The Top Line

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...

Every year, the Fierce Medtech team highlights 15 standout companies that are pushing the boundaries of innovation in medical technology. From reinventing diagnostics and surgical tools to advancing AI and biological research, this year’s Fierce 15 is full of startups rethinking what care should look like—and improving on what came before.

In this...

Each year, the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting brings together the biggest names and brightest minds in cancer research, and this year was no exception.

In this episode of "The Top Line," Fierce reporters take you inside the action at ASCO 2025. Zoey Becker shares the story behind Johnson & Johnson’s dramatic “Breathtaking&rd...

In this episode of The Top Line, Fierce Biotech’s Chris Hayden sat down with Dr. Juergen Eckhardt of Bayer and Dr. Seth Ettenberg of BlueRock Therapeutics to discuss an innovative partnership that’s reshaping how big pharma teams up with biotech startups.

BlueRock, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bayer, operates with the independence of a small biotech while benefiting from Bayer’s global reach and infrastructure. Th...

In the latest episode of The Top Line podcast, host Heath Clendenning interviews Cheryl Lubbert, CEO of Reverba Global, to discuss how science-led storytelling is reshaping communications in the pharmaceutical industry. Lubbert, a veteran executive with experience at Amgen, Abbott and Bristol Myers Squibb, says authenticity, empathy and transparency are now critical to rebuilding public trust. She argues that scientific data, when ...

Despite the long holiday weekend, news in biopharma never slows down.

In this week’s episode of "The Top Line," the Fierce team breaks down some of the biggest stories from the past week.

On the pharma side, Eric Sagonowsky and Kevin Dunleavy examine Big Pharma’s first-quarter 2025 performance. While most of the top ...

President Donald Trump put the pharmaceutical industry on notice early Monday with the signing of his "most favored nation" (MFN) executive order on drug prices. The order seeks to tie U.S. prices to significantly lower costs overseas.

Many questions remain about how the measure will be implemented, and legal challenges are almost certain. To assess the seriousne...

Angela Hwang spent nearly three decades at Pfizer before joining Flagship Pioneering in 2025 as a CEO-partner and the CEO of Metaphore Biotechnologies.

In this week’s episode of "The Top Line," the former Pfizer chief commercial officer speaks with Fierce Pharma Deputy Editor Angus Liu about her transition from marketing drugs at a Big Pharma company to adv...

Although East Asians make up a significant share of entry-level roles in U.S. biopharma, few have risen to senior leadership positions. That disparity is what inspired the launch of ElevAAte—a new nonprofit founded this year to support and grow East Asian American leadership in the industry.

In this week’s episode of "The Top Line," Fierce Pharma Depu...

We’ve known for a while that there are two Anguses—both journalists covering oncology at health- and biopharma-focused news outlets. Now, for the first time, we’re bringing them together for a “Variety Studio: Actors on Actors”-style conversation.

In this week’s episode of "The Top Line," Fierce Pharma Deputy Editor Angus Liu an...

After a batch of much-anticipated reciprocal tariffs spared pharmaceuticals in early April, drugmakers, medtech companies, manufacturers and other outfits across the life sciences spectrum are still scrambling to respond to mounting trade pressures. While many unknowns remain, biopharma companies should waste no time in starting to evaluate their options.  

In this week’s episode of “The Top Line,” we di...

In this week’s episode of "The Top Line," Fierce Deputy Editor Andrea Park and Fierce Biotech Senior Editor Gabrielle Masson discuss how workforce reductions impacted the biopharma industry in the first quarter. 

The pair examine industry trends, company closures, developments in the cell and gene space—and the reductions in force happening at federal health agencies alongside them.

To learn more about the topics i...