An analysis of pharma deal trends over the past year shows a focus on first-in-class assets with autoimmune diseases being a major focus of interest. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discuss what the deal trends mean for prospective pharma partners and whether the expected focus on late-stage products, and a material increase in valuation for late-stage programs, is supported by the data. BioCentury’s editors also talk about a recent conversation with Genentech Inc. CEO Alexander Hardy, and his perspective on how the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) may impact future decision-making on drug development for small molecules. They also discuss takeaways from a Q&A with Leerink Partners’ Jeffrey Leerink and Dan Dubin, what’s next in BIO’s hunt for a permanent CEO, and the case of Stealth BioTherapeutics Corp. and whether the company’s regulatory experience raises questions about if FDA should improve the consistency with which it applies regulatory flexibility.

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