BioCentury This Week

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

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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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Biotech’s fourth quarter began with a familiar feeling, with indicators pointing toward an improving public market even as political and regulatory uncertainty has buysiders reluctant to say industry has returned to sustainable growth. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s analysts assess the state of biotech’s public markets. The analysts discuss the Senate’s move to limit access to Chinese CDMOs, the latest developments in the White House’s “most favored nation” drug pricing negotiations, and the U.K.'s attempt to win over pharma companies via adjusting thresholds at NICE. Finally, they analyze a pair of billion-dollar-plus M&A deals: the $4.7 billion deal by Novo Nordisk to acquire liver disease company Akero and the $1.5 billion takeout of in vivo cell therapy company Orbital by Bristol Myers. This episode of BioCentury This Week is sponsored by Evotec.

View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/657260

#biotech #biopharma #pharma #lifescience #drugpricing #MFN

00:01  Sponsor Message: Evotec
02:12  4Q Markets Preview
13:25  China CDMOs
24:35  Drug Pricing Deals NHS
31:22  Drug Pricing Deals M&A

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The short-term consequences for Pfizer from its “most favored nation” drug pricing deal with the White House are negligible, but the long-term effects on the industry could be profound and permanent.
On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury Washington Editor Steve Usdin discusses why the deal by Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) changes everything — and nothing — and what’s next in wrangling over drug pricing between industry and the Trump administration.
The analysts also discuss PDUFA negotiations between FDA and leaders of BIO and PhRMA, how multi-site IITs could help bridge the academia-industry gap, and how TCG X plans to deploy its new $1.3 billion fund. This episode of BioCentury This Week is sponsored by Evotec.

View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/657192

#biotech #biopharma #pharma #lifescience #financialmarkets #drugpricing #MFN

00:01  Sponsor Message: Evotec
03:31  Pfizer MFN Deal
16:05  PDUFA Reauthorization
20:31  Investigator-Initiated Trials

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Genmab's $8 billion acquisition of multispecifics company Merus is the Danish biotech’s largest step toward marketing its own pipeline. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s analysts discuss the evolution of Genmab, which, for many years, relied on a partnership model that delivered blockbuster revenues but now is making a change as a patent cliff looms.
The analysts also assess the tenure of Emma Walmsley the longtime CEO of GSK, and what’s next for the U.K. pharma under incoming CEO Luke Miels. Turning to the U.S., Washington Editor Steve Usdin discusses President Donald Trump’s looming tariff threat on imports of branded drugs, which Usdin says would hurt small biotechs the most. Usdin also analyzes the response of multinational pharmaceutical companies to the president’s demand that they make “most favored nation” price concessions, now that Monday’s deadline has passed. This episode of BioCentury This Week is sponsored by IQVIA Biotech.

View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/657131

#biotech #pharma #deals #FGF21 #MASH #Interleukin5 #asthma #PhRMA #PBM #tarriff #MFN

00:01 - Sponsor Message: IQVIA Biotech
02:26 - Genmab's Merus Buy
09:43 - CEO Switch at GSK
17:22 - Trump Tariff Threat
21:17 - MFN Drug Pricing

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AI is bringing sweeping changes to drug development, from how targets are discovered to optimizing clinical trials to maximize an asset’s chance for success. On a special edition of the BioCentury This Week podcast, IQVIA’s Greg Lever joins BioCentury’s analysts to discuss agentic AI’s short- and long-term prospects to help biotechs discover new targets, predict success in preclinical development, and enhance clinical operations. This episode of BioCentury This Week is sponsored by IQVIA Biotech.

View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/657086

#Biotech #Biopharma #DrugDevelopment #ClinicalTrials #TargetDiscovery #AgenticAI #GraphRAG #DeRisking

00:01 - Sponsor Message: IQVIA Biotech
01:22 - AI in Biotech
05:01 - Machine Learning
06:21 - Generative AI and Language Models
08:37 - Agentic AI
12:43 - AI in Target Discovery
23:44 - AI in Clinical Trial Design

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Is this the U.K.’s moment to capitalize on its biotech ecosystem? That was one of the primary themes discussed at the debut Grand Rounds — Europe conference last week in Cambridge, U.K. BioMarin's James Sabry and Astex's Michelle Jones joined BioCentury’s analysts on a special edition of the BioCentury This Week podcast recorded live at the event to discuss their key takeaways from the two-day conference.
Beyond the state of the U.K. biopharma ecosystem, the analysts discussed the meeting’s major science themes, including what’s next for DNA damage repair pathway targets, both inside and outside of cancer; whether obesity should be recast as a brain disease; and the cutting edge of small molecule design.

View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/657082

#UKBiotech #TranslationalMedicine #DrugPricing #GlobalCollaboration #Aging #Biologics #SmallMolecules #Biobanking

00:00 - Introduction
00:35 - Key Takeaways
02:14 - The State of the U.K. Biotech Ecosystem
09:01 - Scientific Highlights & Panel Takeaways
22:44 - Closing Remarks and Future Events

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