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Pancreatic Cancer's Most Brutal Numbers Just Flinched
Revolution Medicines just showed that daraxonrasib, its oral KRAS-targeting drug, shrank tumors in 58% of previously untreated pancreatic cancer patients when combined with chemo. Standard chemo alone manages roughly 4% to 31% depending on the regimen. Six-month survival hit 90% in the combo arm, crushing historical benchmarks in a cancer with a 13% five-year survival rate. These results build on Phase 3 data that nearly doubled survival in pretreated patients, and they've already fueled acquisition rumors north of $28 billion.
Why it matters: Pancreatic cancer has shrugged off almost every new treatment for decades. A drug that works across multiple KRAS mutations (not just one) could redefine first-line care, and it puts Revolution Medicines squarely in Big Pharma's crosshairs.
Read more →Deals and Dealbreakers
Merck Just Bet $1 Billion That Google Can Fix Drug Development
A billion dollars for an AI partnership. Merck signed a multi-year deal with Google Cloud to embed Gemini Enterprise across drug discovery, clinical trials, manufacturing, and all 75,000 employees. It's one of the largest pharma-tech deals ever, and it signals that Big Pharma has stopped treating AI as an experiment and started treating it as infrastructure.
Read more →Lilly Paid $300M for a Startup With Zero Drugs in Humans
Eli Lilly acquired three-year-old CrossBridge Bio for up to $300 million in cash, buying a dual-payload ADC platform that hasn't filed an IND yet. The tech straps two different cancer-killing warheads onto a single guided missile. In a recent stretch where Lilly also spent $7 billion on Kelonia and $2.4 billion on Orna, this one's almost a rounding error.
Read more →Lilly Ghosted a $960 Million Drug Deal With Rigel
Lilly terminated its RIPK1 inhibitor collaboration with Rigel Pharmaceuticals, walking away from up to $960 million in potential milestones and royalties. The target class has zero approved drugs and a growing list of failed attempts. Lilly's exit is less about Rigel and more about a company with $19 billion quarters refusing to settle for anything short of blockbuster potential.
Read more →Clinical and Regulatory
Novartis Spent $925M on a Blood Thinner That Can't Dethrone the King
Novartis killed two late-stage trials for abelacimab after its next-gen blood thinner couldn't outperform Eliquis, the blockbuster anticoagulant juggernaut. The program, reacquired for $925 million just last year, is now narrowed to atrial fibrillation only. Beating Eliquis, it turns out, requires more than a good idea.
Read more →Science and Discovery
A Single Injection Is Making Deaf Patients Hear Whispers
In the largest gene therapy trial for inherited deafness, 90% of 42 patients regained meaningful hearing after one injection. Hearing improved by more than 50 decibels in some patients, enough to hear normal conversation. Two adults responded, surprising researchers who thought the treatment window closed in childhood. Lilly, Regeneron, and Sensorion are all racing to bring these therapies to market.
Read more →A Pre-Clinical ADC Startup Just Raised $137 Million
Sidewinder Therapeutics pulled in $137 million from Novartis Venture Fund, Goldman Sachs, and OrbiMed without a single drug in human testing. Its bispecific ADCs check two markers on cancer cells instead of one (like a bouncer checking two forms of ID), aiming for sharper tumor targeting. First clinical trial is planned for 2027.
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