NICE rejects Alzheimer’s drugs for lack of cost-effectiveness - Drug Discovery World (DDW) The UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has reached its final decision on two Alzheimer’s treatments, denying their use on the NHS due to the therapies not providing “good valu...

NHS & NICE double down on their decision to not approve Eli Lilly’s donanemab and Biogen/Eisai’s lecanemab due to lack of cost effectieve efficacy; www.ddw-online.com/nice-rejects...

BioNTech to acquire CureVac in all-stock deal valued at $1.25B BioNTech plans to buy mRNA-based cancer immunotherapy and infectious disease vaccine company CureVac in an all-stock deal, the companies said Thursday.

BioNTech to acquire CureVac $CVAC in all-stock deal valued at $1.25B (although they have $500M in cash!) - 30% premium on close but only ~10% of it's MC from 4 yrs ago. endpoints.news/biontech-to-...

Thanks - I'll have a watch. In many ways, the way we go after single protein targets in drug discovery, including in oncology, is fundemantally limiting & even 2-3 drugs in combination barely scratches the surface of how complex the biology is, alongside how it evolves in cancer.

BioNTech to acquire CureVac in all-stock deal valued at $1.25B BioNTech plans to buy mRNA-based cancer immunotherapy and infectious disease vaccine company CureVac in an all-stock deal, the companies said Thursday.

BioNTech to acquire CureVac $CVAC in all-stock deal valued at $1.25B (although they have $500M in cash!) - 30% premium on close but only ~10% of it's MC from 4 yrs ago. endpoints.news/biontech-to-...

Schrödinger says early MALT1 data could lay 'great foundation' for combos Schrödinger said its experimental MALT1 inhibitor showed early signs of safety and efficacy in an ongoing Phase 1 trial.

Schrödinger says early MALT1 data could lay 'great foundation' for combos. Indeed the future of oncology is very much about combination therapies & in many complex biological settings, we need to get over the need for single agent efficacy for everything. endpoints.news/eha25-schrod...

Sofinnova Partners Collaborates With NVIDIA to Accelerate European Life Sciences Startups Sofinnova Partners (“Sofinnova"), a leading European life sciences venture capital firm based in Paris, London, and Milan, today announced a collaboration wi...

Sofinnova Partners Collaborates With NVIDIA to Accelerate European Life Sciences Startups
www.businesswire.com/news/home/20...

Sanofi to buy Blueprint Medicines in deal worth more than $9 billion Sanofi plans to buy Blueprint Medicines in a deal worth more than $9 billion, expanding its immunology pipeline

Sanofi to buy Blueprint Medicines in deal worth more than $9 billion (roughly 30% premium on Friday close). $BPMC $XBI
www.statnews.com/2025/06/02/s...

Bristol Myers bets $1.5B on BioNTech's PD-L1xVEGF from Biotheus BioNTech bought out its China-based biotech partner Biotheus for $800 million upfront in November. Now, the German drugmaker is set to receive $1.5 billion upfront from Bristol Myers Squibb to co-deve...

Bristol Myers $BMY bets $1.5B on BioNTech's PD-L1xVEGF from Chinese Biotheus partner.
endpts.com/bristol-myer...

Sanofi to acquire Blueprint Medicines $BPMC for $9.1 billion

#immunology #deal #pharma #biotech

www.sanofi.com/en/media-roo...

New HHS document details deep NIH cuts as part of Trump budget request Budget documents for Congress provide the most detailed look yet at how the Trump Administration hopes to reshape the National Institutes of Health.

Detailed doc released showing how NIH’s discretionary budget will be slashed to $27.5 billion, an $18 billion or nearly 40% reduction. It also details plans to consolidate the agency’s 27 institutes & centers into just 8. www.statnews.com/2025/05/30/n...

Is Biopharma Doing Enough to Advance Novel Targets? | L.E.K. Consulting Is Biopharma Doing Enough to Advance Novel Targets?

"About a quarter of the approximately 13,600 drug-target pairs in the current preclinical and clinical R&D pipeline are concentrated around just 38 unique biological targets." - LEK. This is astonishing & a huge misappropriation of risk by investors.
www.lek.com/insights/hea...

Samir Ounzain – CEO & Scientific Co-Founder, HAYA Therapeutics What if the key to treating chronic and age-related diseases has been hidden in plain sight, within…

Great interview (read) with @HAYA_lncRNA CEO SAmir Ounzain as he talks about the unique science of Haya & executing as a first-in-biology biotech. pharmaboardroom.com/interviews/s...

Investors pump $130M into protein degrader startup GlycoEra Protein degrader shop GlycoEra, spun out of vaccines company LimmaTech in 2021, has corralled $130 million in Series B funding to get into the clinic. The transatlantic outfit's experimental medicines...

Investors pump $130M into protein degrader startup GlycoEra
endpts.com/investors-pu...

Merus’ Phase 2 overall survival data reach ‘home run’ scenario — analyst Merus completed its rollout of Phase 2 head and neck cancer data on Thursday, touting overall survival results that at least one analyst said amount to a best-case outcome. ...

