The biotech in­dus­try has faced re­peat­ed calls to di­ver­si­fy its work­force — and in the last year, those calls got a lot loud­er. Though women ac­count for just un­der half of all biotech em­ploy­ees around the world, they oc­cu­py very few places in C-suites, and even few­er make it to the helm.

Some com­pa­nies are lis­ten­ing, ac­cord­ing to a re­cent BIO sur­vey which showed that this year’s com­pa­nies were 2.5 times more like­ly to have a di­ver­si­ty and in­clu­sion pro­gram com­pared to last year’s sam­ple. But we still have a long way to go. Women rep­re­sent just 31% of biotech ex­ec­u­tives, BIO re­port­ed. And those num­bers are even more stark for women of col­or.

Even though women are en­ter­ing the field at sim­i­lar rates as men, many still re­port be­ing held back by stereo­types, or, un­for­tu­nate­ly, fac­ing ha­rass­ment from col­leagues. This year, we’ve been close­ly fol­low­ing sex­u­al ha­rass­ment al­le­ga­tions against some of the in­dus­try’s most promi­nent fig­ures, in­clud­ing for­mer Op­er­a­tion Warp Speed head Mon­cef Slaoui, MIT sci­en­tist David Saba­ti­ni, Eli Lil­ly CFO Josh Smi­ley, and an­ti-ag­ing re­searcher Aubrey de Grey. It’s a list that is far too long — and like­ly to get longer.

At End­points News, we be­lieve it’s time for a change. And cel­e­brat­ing those who have bro­ken the glass ceil­ing is cru­cial to get­ting there.

For the third year, we’ll be shar­ing the sto­ries of 20 women who are su­per­charg­ing drug R&D and, in the process, blaz­ing new paths for oth­ers to fol­low. Last year, we homed in on those who were mak­ing strides in the fight against Covid-19 — and thanks to their ef­forts, we now have the first vac­cines and treat­ments to bat­tle the world’s largest pub­lic health cri­sis in decades.

Once again, we’ll need your help find­ing this year’s hon­orees. So hur­ry up and send us your CEOs, CMOs, CSOs, R&D di­rec­tors and lead sci­en­tists — any­one who’s leav­ing a last­ing mark on the in­dus­try. For the sec­ond year, you’ll get to hear di­rect­ly from our hon­orees at a live event on Dec. 7.

Email your nom­i­nee’s name, po­si­tion, and your rea­son for choos­ing them to nicole@end­pointsnews.com and am­ber@end­pointsnews.com. Or, use this form. Nom­i­na­tions are open through Sept. 30. We look for­ward to hear­ing from you.

Up­date: Nom­i­na­tions are now closed. Thanks for your par­tic­i­pa­tion!

A small, Santa Ana-based biotech created in 2017 is looking to enter a SPAC deal as it lays out plans to begin trials in its lead cell therapy candidates and bring on new executives.

Graf Acquisition Corp. IV and NKGen Biotech announced Thursday, with few other details, that the two companies signed a non-binding letter of intent to “pursue a business combination.” Graf Acquisition II and III withdrew their IPOs last year.

The FDA has rejected Incyte’s extended-release formulation of ruxolitinib tablets, in a surprise setback for the company’s plans to build on its blockbuster Jakafi franchise.

The ruxolitinib XR tablets are designed to be taken once a day, whereas Jakafi is indicated for twice daily dosage (although some patients can take it once daily).

According to Incyte, the FDA acknowledged in its complete response letter that the study submitted in the NDA “met its objective of bioequivalence based on area under the curve (AUC) parameters but identified additional requirements for approval.”

Cyclerion Therapeutics may have the design of a Phase IIb study ready to go, but it’s scrambling for a way to fund it.

The company said in a press release that it’s “actively evaluating the best combination of capital, capabilities, and transactions available to it to advance the development of zagociguat,” its lead candidate for a rare, genetic mitochondrial disease known as MELAS.

In a separate SEC filing, Cyclerion once again flagged “substantial doubt about (its) ability to continue as a going concern.” As of the end of 2022, it had cash and cash equivalents of only $13.4 million.