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BMS Bet Big on a Cancer Drug From China. It Just Paid Off.
Bristol Myers Squibb's antibody-drug conjugate izalontamab brengitecan just hit both primary endpoints in a Phase 3 trial against metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, the most aggressive form of breast cancer with the fewest treatment options. The drug improved both progression-free survival and overall survival versus standard chemo. The bispecific ADC targets two proteins simultaneously (EGFR and HER3) and is the first of its kind to show survival benefits in TNBC. Full data is coming at a future medical meeting.
Why it matters: Hitting both survival endpoints in a single interim readout is a high bar that most cancer drugs never clear. This validates BMS's massive bet on SystImmune's platform and opens a new competitive front in the red-hot ADC market, where the drug's unique dual-targeting mechanism could carve out space alongside established TROP-2 and HER2-directed therapies.
Read more →Deals and M&A
GSK Drops $950M on a Drug That's Never Treated a Single Patient
GSK is paying $950 million in cash for 35Pharma, a Canadian startup whose lead drug for pulmonary arterial hypertension is in early-stage clinical trials. The drug, HS235, modulates TGF-beta superfamily signaling but with a different mechanism and selectivity profile than Merck's blockbuster Winrevair, and is designed to avoid its bleeding risk. With PAH drugs generating $8.4 billion annually, GSK is betting a safer alternative could dominate.
Read more →A Chemical Company Just Bought a German Antiviral Biotech for $920M
Japan's Asahi Kasei, best known for housing materials and synthetic fibers, is acquiring German antiviral biotech Aicuris for roughly $920 million. The prize: pritelivir, a first-in-class herpes drug with Phase 3 data and a 2026 FDA filing on track. It's part of a surging trend of Japanese conglomerates raiding global biotech for growth their domestic markets can't provide.
Read more →Boehringer Bets $500M on a Preclinical Autoimmune Pill
Boehringer Ingelheim licensed a preclinical oral small molecule from Oxford's Sitryx Therapeutics in a deal worth up to $500 million. The drug targets immune cells through their metabolism rather than blocking them directly. It's the latest in a spree of immunology deals from Boehringer, as the race to replace injectable biologics with pills accelerates.
Read more →Novo Nordisk's $2.1B Play to Turn Ozempic Into a Pill
Novo Nordisk partnered with MIT spinout Vivtex in a deal worth up to $2.1 billion to crack oral biologic delivery for obesity drugs. The urgency is real: Eli Lilly's oral GLP-1 candidate orforglipron showed superior weight loss versus Novo's oral semaglutide in a head-to-head trial in type 2 diabetes patients. Wall Street shrugged, with multiple analysts trimming price targets.
Read more →Clinical and Pipeline
A Hot Cancer Target Just Flunked Its First Human Test
Accent Therapeutics halted its Phase 1/2 DHX9 inhibitor trial after undisclosed safety problems and is evaluating strategic options for the program. The drug had FDA Fast Track status and strong preclinical data, but DHX9 is involved in so many critical cell functions that inhibiting it may be inherently toxic. No RNA helicase inhibitor has ever reached late-stage trials, and this failure explains why.
Read more →People and Industry
Sarepta's Most Polarizing CEO Is Walking Away
Doug Ingram announced his retirement after nearly a decade marked by FDA battles, gene therapy breakthroughs, and an 82% stock collapse. His departure comes after fatal liver failures forced Sarepta to pull its flagship gene therapy Elevidys from non-ambulatory patients. In a deeply personal twist, Ingram revealed his wife and son were recently diagnosed with a form of muscular dystrophy.
Read more →Viatris Beats Earnings, Then Cuts 3,200 Jobs
Viatris posted $14.3 billion in full-year revenue and an analyst upgrade, then announced it would slash 10% of its global workforce. The 3,200 job cuts are the largest in a 2026 layoff wave that's already hit at least 17 companies. When a profitable $14 billion company is cutting this deep, the cost pressure in pharma isn't cyclical. It's structural.
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