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Regeneron's $40M Down Payment on the Radiopharma Arms Race
Regeneron, the last major oncology player on the radiopharma sidelines, just partnered with Australia's Telix Pharmaceuticals in a deal worth up to $4.3 billion. The kicker: the upfront payment was only $40 million. The 50/50 profit-sharing structure gives Regeneron access to Telix's specialized manufacturing platform for up to eight cancer programs, while Telix gets the credibility and commercial muscle of one of biotech's most disciplined companies. Telix shares jumped 13.8% on the news. The deal also includes co-development of diagnostic imaging agents, a nod to the "theranostic" model that turned Novartis's Pluvicto into a blockbuster franchise with peak sales targeted above $5 billion.
Why it matters: When a company as famously self-reliant as Regeneron makes its largest-ever external oncology partnership to enter radiopharmaceuticals, it confirms that targeted radiopharma has graduated from niche curiosity to mainstream cancer strategy. The isotope supply chain is now a strategic asset on par with antibody platforms.
Read more →Policy and Trade
Your Medicine Cabinet Might Get a 100% Tax Bill
The Trump administration signed a proclamation slapping up to 100% tariffs on patented drugs made outside the U.S., using national security authority. Companies that agree to both domestic manufacturing and most-favored-nation pricing can negotiate down to 0%; at least 17 major firms (including Pfizer, Lilly, and Novo) already have. Small biotechs without U.S. plants or political leverage are panicking.
Read more →The White House Just Made Psychedelics a Federal Priority
An executive order directs the FDA, DEA, and VA to fast-track psychedelic therapies for PTSD, depression, and addiction, with $50 million in ARPA-H funding and priority review vouchers for psilocybin programs. Notably absent from the VIP list: Lykos Therapeutics, whose MDMA application the FDA rejected in 2024.
Read more →300+ Biotech Leaders Beg a Retired FDA Legend to Come Back
Over 300 CEOs, investors, and patient advocates signed a public letter urging Rick Pazdur, the 26-year FDA veteran who built the oncology review division, to become the next commissioner. The campaign reflects deep industry anxiety over regulatory instability after staff cuts, leadership turnover, and shifting guidance documents rattled confidence.
Read more →Deals and M&A
AbbVie Pays Up to $745M for Chinese Pain Assets
AbbVie licensed two NaV1.8 pain drug candidates from China's Haisco for $30 million upfront and up to $745 million total, targeting the same sodium channel mechanism behind Vertex's breakthrough painkiller Journavx. The deal deepens U.S.-China biotech ties at precisely the moment the BIOSECURE Act is trying to pull them apart.
Read more →Pfizer Gets Its First GLP-1 Obesity Approval (in China)
China greenlit Pfizer's Xianweiying, a once-weekly GLP-1 injection licensed from Sciwind Biosciences, for weight management. Patients on the highest dose lost 15.4% of body weight over 48 weeks. At about $72 per pen, Pfizer enters a market with 500 million overweight or obese adults, but faces a looming wave of cheap semaglutide biosimilars.
Read more →Clinical and Regulatory
The FDA Told Lilly to Watch Its Diet Pill for 15 Years
Lilly's oral obesity pill Foundayo (orforglipron) won FDA approval, then got saddled with 15 years of mandatory post-marketing surveillance for thyroid cancer, plus pediatric studies and pregnancy registries. The requirements signal how the FDA plans to treat every oral GLP-1 headed for population-scale use, raising the cost of entry for the entire class.
Read more →Roche's Tariff Shield Has a Giant Hole in It
Roche's medicines scored a tariff exemption through a pricing deal with Washington, but its $14 billion diagnostics business got no such protection. Chairman Severin Schwan warned that diagnostics face tariffs from two directions at once, and expects rates to climb further once a 150-day grace period expires.
Read more →Funding and Restructuring
A Danish Biotech Nobody Heard of Just Raised $301M and Nearly Doubled
Hemab Therapeutics priced its Nasdaq IPO at $18 per share and closed day one at $34, an 89% pop. The company targets ultra-rare bleeding disorders with zero approved treatments; its lead drug sutacimig showed an 87% reduction in bleeding episodes for Glanzmann thrombasthenia patients. The upsized deal pushed 2026 biotech IPO proceeds past $3.2 billion.
Read more →Takeda Cuts 4,500 Jobs to Fund a Three-Drug Bet
Takeda announced the elimination of 4,500 positions, one of the largest pharma layoffs of 2026, taking $1.1 billion in restructuring charges to bankroll launches of three late-stage drugs. The company expects $1.27 billion in annualized savings by 2028, with the cuts targeting corporate overhead rather than therapeutic divisions.
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