Original reporting and analysis on the stories shaping biotech.
McKesson is spending $2.25 billion to buy Precision Medicine Group, a biomarker-driven CRO. It's the latest sign that pharma's biggest middleman wants to be much more than a pill delivery service.
The FDA just approved the first bispecific antibody to beat trastuzumab head-to-head in stomach cancer, and the survival data are the best ever seen in a phase 3 gastric trial. Jazz Pharmaceuticals' Ziihera could reshape how HER2-positive gastric cancer is treated from day one.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals just dropped $10 billion on Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, its largest acquisition ever, paying a 102% premium to snap up a rare endocrine disease platform. The deal is a massive bet that Vertex can reinvent itself beyond cystic fibrosis, and Wall Street has opinions.
Ipsen just closed a deal worth up to $1.75 billion for a Phase III myelofibrosis drug that attacks cancer through a completely different mechanism than anything on the market. It's either a brilliant chess move into hematology or one of the most expensive poker bluffs in mid-tier pharma history.
A federal court found RA Capital and Avilar Therapeutics guilty of willfully stealing a trade secret from Yale, awarding $4 million to Biohaven and the university. The verdict could reshape how biotech investors handle confidential academic science forever.
Akeso's ivonescimab just beat the reigning first-line standard in biliary tract cancer in a head-to-head Phase 3 trial, marking the first time any drug has toppled a checkpoint inhibitor combo in this disease. Wall Street is paying attention, and the implications stretch well beyond bile ducts.
Abbott just got FDA authorization for the first wearable that continuously tracks both glucose and ketones simultaneously. For millions of diabetes patients at risk of a deadly complication called DKA, that second reading could be a game-changer.
For decades, warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia had zero FDA-approved treatments. Now J&J's Imaavy has changed that, and a wave of competitors is right behind it. Here's why this first-in-disease approval matters more than the modest trial numbers suggest.
Lady Gaga and fiancé Michael Polansky just emerged from stealth with Outer Biosciences, a $23 million startup that keeps human skin alive in a lab for weeks to discover skincare ingredients with AI. It's weirder (and more legit) than it sounds.
The FDA just authorized the first-ever robotic blood-draw device in the U.S., and it nails hard-to-find veins better than most humans. Vitestro's Aletta could reshape everything from clinical trials to your next lab visit.
Japan just approved the world's first functional cure for chronic hepatitis B, and it's not even close to what current treatments do. GSK's Hibsago could reshape a disease that affects 240 million people globally.
For decades, warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia had exactly zero FDA-approved treatments. J&J just changed that with IMAAVY, the first drug ever greenlit for the condition, and it signals something bigger about the FcRn inhibitor arms race.
Massachusetts biotech is pulling in more venture capital than it has in years, but the workforce just posted its first decline in two decades. The paradox reveals a deeper shift in how the industry allocates money, people, and risk.
Takeda's oveporexton just became the first drug to target the root cause of narcolepsy type 1, earning Japanese approval after hitting every endpoint in two pivotal trials. It's not just a new pill; it could validate an entire class of brain-chemistry drugs.
Roche just got FDA clearance for a blood test that detects Alzheimer's-related amyloid pathology with roughly 90% accuracy. It could replace expensive PET scans and spinal taps as the first step in screening, and potentially unlock treatment access for millions of patients stuck in diagnostic limbo.
Regenxbio was weeks away from refiling its gene therapy for Hunter syndrome. Then a brain tumor in a related program triggered an FDA clinical hold, adding to a mounting safety crisis across the AAV gene therapy field.
The FDA just approved a take-home autoinjector version of LEQEMBI, the Alzheimer's antibody that's been stuck in infusion centers. It could be the unlock Biogen and Eisai have been waiting for, but there's a catch.
Eli Lilly just launched Foundayo, the first oral GLP-1 weight-loss pill in Europe, in the UK. It beat Novo Nordisk's oral semaglutide head-to-head in clinical trials, and it could reshape the entire obesity drug market by pulling in millions of patients who refuse to use needles.
Roche just paid $190 million upfront (with $2.5 billion on the line) for a Phase 1 obesity drug that claims to do something no GLP-1 can: burn fat while actually preserving muscle. It's a bold bet on an unproven mechanism, and the biggest signal yet that the obesity drug wars are entering a new phase.
Johnson & Johnson is paying $785 million upfront for an exclusive option to buy Sail Biomedicines and its factory-free CAR-T technology for $2.58 billion. It's the latest sign that big pharma is all-in on a future where cell therapies are built inside the patient, not in a lab.
Moderna and Merck's personalized mRNA cancer vaccine just hit its targets in a pivotal Phase 3 melanoma trial, and the implications stretch far beyond skin cancer. It's the first time a vaccine built from a patient's own tumor mutations has succeeded at this scale.
The UK is pouring £250 million into a massive new biosecurity campus in Essex, part of a £2 billion-plus life sciences blitz designed to prove it can still compete for global biotech investment. But with zero biotech IPOs in 2025 and heavy reliance on foreign capital, can money and ambition overcome the post-Brexit headwinds?
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