Clinical-stage drug development offers big rewards—and big risks. To that end, Fierce Biotech recently published its annual roundup of several of the most eye-catching trial failures of the preceding year. The 2024 list includes trial flops from the likes of AbbVie, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer and more, with reports of disappointing results in many tough-to-treat indications, including schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease. 

In this week’s episode of The Top Line, we dive into the report. Fierce Biotech’s James Waldron and Gabrielle Masson discuss the entries that stood out for them and ask what lessons the biopharma industry can learn from these setbacks going forward.

To learn more about the topics in this episode:

• 2024's top 10 clinical trial flops
• AbbVie's $9B schizophrenia prospect flunks phase 2 trials, handing advantage to BMS
• GSK surrenders HSV vaccine hopes after phase 2 fail, ceding race to Moderna, BioNTech
• Merck halts phase 3 TIGIT trial after immune-mediated adverse events prompt discontinuations
• Pfizer's phase 3 gene therapy trial fails to improve function for boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy