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$15.2 Billion for 13 Drugs Nobody Has Ever Taken
BMS is paying $600 million upfront (with up to $950 million in near-term cash) for 13 early-stage drug candidates from China's Hengrui Medicine, most of which are preclinical or in very early clinical development. The deal spans oncology, immunology, and hematology, making it one of the largest pharma partnerships ever to originate from China. Hengrui will run all early clinical development, essentially outsourcing the riskiest phase of drug discovery. The timing is politically charged: the COINS Act could put exactly this kind of cross-border IP transfer under federal scrutiny, and a House committee chair has already cited the deal by name.
Why it matters: With Chinese out-licensing deals hitting $135.7 billion in 2025 and China now accounting for roughly half of all global license-out deal value, this partnership signals that big pharma's appetite for Chinese biotech assets is accelerating even as Washington moves to restrict it.
Read more →Clinical Wins and Losses
BMS's Next-Gen Myeloma Drug Just Doubled Progression-Free Survival
Patients on BMS's mezigdomide went 18 months without their cancer progressing, compared to 8.3 months on the control arm. That 52% risk reduction came in heavily pretreated myeloma patients who had already exhausted most standard options. The result validates CELMoDs (cereblon E3 ligase modulators) as a potent new oral drug class, and BMS now has a second CELMoD under FDA review with a decision expected in August.
Read more →Agios Tried to Stretch a Blood Cell Fix Into Cancer. It Broke.
Agios scrapped its tebapivat program in lower-risk MDS after the drug failed to get any subgroup of patients off transfusions in a 65-patient phase 2b trial. The mechanism works beautifully in genetic anemias, but MDS is a bone marrow cancer, not an energy problem. Shares fell about 13%, a contained reaction that suggests investors had already priced in the risk.
Read more →AstraZeneca Is Filing for Approval After Failing Its Own Trials
AstraZeneca is pushing two drugs toward regulators despite phase 3 primary endpoint misses. For camizestrant in breast cancer, an FDA advisory committee voted 6-3 against it, but Europe's CHMP has issued a positive opinion recommending approval. For anselamimab in AL amyloidosis, the entire case rests on 72 patients from a subgroup of a failed trial. The outcome could redefine what "enough evidence" means for drug approval.
Read more →Funding and Financings
Two Biotechs Raised $556 Million in a Single Day. The IPO Window Is Wide Open.
Hemab (rare bleeding disorders) raised $346.7 million and Seaport (brain disorders) pulled in $254.9 million, both upsizing their deals due to overwhelming demand. Twelve biotechs have now raised roughly $4 billion via IPOs in 2026, a sharp acceleration from a sluggish 2025. Seaport became the first neuro-focused biotech to go public this year.
Read more →Science and Discovery
The CAR-T Pioneer Who Thinks Gene Editing Is a Wrong Turn
Frank Fan, the scientific founder behind blockbuster Carvykti, debuted Wondercel Therapeutics at ASCO 2026 with a platform that makes off-the-shelf CAR-T cells without any gene editing. Instead of cutting DNA, it destroys the problematic protein entirely. One donor batch could yield up to 3,000 doses. But the early data is sobering: four patients treated, one death, and what experts are calling a very steep climb ahead.
Read more →A First-of-Its-Kind Antibiotic That Fights Back on Its Own Is Under FDA Review
Zaynich (cefepime/zidebactam) is under FDA priority review as the first "beta-lactam enhancer" antibiotic, a combo where the partner drug doesn't just protect against bacterial enzymes but actively attacks bacteria at a second weak point. In a head-to-head trial against the carbapenem meropenem, it posted an 89% success rate versus 68.4%, a 20-point margin that's enormous for an antibiotic study.
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