The drug could be a major competitor for Novo Nordisk’s Cagrisema, which has failed to meet the sky-high expectations of investors despite being the leading amylin candidate in the space.

And cell and gene therapy was back in the spotlight last week when the FDA held a round table discussion with industry leaders aimed at eliminating barriers to approval for these complex medicines. This support from the FDA came as Sarepta became the first company to receive a platform technology designation intended to streamline future gene therapy reviews and create predictability for new drug applications created using the same technologies.

Over in Biopharm Executive, BioSpace looks at right of first negotiation deals in light of Sanofi’s deal to buy Vigil Neuroscience. How often do these agreements turn into M&A? After some analysis, Jefferies found that a ROFN is not a golden ticket to a buyout.