Original reporting and analysis on the stories shaping biotech.
Eli Lilly is spending up to $2.3 billion on Ajax Therapeutics and its next-generation JAK inhibitor, betting big on a drug class the FDA has flagged for heart attacks, cancer, and blood clots. The twist: Ajax's approach is fundamentally different from every JAK drug on the market.
argenx is spending $2.2 billion in cash to buy Forte Biosciences and its early-stage anti-CD122 antibody, FB102. It's the biggest bet yet in the company's push to become more than a one-drug wonder.
Eli Lilly just agreed to pay up to $7 billion for Kelonia Therapeutics, a startup that wants to turn a patient's own body into a CAR-T factory. It's the biggest bet yet on in vivo cell therapy, and it's part of a pharma arms race that's moving faster than anyone expected.
The U.S. International Trade Commission just launched a formal investigation into China's biotech subsidies, covering everything from gene sequencing to drug ingredients. It won't trigger tariffs on its own, but its January 2027 report could hand Washington the ammunition for the next major escalation in the biotech cold war.
A Dana-Farber trial used CAR-T therapy on patients who didn't have full-blown myeloma yet, and every single one responded with zero serious side effects. It could change when (and why) we deploy our most powerful cancer weapons.
Precision BioSciences just showed the first clinical evidence that a gene editor can destroy cccDNA, the hidden viral reservoir that makes hepatitis B nearly impossible to cure. If it holds up, 250 million patients worldwide could finally have a path off lifelong medication.
The NIH reportedly plans to block visa-holding researchers from the K99/R00 career grant, one of the few major funding pathways still open to international postdocs. With about half of U.S. biomedical postdocs on temporary visas, the move could turbocharge a brain drain at the worst possible time.
BioMarin's $270 million bet on a rare-disease drug just went bust after its Phase 3 trial moved a biomarker but failed to help patients. The write-off highlights a brutal pattern of costly late-stage failures across rare-disease biotech.
Merck's tulisokibart just delivered a perfect split: a Phase 2 win in hidradenitis suppurativa and a flop in lung disease. The results reveal exactly why anti-inflammatory drugs keep hitting a wall in fibrotic conditions, and what it means for Merck's $10.8 billion bet.
The FDA refused to review Moderna's mRNA flu vaccine, not over safety or efficacy, but because the agency retroactively objected to the trial's comparison vaccine. The decision has experts warning of a chilling effect on the entire vaccine industry at the worst possible time.
The FDA rejected Replimune's melanoma drug twice in nine months, calling the data uninterpretable. Then, on August 6th, they approved it. The two-year regulatory comeback is one of biotech's wildest recent stories.
Intellia Therapeutics paused two late-stage CRISPR trials after a patient suffered severe liver damage, and the fallout could shake confidence across the entire gene-editing sector. One trial has been closed for enrollment, Wall Street is split, and every CRISPR company is feeling the heat.
The CDC had a study showing COVID vaccines cut ER visits by half last winter. It passed internal review, was scheduled for publication, and then got shelved. The story behind the buried report raises uncomfortable questions about science, politics, and public trust.
Dexcom's Stelo just became the first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor cleared for kids as young as two. No prescription, no insurance maze, no specialist visit required. It's a massive shift in who gets access to diabetes monitoring tech, and it opens a brand-new market in the process.
Epicrispr just reported something no other FSHD therapy has ever shown: patients gaining muscle mass instead of losing it. The data are early, but for a disease with zero approved treatments, even a small signal feels seismic.
Servier is paying up to $2.65 billion for Edgewise Therapeutics' muscular dystrophy business, including a drug that hasn't posted pivotal Phase 3 results yet. The bet hinges on sevasemten, an oral therapy showing years of disease stabilization in a field with almost no good options.
Gilead Sciences is paying up to $5 billion for Tubulis, a German ADC startup most people have never heard of. The deal reveals a deliberate "date first, propose later" strategy and marks Gilead's biggest bet yet on the technology reshaping cancer treatment.
Biogen is dropping $5.6 billion on an eye drug company, and it might be the smartest identity crisis in pharma. The deal for Apellis Pharmaceuticals comes with a bonus bet worth up to $4 per share that hinges on one big question.
Takeda just got FDA approval for the first drug that actually restores the broken brain signal behind narcolepsy type 1, and it took a spectacular failure and 26 years of science to get here. The orexin era of sleep medicine has officially arrived.
The FDA just approved the first-ever mRNA flu vaccine, and it beat traditional shots in a 41,000-person trial. Moderna's mFlusiva won't make much money this year, but it might reshape a $9 billion market.
The Trump administration just slapped a 100% tariff on imported brand-name drugs, the most aggressive trade action the pharmaceutical industry has ever seen. Some major drugmakers already cut deals to dodge it. The rest are scrambling.
The FDA just dropped 14 drug rejection letters for the public to read, resuming a transparency push that has Wall Street cheering and small biotechs sweating. After decades of secrecy, the agency's "radical transparency" initiative is reshaping who controls the narrative when a drug fails.
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