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Lilly's Obesity Pill Just Cleared Its Biggest European Hurdle
Eli Lilly's oral obesity drug Foundayo just picked up a positive recommendation from the EMA's human medicines committee, the last major checkpoint before formal European approval. That makes it the second oral obesity pill headed for EU shelves, right behind Novo Nordisk's oral Wegovy. Lilly is arriving late but armed: Foundayo can be taken with or without food (no fasting rituals required), beat Novo's oral semaglutide head-to-head with 74% more relative weight loss, and carries a broader label covering both obesity and type 2 diabetes. Lilly plans a 2027 EU launch into a market projected to balloon from $1.9 billion to $16.9 billion by 2035.
Why it matters: The oral obesity race is now a real two-horse competition in Europe. Lilly's dual indication (obesity plus diabetes) could unlock friendlier reimbursement pathways in countries that cover diabetes drugs but not weight-loss treatments, reshaping access across an enormously undertreated continent.
Read more →Clinical and Regulatory
The Device That Wants to Save You From Your GLP-1 Breakup
Fractyl Health's Revita device hit its six-month pivotal endpoint, showing patients who got the one-time gut procedure regained just 5.1% of body weight after stopping tirzepatide, versus 8.2% for the sham group. Revita patients kept about 80% of their lost weight. The stock had already cratered 68% back in January after weaker interim data, and investors remain skeptical, wanting a bigger effect size. The 12-month readout in early 2027 will determine whether this becomes a real off-ramp from lifelong GLP-1 therapy.
Read more →Pharma's Most Infamous Bad Boy Can't Stop Breaking the Rules
Martin Shkreli was banned from pharma for life. The FTC says he responded by trading shares in at least 60 pharma companies (including Pfizer, Moderna, and Eli Lilly), livestreaming his moves, and shorting biotech stocks on camera. Regulators now want him held in civil contempt and are seeking disgorgement of all profits from his post-ban trades.
Read more →Funding and Deals
RNAi's Biggest Problem Just Got a $200 Million Bet
City Therapeutics, a startup founded about three years ago, raised $200 million in an upsized IPO to crack the problem that has stumped RNAi for two decades: getting gene-silencing drugs to work outside the liver. The team reads like an Alnylam reunion tour, with the founding CEO and multiple senior alumni leading the charge. No extrahepatic RNAi therapy has ever been approved.
Read more →Biotech's Investor Class Is Ghosting Early-Stage Startups
The average biotech seed round dropped 40% in the first half of 2026, falling from $7.65 million to $4.65 million, even as overall Massachusetts venture funding rose 25%. More startups got funded but each received a significantly smaller check. Funding remained heavily concentrated at the top. If this pattern holds, the innovation pipeline could start sputtering in the early 2030s.
Read more →Policy and Industry
China Just Locked the Vault on Biotech Secrets (But Left a Window Open)
China proposed banning or restricting the export of five key biomedical technologies, including cell and gene therapy platforms. The twist: licensing deals, contract research, and outsourced manufacturing are explicitly carved out. You can rent Chinese biotech innovation, but you can no longer buy it outright. Every multinational pharma deal with China now needs a structural rethink.
Read more →Pennsylvania Just Became Big Pharma's Favorite Zip Code
Merck and GSK are pouring approximately $3.7 billion into Pennsylvania combined, with Merck building a $550 million AI-and-robotics-enabled R&D facility and GSK constructing a commercial-scale biologics manufacturing hub. The combined projects are expected to create over 6,300 jobs. Pennsylvania's pitch: an existing pharma ecosystem that beats flashy tax giveaways.
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