Pandemic prep problem, reverse merger rules, Alzheimer’s guidance & SCOTUS: a BioCentury podcast

Avian flu fire drill. An SEC roadblock. Presymptomatic Alzheimer’s. Donanemab panel delivers. A ruling for FDA & mifepristone.

The avian influenza outbreak is a fire drill that is showing how poorly the U.S. is prepared for the next pandemic. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, Washington Editor Steve Usdin recaps his conversation on last week’s BioCentury Show with Rick Bright, including the former BARDA director’s insights on the opportunities for biotech companies to help fill voids in surveillance, point-of-care diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics and the need for the government to provide leadership and funding to empower industry.  

BioCentury’s editors also discuss new SEC rules that will make reverse mergers a less attractive path to the public markets and the U.S. Supreme Court’s mifepristone ruling, which marks the conclusion of a legal journey that could have undermined FDA’s ability to regulate drugs.

Finally, BioCentury Executive Editor Selina Koch shares her take on her three neuro-focused stories published last week: an analysis of FDA’s guidance on drug development for presymptomatic Alzheimer’s disease, an advisory committee’s discussion on anti-amyloid therapy donanemab from Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE:LLY), and top takeaways from a neurology panel at last month’s Bio€quity Europe conference, which detailed what neuroscience biotech companies need to consider when pitching VCs and pharmaceutical companies.

This episode of BioCentury This Week was sponsored by Nxera Pharma Co. Ltd. For information on opportunities to sponsor The BioCentury Show and the BioCentury This Week podcast, please email conferences@biocentury.com.