SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
Heather McKenzie

Heather McKenzie

Senior Editor

Heather McKenzie is a professional journalist with more than five years experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Since joining BioSpace, she has written more than 200 features and breaking news articles with a particular focus in neuroscience and gene therapy. She has also traveled internationally to cover global biotech hubs such as Israel. In previous roles, she has covered current affairs, sports, education and politics. She previously spent eight years as a senior content producer for executive-level business conferences in the pharma/biotech, legal, energy and business strategy sectors. In her free time, Heather enjoys creative writing, spending time with family and playing with her energetic Russian Blue cat Roofus. She hails from Toronto and has also lived in Chicago and Chesapeake, Virginia. You can reach her at heather.mckenzie@biospace.com.

Podcast
Trump’s Hammer Hits FDA, Moderna Falls Further and Patent Cliffs Loom
The FDA is mired in uncertainty with some staffers losing their jobs over the weekend and more potentially to come, vaccines and psychedelic therapies could be facing very different futures under newly confirmed HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Moderna continues its downward revenue slide and Merck, Regeneron, BMS and more face strong patent headwinds.
February 19, 2025
 · 
1 min read
 · 
Heather McKenzie
Pictured: White House/
FDA
‘No Job Security’ at FDA as Trump Team Seeks to Dismantle Workforce: Updated
The hammer came down on an unspecified number of FDA employees this weekend, days after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed as HHS Secretary.
February 17, 2025
 · 
6 min read
 · 
Heather McKenzie
Mushrooms and mental health as Psychedelic drug or psychedelics hallucinogenic drugs and hallucinogens representing medicine for brain disorders in a 3D illustration style.
Psychedelics
Psychedelics Space Regroups as RFK Jr. Signals Support
After the rejection of Lykos Therapeutics’ MDMA-based PTSD treatment tempered excitement for psychedelic therapeutics, a recent approval and positive data are generating new momentum, which experts expect to continue throughout 2025 and 2026.
February 17, 2025
 · 
5 min read
 · 
Heather McKenzie
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Policy
RFK Jr. Confirmed as HHS Secretary Despite Continued Controversy
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—whose history of anti-vaccine rhetoric has had the healthcare and biopharma industries on edge—was confirmed as Health and Human Services Secretary in a Senate vote along party lines.
February 13, 2025
 · 
2 min read
 · 
Heather McKenzie
Podcast
New M&A Action, BMS’ Ongoing Cost Cuts and the Insatiable Demand for Weight Loss Drugs
Novartis, Eli Lilly and more put on their deal-making caps, Bristol Myers Squibb targets $2 billion in savings through 2027, sales continue to soar for Lilly and Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1s and Regeneron sues Sanofi over an alleged failure to provide adequate information about Dupixent sales.
February 12, 2025
 · 
1 min read
 · 
Heather McKenzie
External view of Boehringer Ingelheim's headquarters in Silicon Valley
Drug Development
Boehringer Ingelheim’s Lung Fibrosis Drug Scores Second Late-Stage Win
Nerandomilast, an oral phosphodiesterase 4B inhibitor, hit the primary endpoint in a Phase III trial in progressive pulmonary fibrosis—nearly six months after achieving a similar feat in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Boehringer plans to submit for FDA and other global approvals in both indications.
February 10, 2025
 · 
2 min read
 · 
Heather McKenzie
Opioid health risk and medical crisis with a prescription painkiller addiction epidemic concept as a group of people running away from a dangerous falling bridge of pills as a medicine addict problem with 3D illustration elements.
Editorial
FDA Approval of Vertex’s Non-Opioid Journavx Signals New Era in Pain Treatment
If the attention generated by BioSpace’s coverage of this landmark approval is any indication, Americans are hungry for non-opioid pain treatments that could help quell the still raging opioid epidemic.
February 7, 2025
 · 
3 min read
 · 
Heather McKenzie
Podcast
RFK Jr. Advances, Q4 Earnings Roll Out and a Non-Opioid Pain Drug Hits the Market
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s HHS nomination moves to a full Senate vote; Donald Trump’s tariff war sparks China-related concerns for biopharma; Pfizer, Merck and more announce Q4 and 2024 earnings; and the non-opioid painkiller space heats up as FDA approves Vertex’s Jounavx.
February 5, 2025
 · 
1 min read
 · 
Heather McKenzie
Entrance to Vertex's office in Boston, Massachusetts
FDA
FDA Approves Vertex’s Journavx as First New Pain Drug in Decades
The greenlight for Journavx (suzetrigine), which comes on the heels of a $7.4 billion opioid settlement, could spark momentum in the fledgling non-opioid pain space.
January 30, 2025
 · 
4 min read
 · 
Heather McKenzie
Concept art for large layoffs showing a line of blocks a cliff
Layoffs
Cargo Halts CAR T Trial, Lays Off 50% of Workforce in Pipeline Reset
CAR T–focused biotech Cargo Therapeutics surprised and disappointed analysts when it announced that it would discontinue a mid-stage trial of its lead program, firi-cel.
January 30, 2025
 · 
2 min read
 · 
Heather McKenzie
Podcast
RFK Jr. Faces the Senate, Sage Rebuffs Biogen, Obesity Space Expands, More
Donald Trump continues to make waves in biopharma; Sage rejects Biogen’s unsolicited takeover offer; the obesity space sees more action with new company launches, IPOs and fresh data; and experts get ready for an important era in the Duchenne muscular dystrophy space.
January 29, 2025
 · 
1 min read
 · 
Heather McKenzie
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
FDA
How Might the FDA Evolve Under RFK Jr. and Makary?
Ahead of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation hearings, experts—and RFK’s own family—expressed concerns about his vaccine-related views, though the same experts are largely unfazed by the level of power he and Marty Makary could ultimately wield over the FDA.
January 29, 2025
 · 
7 min read
 · 
Heather McKenzie
Man feeling stressed tired suffering from depression fatigue social anxiety
Psychedelics
Atai Touts Positive Data for Psychedelic Therapy in Alcohol Use Disorder
The results, which come on the heels of the FDA’s approval of J&J’s esketamine nasal spray Spravato as a monotherapy for treatment-resistant depression, could serve to further bolster a space hit hard by the rejection of Lykos’ MDMA-based PTSD therapy in August 2024.
January 28, 2025
 · 
2 min read
 · 
Heather McKenzie
Business
Trump Takes Over, Wegovy Still Trails Zepbound and BioSpace Recaps JPM
Biopharma executives shared their thoughts on the potential impacts of the new administration; Annalee Armstrong recaps JPM and her talks with Biogen, Gilead, Novavax and more; Wegovy’s higher dose induces more weight loss; AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo’s Dato-DXd scores its first FDA approval.
January 22, 2025
 · 
1 min read
 · 
Heather McKenzie
Medicine or pharmacy abstract geometric pattern. Corporate identity geometrical shape background or medicine presentation retro vector pattern with thermometer, stethoscope, lab flask and pills
Business
2025 Investment to Swing Toward I&I, Obesity, More: Experts
As the year gets underway, analysts and biotech executives highlight cell therapy’s pivot from oncology to autoimmune diseases, a continued appetite for next-generation obesity drugs and an increased focus on neuromuscular, kidney and cardiovascular diseases.
January 21, 2025
 · 
7 min read
 · 
Heather McKenzie
Load More