Original reporting and analysis on the stories shaping biotech.
Xenon Pharmaceuticals' epilepsy drug azetukalner just posted Phase 3 results that sent the stock soaring 48% in a single day. With the highest placebo-adjusted efficacy ever reported in a pivotal epilepsy trial and a completely novel mechanism of action, Wall Street analysts are already calling it a potential "medicine of choice."
Vertex Pharmaceuticals dropped $4.9 billion on a kidney drug most people had never heard of. The phase 3 results just came in, and Wall Street is scrambling to update its models.
The FDA just approved the first once-weekly treatment for achondroplasia, turning seven daily shots into one. But Ascendis Pharma is walking into a three-way competitive fight that could reshape the dwarfism treatment landscape.
Candid Therapeutics just went public without an IPO, pulling off a $505 million reverse merger with Rallybio that left Candid shareholders owning 96.3% of the company. It's one of the biggest backdoor listings biotech has ever seen, and investors were fighting to get in.
Alfasigma just paid $300 million upfront for GSK's late-stage itch drug, with an FDA decision landing in just two weeks. The deal could reach $690 million if everything goes right, but the clock is ticking on the biggest "if" in specialty pharma.
Roche's oral SERD giredestrant just failed its biggest phase 3 test in first-line breast cancer, sending shares tumbling and casting doubt over the entire drug class. But the full story is stranger than the headline suggests.
The FTC is reviewing Gilead's $7.8 billion acquisition of Arcellx, catching the biotech industry off guard during its biggest M&A boom in years. The scrutiny could reshape how every pharma company approaches dealmaking in 2026.
Bavarian Nordic's CEO is stepping down after the board backed a $3.1 billion PE takeover that shareholders rejected. With the mpox boom fading and the stock trading below fair value, the Danish vaccine maker is suddenly one of biotech's most interesting chess pieces.
GSK just wrote a $950 million check for a drug that's never been tested in a patient. The target: a potentially massive pulmonary hypertension market projected to hit $18 billion. The gamble hinges on whether one molecule can outperform Merck's blockbuster Winrevair.
Servier is dropping $2.5 billion in cash on Day One Biopharmaceuticals, a one-drug biotech focused on pediatric brain tumors. The deal says something fascinating about where precision oncology is heading, and why rare cancers might be pharma's smartest bet.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals just laid off 20 people while posting $12 billion in revenue and nearly $4 billion in profit. The tiny cut at biotech's most successful company tells a much bigger story about how even winners are reshuffling for what comes next.
Alltrna, Flagship Pioneering's $159 million bet on engineered tRNA medicines, just lost its CEO and cut 35% of its workforce in one fell swoop. It's the company's third round of layoffs, and it's part of a bigger pattern hitting Flagship's portfolio.
IQVIA is paying $145 million for Charles River's European discovery labs and AI platform, giving it something it's never had: real drug discovery muscle from day one. The deal bets big on non-animal testing methods and AI-driven chemistry at a moment when regulators are rewriting the rules of preclinical research.
The FDA's most controversial gatekeeper is leaving for the second time in a year. Vinay Prasad's chaotic tenure atop CBER, the center overseeing gene therapies, vaccines, and biologics, leaves behind workplace investigations, rare disease fury, and a regulatory landscape nobody can predict.
A Neuralink co-founder's new company just raised $230 million to implant rice-grain-sized devices in people's eyes. Science Corporation is now valued at $1.5 billion, and it could launch its vision-restoring retinal implant in Europe within months.
Alnylam just inked a deal worth up to $1.13 billion with tiny cardiac biotech Tenaya Therapeutics to hunt for new heart disease gene targets. It's the latest sign that RNA medicine is coming for cardiology's biggest problems.
Alltrna, the Flagship Pioneering-backed company engineering tRNA molecules to fix genetic typos across thousands of diseases, just cut 34% of its team. With only 36 employees left and no publicly disclosed funding beyond its initial $50M, the clock is ticking on one of biotech's most ambitious platform bets.
The FDA just sent 30 warning letters to companies selling knockoff versions of Ozempic and other GLP-1 weight-loss drugs. With 605 adverse events, emergency room visits from contaminated products, and patients accidentally taking 20x their intended dose, the agency says the era of mass compounding is over.
Sanofi just committed up to $1.5 billion for a Chinese-developed blood cancer drug most people have never heard of. The deal says more about where Big Pharma is heading than any earnings call could.
Roche is pouring up to $520 million into South Korea, but not to build factories. The Swiss pharma giant wants to turn the country into its Asian clinical trial hub, and the reasons why reveal something bigger about where the drug industry is headed.
The FDA just released a draft guidance explaining how drugmakers can earn three years of generic-free protection for already-approved drugs. It's one of pharma's most powerful (and most confusing) tools, and the new rules finally make it readable.
Lonza sold its personalized medicine business back to the company that built it. Eight years after acquiring the Cocoon Platform from Octane Medical Group, the Swiss CDMO giant is handing back the keys, and the reasons say a lot about where biotech manufacturing is headed.
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