Biotech experienced a year of mixed fortunes in 2024. We saw breakthroughs in schizophrenia and obesity, with the IPO window slowly reopening and Big Pharmas happy to write large checks for the right company. But the wave of layoffs shows no sign of ebbing, just one symptom of the drastic measures many companies are taking to stay afloat in what remains a tough climate. Among the sector’s highs and lows, some stories jumped out as noticeable accidents, strategic misjudgments or outright missteps. For Fierce Biotech’s Rotten Tomatoes of 2024, we’ve assessed these blunders in the hope that others can learn from them. In this spirit of learning—and to offer some balance—we’ve also celebrated one of the companies referenced with a Ripened Tomato award. Anyone who spends too long staring at spreadsheets knows how easily the various tabs can start blurring into one. But Amgen’s experience was a stark reminder of the damaging consequences of a serious case of “Excel-blindness.” The innocent error involved a spreadsheet of phase 1 data for Amgen’s obesity prospect MariTide, which was distributed along with the headline findings published in the journal Nature Metabolism back in February. Neither the journal paper nor—at first glance—the spreadsheets made any mention of bone mineral density (BMD).

Full report : The big misses of 2024 in the biotechnology space.

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