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Merck Drops $6.7 Billion on a Phase 1 Cancer Drug, and the Clock Explains Why
Merck is acquiring Terns Pharmaceuticals for $6.7 billion to get its hands on TERN-701, an oral drug for chronic myeloid leukemia still in Phase 1/2 trials with no FDA approval and no revenue. The urgency? Keytruda, which generated $31.7 billion in 2025 (roughly half of Merck's pharma revenue), loses its primary U.S. patents in late 2028. Biosimilar competitors are already lining up, and analysts project a 19% sales drop in 2029 alone. Add the patent expiration for Januvia by 2027, and Merck isn't facing a patent cliff; it's bracing for an avalanche.
Why it matters: This is one of the most aggressive early-stage bets in recent pharma M&A history, and it signals how desperate Big Pharma is becoming as blockbuster patent cliffs loom. When $29 billion drugs have expiration dates, the shopping gets expensive fast.
Read more →Deals and M&A
Gilead Spends $2 Billion on a Cancer Weapon Repurposed for Autoimmune Disease
Gilead is acquiring Ouro Medicines, a startup roughly a year old, for up to $2.175 billion to get OM336, a BCMAxCD3 bispecific T-cell engager designed to destroy rogue immune cells in autoimmune diseases. No formal clinical results have been published yet. The deal splits costs with partner Galapagos while Gilead keeps global commercial rights, betting that oncology's hottest technology can reset malfunctioning immune systems.
Read more →Genmab Paid $1.8B for Three Cancer Drugs. Two Are Already Dead.
Less than two years after Genmab's $1.8 billion ProfoundBio acquisition, two of three clinical-stage cancer drugs have been killed and a third enrolled just 23 of 214 planned patients before pausing. The entire bet now rides on Rina-S, a folate receptor-targeting drug with promising early data in ovarian cancer and a Phase 3 readout expected in 2027 or later.
Read more →Clinical and Regulatory
A Common Parkinson's Drug Has Been Quietly Draining a Critical Vitamin
The FDA flagged that carbidopa/levodopa, taken by hundreds of thousands of Americans with Parkinson's, can deplete vitamin B6 to levels that trigger seizures. Two patients have died. The fix is almost absurdly simple: a few dollars' worth of B6 supplements resolved seizures in every patient who received them. The agency is now pushing for routine B6 monitoring before and during treatment.
Read more →Sarepta's Gene-Silencing Partnership Gets Its First Human Report Card
Early data from Sarepta's $11 billion siRNA partnership with Arrowhead shows their gene-silencing drugs can safely reach muscle tissue in two rare diseases (FSHD1 and DM1) that currently have zero approved treatments. No dose-limiting toxicities appeared across multiple cohorts, a notable result in a field where competitors keep hitting safety walls. Efficacy readouts are still ahead.
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