There is cautious optimism around continued M&A momentum and the public equities markets as biotech heads into the New Year. On a special edition of the BioCentury This Week podcast recorded in London during London Life Sciences Week, BioCentury’s Simone Fishburn and Stephen Hansen were joined by a trio of guests to discuss their key takeaways from the week and expectations for next year, including trends in M&A and creative deal structures for business development.
The group also discussed the potential for biotech venture investing to make a comeback as a key asset class for LPs, especially in the U.K., as the government continues to encourage pension funds to invest more broadly.
The three guests joining BioCentury included Luciana Griebel from law firm Morgan Lewis, James Critchley from PJT Partners, and Carmine Circelli from the British Business Bank.
The podcast was recorded Nov. 19 on stage at the Victoria House in London as part of the 3rd Biotech CEO & Investor Reception.
BioCentury’s next recording “on the road” will take place on the sidelines of the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco in January at the 11th East West Healthcare Reception hosted by BioCentury, Panacea Venture and Maytech Global Investments.

View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/657686

#BiotechMandA #DrugDevelopment #VentureCapital #LifeSciences #LondonLifeSciencesWeek

00:00 - Introduction
02:24 - Market Recovery
08:02 - Growth and Influence
16:24 - Creative Dealmaking
21:40 - Role of CVRs
25:52 - Pension Funds and Venture Capital
30:09 - AI Bubble
34:17 - Accelerating Clinical Trials

Morgan Lewis has prepared its materials for this podcast for general informational purposes only. They do not and are not intended to constitute legal advice. This podcast was recorded on Nov. 19. Morgan Lewis does not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information contained in these materials and disclaims any obligation to advise you of any changes in the law. You should always refer to original source documents for complete information and consult directly with an attorney for advice, including on the latest developments in this rapidly changing area of the law.

To submit a question to BioCentury’s editors, email the BioCentury This Week team at [email protected].

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Voyager CEO and former head of R&D at Biogen Al Sandrock is more optimistic than ever about the prospect of bringing clinically meaningful solutions to patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. The threads of progress are finally coming together, he said in a special episode of the BioCentury This Week podcast. From the first disease-modifying therapies for Alzheimer’s disease, to a growing biomarker toolkit, to an expanding set of genetically validated targets in other neurodegenerative conditions — and, crucially, to delivery vehicles capable of broadly and deeply penetrating the brain — neurology drug development may be poised to accelerate. This episode of the BioCentury This Week podcast is brought to you by Voyager Therapeutics.

View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/657678

#AlzheimersDisease #AAVGeneTherapy #BloodBrainBarrier #TauTargeting #Neurodegeneration

00:01 - Sponsor Message: Voyager Therapeutics 
03:41 - Voyager's Approach to Gene Therapy
15:07 - Alzheimer's Disease
25:25 - Big Biotech to Small Biotech
29:21 - Neurodegenerative Diseases
31:19 - FDA Flexibility

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Richard Pazdur took the top job at FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research after receiving vows that he would be leading CDER free from political interference. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury's analysts discuss the issues that could prove to be flashpoints between Pazdur and the heads of FDA and HHS, including personnel, RSV mAbs, puberty blockers and SSRIs.
BioCentury's analysts assess bispecific innovation at the annual meeting of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) and the growing field of companies pursuing RNAi, many of which have multiple unpartnered assets. Also featured in this week's episode: new funds from European VCs Medicxi and Sofinnova Partners, FDA’s new plausible mechanism pathway and the Trump administration’s “most favored nation” drug-pricing plan, which is turning out to be much more less onerous to drug companies than its original description suggested. This episode of the BioCentury This Week podcast is brought to you by Voyager Therapeutics.

