Industry Roundup: Roche Expands in Boston, NIH Centralizes Peer Review, and Pfizer Appoints New Leadership

Roche, the Swiss pharmaceutical giant, is expanding its footprint in the Boston area with the launch of a new innovation center, while the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announces a significant change to its grant review process. Meanwhile, Pfizer strengthens its internal medicine portfolio with a key appointment, and AskBio advances its gene therapy clinical trial.

Roche Launches Boston Innovation Center for Cardiometabolic Research

Roche has announced the establishment of a new innovation center at Harvard University's Enterprise Research Campus in Allston, Massachusetts. The facility will serve as a hub for the company's research in cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic diseases, as well as support its artificial intelligence activities.

Dr. Manu Chakravarthy, Roche's global head for CVRM product diseases, will lead the site, which is expected to employ up to 500 people. This expansion follows similar moves by competitors Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly in the Boston area, highlighting the region's growing importance in pharmaceutical research and development.

NIH Centralizes Peer Review Process to Increase Efficiency

The National Institutes of Health has revealed plans to centralize the peer review process for all grants, research and development contracts, and cooperative agreements under a single center. This policy change will apply to the first step of the peer review process, which involves scoring proposals for scientific and technical merit.

Previously, 22% of these reviews were conducted by individual institutes, with the remainder handled by the NIH's Center for Scientific Review. The new policy will shift all initial reviews to the Center for Scientific Review, while the second step of evaluating mission relevance will continue to be carried out by individual centers or the NIH director's office.

This centralization is expected to generate significant cost savings, with the NIH estimating annual savings of $65 million. The move comes in the wake of recent layoffs at NIH and amid broader discussions about funding and efficiency in government research institutions.

Pharmaceutical Industry Updates: AskBio and Pfizer

AskBio, the gene therapy subsidiary of Bayer, has begun dosing patients in the second cohort of a clinical trial for its limb-girdle muscular dystrophy treatment. The study, which started in 2023, is focusing on adults with the specific "21/R9" form of the progressive muscle-wasting disease. This advancement follows a review of data from the trial's first phase by the study's monitoring board.

In leadership news, Pfizer has appointed Dr. James List to lead its internal medicine portfolio. As an endocrinologist with extensive experience in the field, List will oversee the company's pipeline of drugs for cardiometabolic diseases, including obesity treatments. His background includes leadership roles at Johnson & Johnson and Bristol Myers Squibb, as well as post-doctoral research on GLP-1, a hormone central to current obesity treatments.

These developments underscore the ongoing focus on gene therapies and metabolic diseases within the pharmaceutical industry, as companies continue to invest in innovative treatments and expert leadership to address complex health challenges.