Original reporting and analysis on the stories shaping biotech.
J&J axed its CAR-T lymphoma program despite data that embarrassed the competition, complete response rates that made Yescarta look like last season's model. The real story isn't about science; it's about the brutal economics threatening the entire cell therapy space.
Indivior's experimental opioid addiction drug flopped in Phase 2, and now the company is gutting its research team. Wall Street didn't flinch, but the long-term implications of becoming a one-drug company are harder to ignore.
LEO Pharma just paid $50 million for a company that turns herpes simplex virus into a gene therapy delivery system for devastating skin diseases. It's preclinical, it's audacious, and it might be the future of dermatology.
The FDA just approved the first small-molecule GLP-1 pill for obesity, and it might matter more for who it reaches than how much weight it drops. Eli Lilly's Foundayo could unlock the half of eligible patients who refused to pick up a needle.
Amgen axed two clinical programs in the same week after Phase 2 disappointments, one in lung cancer and one in Sjögren's disease. The dual failures spotlight pharma's toughest development stage and raise questions about pipeline depth at a $35 billion company.
AstraZeneca just paid $25 million to license a cancer drug that doesn't block tumor proteins, it destroys them completely. The preclinical EGFR degrader from Pinetree Therapeutics could rescue patients who've run out of options on current treatments.
AstraZeneca faces an FDA advisory committee today with two precision oncology drugs that posted solid trial numbers. The problem: FDA reviewers think neither drug has clearly answered the questions that matter most.
Teva drops $700 million on Emalex Biosciences to grab ecopipam, the first new Tourette syndrome drug mechanism in over 50 years. After a decade of paying off debt and sitting out the M&A party, the generics giant is making its boldest neuroscience bet yet.
Avalyn Pharma planned to raise $182 million in its IPO. It walked away with $300 million instead, pricing at the top of the range for its inhaled lung disease drugs. The biotech IPO market is back, and investors are hungry.
BeOne Medicines just committed up to $2 billion for a trispecific antibody that hasn't been tested in humans. The deal signals pharma's increasingly aggressive bets on next-generation multispecific drugs, and the option structure reveals a masterclass in managing preclinical risk.
The FDA slammed the brakes on Newron Pharmaceuticals' Phase 3 schizophrenia trial after a patient died at a non-U.S. site. The company says the drug isn't to blame, but the agency wants proof. For one of the few novel approaches to treatment-resistant schizophrenia, the clock is ticking.
GSK and Alector just killed their second Alzheimer's trial in six months, effectively torching a $700 million partnership. The failure raises uncomfortable questions about whether targeting the brain's immune system can actually slow neurodegeneration.
Chiesi just dropped $1.9 billion on KalVista to grab the only oral pill for acute hereditary angioedema attacks. In a week with five biotech acquisitions, this bet on needles going extinct in HAE might be the smartest of the bunch.
AstraZeneca pulled the plug on atuliflapon after its phase 2 asthma trial flopped on efficacy. The drug joins a long, inglorious list of FLAP inhibitors that have never made it to market, raising hard questions about whether this entire drug class is a dead end.
Teva just dropped $700 million on a Tourette syndrome drug that works completely differently from anything on the market. After 50 years without a new approved treatment, ecopipam could finally break the drought.
The FDA just announced it can watch clinical trial data roll in live, like streaming a game instead of reading the box score. Two proof-of-concept trials with AstraZeneca and Amgen are already underway, and a broader pilot launches this summer.
GSK is betting its future on cancer drugs under new CEO Luke Miels, with oncology sales already up 43% and five simultaneous Phase 3 trials running for a single drug. The question: can a company famous for inhalers crack oncology's most exclusive club?
Galapagos NV abandoned an oral immunology drug during its corporate meltdown. Now a startup founded by the drug's former Galapagos scientist just raised $125 million from Novo Holdings, Regeneron Ventures, and others to prove the big company was wrong.
Incyte's Opzelura just posted another round of strong vitiligo data, and the cream is printing $678 million a year. But AbbVie's Rinvoq pill is headed for FDA approval in the same disease, and the safety tradeoffs between a cream and a pill could reshape the entire market.
Erasca's pan-RAS inhibitor posted jaw-dropping early cancer data that analysts called a "home run." Then the stock fell 42% in a single day. A patient death, a patent fight, and transparency questions collided with the best data in Erasca's history.
The FDA flagged serious concerns about two of AstraZeneca's biggest cancer drugs in the same advisory committee briefing. With prediction markets pricing Truqap approval at just 17.6% and camizestrant's trial design under fire, billions in future revenue hang on a single April 30 meeting.
Compass Therapeutics' bispecific antibody shrank tumors and slowed cancer growth, but its survival data got wrecked by the trial's own design. Shares dropped 66% in a day, and the story behind the miss is wilder than the headline.
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