A biotech launched by former AveXis leaders was on a mission to treat multiple rare diseases with new gene therapies. They speedily assembled a team and touted their fast ascent from seed to IPO, in a mere six-month window in 2020, to repeat the playbook they created with the FDA-approved SMA drug Zolgensma.

Flush with a pipeline of more than 25 programs, Taysha Gene Therapies worked in concert with UT Southwestern to take the university’s gene therapy research into the clinic with the ambition of treating monogenic diseases of the central nervous system and pediatric indications. About half a dozen have made it into human trials, with the lead program on track for registration pathway feedback mid-year.

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Pfizer has laid off employees at its La Jolla, CA, and Groton, CT sites, according to multiple LinkedIn posts from former employees.

The Big Pharma confirmed to Endpoints News it has let go of some employees, but a spokesperson declined to specify how many workers were impacted and the exact locations affected. Earlier this month, the drug developer had confirmed to Endpoints it was sharpening its focus and doing away with some early research on areas such as rare disease, oncology and gene therapies.

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BeiGene CEO John Oyler and Endpoints News Executive Editor Drew Armstrong spoke one-on-one about where the drugmaker is headed in its quest to become a diversified multinational, and what it will take to get there. This transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Drew Armstrong:

I am joined today by BeiGene CEO John Oyler. By way of introduction, John and I met about a little over three years ago for the first time in Beijing, when I was doing some reporting. I got to travel around the country and I had this huge notebook full of reporting on interesting things that his company was doing and some of the other companies were doing over there. And I came back to the states ready to write a great magazine story about BeiGene and about innovation that was happening globally. And then I think we all know what happened about a week and a half after I returned, in January of 2020. And unfortunately that work never saw the light of day.

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