View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/657631

#RNAiTherapeutics #BispecificAntibodies #CD3TCellEngagers #MechanismOfAction #ImmunoOncology #PlausibleMechanismPathway #RegulatoryScience #ClinicalTranslation

00:01 - Sponsor Message: Voyager Therapeutics 
03:08 - FDA's Richard Pazdur
13:08 - Plausible Mechanism Pathway
19:30 - Most Favored Nation
23:12 - Takeaways from SITC
28:05 - RNAi in China
33:21 - European VCs

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Today’s South Korean biotechs have a risk-on mentality, a willingness to partner, and strategies focused on globalization. On a special edition of the BioCentury This Week podcast recorded at Venture Café Cambridge, BioCentury is joined by a quartet of investors and executives with deep knowledge of Korea’s life sciences ecosystem to discuss Korea biotech’s push to globalize and the opportunities in the country for Western companies. The four guests joining BioCentury were Aram Hong, CEO of Korean start-up Apollon; investors Spencer Nam and Debra Peattie; and Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH's Andy Whittle.
The podcast was recorded Nov. 6 on stage at the Venture Café Cambridge during the K-Blockbuster Night hosted by KHIDI, the Korea Health Industry Development Institute. BioCentury analyses discussed during the podcast include one on Asian deals and another on the speed of clinical trials in China. BioCentury returns to Asia early next year for the 5th East-West Summit, March 9-11 in Seoul. This episode of the BioCentury This Week podcast is brought to you by KHIDI.

View Full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/657558

#KoreaBiotech #Globalization #LifeSciences #BiotechEcosystem #PharmaDeals #ClinicalDevelopment #Innovation #BiotechLeadership

00:01 - Sponsor Message: KHIDI
05:08 - Asia Deals and Korea's Role
09:12 - Boehringer's Perspective
13:51 - Apollon's Journey
17:24 - Building Relationships
23:20 - Investors' View 

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With ObesityWeek yielding eye-catching amylin data and a bidding war that ran to $10 billion for Metsera, weight loss companies were center stage in biotech last week. On the latest edition of the BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s analysts explained why Pfizer's victory for the start-up over European rival Novo Nordisk doesn’t necessarily mean a broader U.S. policy shift against foreign acquisitions of domestic biotechs.
Turning to ObesityWeek readouts, they discuss Eli Lilly's data for amylin monotherapy eloralintide, arguing that just as Lilly did with GLP-1 agonists, the company is again setting the benchmark by which all other molecules in the class will be measured.
BioCentury's analysts also discuss takeaways from Washington Editor Steve Usdin's Commentary, which finds FDA in a crisis of politicized decisions, plummeting morale, and a hollowed workforce, and highlights from BioCentury's interview with gene therapy pioneer Jim Wilson as he rethinks the funding model for ultrarare disease therapies to keep his mission on track. This episode of the BioCentury This Week podcast is brought to you by Voyager Therapeutics.

View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/657545

#ObesityWeek #Amylin #GLP1 #Eloralintide #DrugMechanism #FDA #RareDisease #GeneTherapy

00:01 - Sponsor Message: Voyager Therapeutics 
01:53 - Pfizer Wins Metsera
08:48 - Lilly's Amylin Data
13:06 - Funding Ultrarare Therapies
20:51 - What's Next for FDA

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Novo Nordisk’s unsolicited $8.5 billion bid for Metsera has thrown a wrench into Pfizer’s plans to return to the obesity race via its acquisition of the New York-based start-up. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s analysts discuss the details of the competing bids and what’s at stake for the pair of suitors.
The analysts also assess the reasons behind the abrupt departure of Center for Drug Evaluation and Research Director George Tidmarsh from FDA and a surge in activity on the Hong Kong stock exchange. This episode of the BioCentury This Week podcast is brought to you by Voyager Therapeutics.

View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/657475

#Biotech #PharmaDeals #ObesityDrugs #MergersAndAcquisitions #FDA #LifeSciences #GlobalBiotech #HongKongMarket

00:01 - Sponsor Message: Voyager Therapeutics
01:53 - Metsera M&A
15:23 - Tidmarsh Ouster
25:12 - Hong Kong IPOs