Merus’ $MRUS Phase 2 overall survival data reach ‘home run’ scenario with their EGFR/LGR5 bispecific petosemtamab.
endpts.com/asco25-merus...

Free the senobs!

Altos Labs buys anti-aging startup Dorian Therapeutics Altos, led by industry stalwarts Hal Barron and Hans Bishop, brought Dorian Therapeutics into its fold this week, according to LinkedIn posts from the nimble company's co-founders.

Altos Labs buys anti-aging startup Dorian Therapeutics for their "senoblockers".
endpts.com/altos-labs-b...

Orionis Biosciences Announces Strategic Partnership with Genentech to Discover and DevelopMolecular Glue Class Medicines for Cancer - Orionis Biosciences Orionis Biosciences has announced a second collaboration with Genentech, worth $105 million upfront and up to $2 billion in potential milestone payments, to develop small-molecule glue medicines for o...

Orionis Biosciences (private) Announces Strategic Partnership with Genentech to Discover and Develop Molecular Glue Class Medicines for Cancer - $105M upfront, $2bn potential.
orionisbio.com/2025/05/gene...

It'll be great to see everyone in Bruges and discuss some of the amazing progress that Haya Therapeutics is making in the pipeline and platform for finding, validating & drugging chronic disease state reversing targets in the regulatory genome! #BioEquity🧬 ❤️ 🫁 🦀

Octagon shuts down after R&D challenges put it behind the 8 ball Octagon Therapeutics has thrown in the towel. | Octagon Therapeutics has thrown in the towel. The Novo Nordisk-allied autoimmune disease biotech is winding down after deprioritizing its lead program a...

Octagon shuts down after R&D challenges. Will be a trend in biotech in 2025.
www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/octa...

What's the thing that sheep do?

AstraZeneca Abandons Neuroscience, Prioritizes Weight Loss, Immunology Following the recent discontinuations of assets in Alzheimer’s and migraine, AstraZeneca is stepping away from neuro altogether.

While on the subject of crowding (a talk given by AZ!), AstraZeneca Abandons Neuroscience, Prioritizes Weight Loss, Immunology. $XBI
www.biospace.com/business/ast...

Congrats to Haya Therapeutics CEO Samir Ounzain on being recognized as a top innovator on the Medicine Makers Power List. Just getting started! @HAYA_lncRNA themedicinemaker.com/awards/the-p...

There is massive growth of "crowding" around the same targets in drug R&D over the last 20 years, with huge competition for every pharma/biotech & reduction in cost of entry via Chinese molecules. Novel targets are becoming everything for biotech to compete! $XBI (Aradhana - AZ)

Eli Lilly pens Creyon Bio AI oligonucleotide pact with $1B in biobucks on the table Eli Lilly is paying $13 million upfront, with $1 billion in biobucks up for grabs, for the opportunity to develop AI-designed oligonucleotide therapies from Creyon Bio.  | Eli Lilly is paying $13 mill...

Eli Lilly pens Creyon Bio AI oligonucleotide pact with $1B in biobucks on the table
www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/eli-...

Caribou lays off 32% of staff, cuts lupus cell therapy program before first patient Caribou Biosciences is paring down its pipeline and cutting about a third of its workforce as cell and gene therapy companies continue to struggle amid a bleak biotech market.

Caribou lays off 32% of staff & cuts lupus cell therapy program. “It is simply a reflection that we live in a moment where we have to do a small number of things incredibly well” - CEO Rachel Haurwitz. Good honesty in the toughest ever time for biotech.
endpts.com/caribou-lays...

Steve Usdin writing in BioCentury: “It’s official: FDA says its cuts are delaying drug regulation — Layoffs, lack of access to journals slow response FDA says”

Reprogramming the software of the cell to fight disease HAYA Therapeutics is using its unparalleled regulatory genome atlas and innovative proprietary platform to identify novel long non-coding RNAs and develop drug candidates that return diseased cells ba...

Haya Therapeutics
www.nature.com/articles/d43...

How Trump team turned a dinner invite into a crypto boon worth millions iNearly two dozen crypto wallets acquired more than 100,000 $TRUMP meme coins, worth roughly $100 million, after the team said top buyers could join the president for dinner.

New: We analyzed Trump's meme coin -

At least 27 crypto wallets have picked up $100 million worth of $TRUMP coins since his team said the top holders would join him for an "intimate private dinner."

Huge profit for Trump; "the most brazenly corrupt thing a President has ever done"

wapo.st/4iAatO1

Is the US data correct? Why that sudden ramp up in ~2017? Was the number underreported before as that leap doesn't look realistic for so many reasons. Certainly true that there are too many biotech & too many molecules in the clinic, but when did that really become the case?

There are now a trio of great pieces covering the rapid rise of Chinese biotech:
- atelfo.github.io/2024/12/20/w...
- centuryofbio.com/p/commoditiz...
- www.asimov.press/p/china-trials