What does Rick Pazdur's new role mean for the Food and Drug Administration? Has Merck solved the PCSK9 access issue? And how much credit can the president take for lowering GLP-1 drug prices?

Dean Li, the head of R&D at Merck, joins us to discuss the long-awaited trial results for the company's oral medicine targeting PCSK9 to lower cholesterol. These types of treatments have proven effective at addressing heart disease, but making them into more accessible pills has proven tricky.
We also discuss the latest news in the life sciences, including the resolution of Pfizer and Novo Nordisk's bidding war over Metsera, Pazdur's new role at the FDA, and the end of a decade-long longevity venture.

On a jam-packed show, your co-hosts, minus the vacationing Allison DeAngelis, chat with STAT’s D.C. correspondent Lizzy Lawrence about a slow-boiling feud between Vinay Prasad, the head of the FDA’s biologics and vaccine branch, and his staff that has triggered even more exits and plunging morale.

On the drug side of the agency, we dish on the shocking exit of director George Tidmarsh after he was accused of using his regulatory position to exact personal revenge against a former business partner. Bonus: Prasad and Tidmarsh hate each other.

Has BridgeBio’s business model worked? How are executives at Moderna dealing with the company’s slump? And who will the hosts dress up as for Halloween?

We discuss all that on this week’s episode of the “The Readout LOUD,” STAT’s biotech podcast. We bring on BridgeBio CEO Neil Kumar to discuss the company’s positive Phase 3 readouts and our colleague Jason Mast to discuss Moderna’s struggles following its Covid-19 vaccine boom.

Can Trump take credit for North Carolina's booming biopharma industry? Which drugs could get a shortcut to the market? And who wore a tuxedo to the STAT Summit?

We discuss all that and more in the latest episode of "The Readout LOUD."
Elaine is out this week, so Adam and Allison dive into the latest news in the life science industry together, including the two companies pushing the Food and Drug Administration, the first recipients of the Commissioner’s National Priority Review voucher, and why Flagship Pioneering founder Nobuar Afeyan thinks that mRNA vaccines are the canary in the coal mine that is the drug industry. Adam also asks Allison about her trip to North Carolina to check out the local biomanufacturing boom.

On this week’s episode of “The Readout LOUD”: an interview with veteran biotech executive and company founder Clive Meanwell. Pfizer recently acquired one of Meanwell’s companies, the obesity drug developer Metsera, for just under $5 billion.

Meanwell offered his perspectives on the evolving obesity drug market, and continued need for drugs to treat diseases with large prevalence, which he’s doing with his latest venture, called Corsera Health. Meanwell also weighed in on drug pricing policies both in the U.S. and the U.K.

Your favorite podcast co-hosts have been extra busy this week moderating panel discussions at the STAT Summit in Boston, so we prerecorded this interview with Meanwell on Oct. 8. A regular “Readout LOUD” episode will return next week. 

Where did former vaccine regulator Peter Marks find a new job? How did a math error cost AstraZeneca a rare disease candidate? And is biotech back?

We discuss all that on this week’s episode of the “The Readout LOUD,” STAT’s biotech podcast. We bring on Mizuho health care strategist Jared Holz to discuss the rebound in biotech stocks and sentiment.

We also talk about Marks’ new role at Eli Lilly after leaving the Food and Drug Administration, an attempt by a biotech to revive a rare disease drug shelved by AstraZeneca, and new funds raised by China-focused Expedition Therapeutics.

How will we look back on Emma Walmsley's tenure as GSK's CEO? Why did one of the FDA's top drug officials call out an obscure lupus drug on LinkedIn? And will we ever stop talking about the pharma patent cliff?
Adam is out this week, so Allison and Elaine dive into the latest news, starting with another biotech acquisition and a new CEO at GSK. Then, they invite health policy researcher Stacie Dusetzina to break down President Trump's "most-favored nation" pricing deal with Pfizer.

We bring on UniQure CEO Matt Kapusta to discuss the company's announcement this week that its one-time treatment for Huntington’s disease significantly slowed down the neurological condition in a key study.

We also chat about the Trump's administration initiatives on autism. Officials this week warned pregnant women not to take Tylenol, saying that it may cause autism, and they announced an FDA decision to make a decades-old drug called leucovorin available as a treatment for people with certain autism symptoms. To unpack the implications of these statements, we bring on by Ari Ne'eman, an assistant professor of health policy and management at Harvard’s school of public health who researches how policies affect people with disabilities.

STAT's European correspondent Andrew Joseph calls in from the U.K. to the podcast to dissect why companies like Merck and GSK are putting their money elsewhere.

We also discuss the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, meeting and biotech M&A, including Roche's $3.5 billion acquisition of 89bio and its MASH drug, announced this week.

Listeners of this podcast probably know pharma consultant Mike Rea for his annual ranking of drug company R&D productivity. But this week, he penned a poignant personal essay explaining how some medical setbacks have impacted his professional life. He joins us to discuss.

But first, President Trump is considering a significant crackdown on drugs invented in China, according to a recent report in the New York Times. Industry support for the possible measures are mixed, however. While strengthening the U.S. biopharma industry garners wide support, so too does the freedom to source innovative drugs from Chinese biotechs.