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China is setting a new bar for the speed of clinical development and redefining the time it takes an asset to get to the clinic. On a special edition of the BioCentury This Week podcast recorded on stage at the 12th BioCentury BayHelix China Healthcare Summit in Shanghai, BioCentury's Simone Fishburn argued that China’s emerging new standard for swift entry to the clinic could upend the bottleneck of translational development and usher in a new paradigm that could have a “massive impact globally.”
Fishburn and her BioCentury colleagues Joshua Berlin and Jeff Cranmer were joined by a trio of cross-border KOLs — John Zhu, CEO of antibody-drug conjugate company DualityBio; Matt Hewitt, CTO of  Charles River Laboratories' manufacturing business division; and Bing Wang, CFO of Akeso — to discuss the speed of generating first-in-human data, Innovent’s $1.2 billion deal with Takeda, an evolving biotech talent pool, and the state of the financial markets.
“For me, it really feels like 2025 is the year that biotech globally woke up to China,” Fishburn said.

BioCentury returns to Asia early next year for the 5th East-West Summit, March 9-11 in Seoul. Register today as a delegate or apply to join the Presenting Company Class to take advantage of early bird rates.

#ChinaInnovation #DrugDevelopment #PharmaDeals #GlobalBiotech #PharmaInnovation #siRNA #BrainToVein

00:00 - Introduction
02:49 - China Speed
12:27 - Clinical Trails 
17:34 - Global Strategy
26:59 - Financial Markets IPOs
36:52 - Talent

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Novartis’ biggest deal in more than a decade gives the Swiss pharma three programs for muscular dystrophies that are close to the finish line. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s analysts discuss the $12 billion deal for Avidity in the context of Novartis’ recent acquisitions and the antibody-oligonucleotide conjugate platform it is gaining.
The team dives into RNA versus DNA modalities, noting antisense and siRNA approaches appear to be gaining traction with major pharmas as traditional gene therapy and gene editing approaches hit rocky times. Still, they note hopeful progress among base editing therapies given the promising early track records of over a dozen base editors in the clinic. They also discuss BioCentury’s conversation with base editing inventor David Liu; Alkermes’ $2.1 billion acquisition of Avadel; and β-catenin data from Parabilis. This episode of BioCentury This Week is sponsored by Evotec.

View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/657412

#AntibodyOligonucleotideConjugates #RNAtherapeutics #BaseEditing #MuscularDystrophy #WntPathway #BetaCatenin #Orexin2Receptor #PrecisionMedicine

00:01 - Sponsor Message: Evotec 
02:04 - 12th China Healthcare Summit
08:11 - Novartis' $12B Deal
16:58 - Alkermes M&A
20:01 - David Liu Base Editing
25:02 - Parabilis' Data

To submit a question to BioCentury’s editors, email the BioCentury This Week team at [email protected].

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Next-generation platforms and technologies are getting closer to cracking one of biopharma’s biggest problems: delivering medicines, and mAbs in particular, to the brain. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s Selina Koch details the latest innovations in blood-brain-barrier shuttles and how the technologies could transform the treatment of neurological diseases.
BioCentury’s Lauren Martz discusses her conversation with Tony Wood, CSO of GSK, which included the pharma’s strategy for indication expansion, why it prefers RNA modalities over AAV-based gene therapies, and how its quest for causal biology has evolved over the years.
Washington Editor Steve Usdin discusses the first set of FDA’s new commissioner’s national priority review vouchers, and why the voucher program is unlikely to function as an incentive capable of steering future behavior. Usdin also discusses the potential impact of FDA staffing reductions on the sector. This episode of BioCentury This Week is sponsored by Evotec.

View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/657326

#BloodBrainBarrier #Neurology #DrugDelivery #MonoclonalAntibodies #RNAtherapeutics #CausalBiology #FDA

00:01 - Sponsor Message: Evotec
01:57 - Brain Shuttles
13:57 - GSK Q&A
20:08 - FDA Vouchers

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It’s been a tough year for cell and gene therapy — patient deaths, high-profile companies pulling out of the space, and sour investment sentiment. But the field has had some promising readouts in the clinic recently, and it continues to mature, showing steady progress despite challenging market conditions. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, Evotec’s Bernd Mühlenweg joins BioCentury’s analysts to give his view of the field and offer takeaways from this month’s Cell & Gene Meeting on the Mesa in Phoenix. This episode of BioCentury This Week is sponsored by Evotec. 

View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/657278

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